RX FOR POT? Saginaw State Senator's Bill Would Move Marijuana to Pharmacies
November 23, 2013
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FDA lists marijuana as a Schedule I drug, along with heroin, peyote, and LSD, which have no accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse.
Pot may soon be on its way to those of you who need it through your local drug store in Michigan.
The Michigan Senate, by a 22-16 vote, has approved Sen. Roger Kahn's bill that would allow medical marijuana to be dispensed by pharmacies throughout the state.
However, the effect of the vote by the Michigan senate depends on the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) reclassifying marijuana under Schedule II to allow drug store dispensing, according to the Michigan Pharmacist's Association.
The proposed law would entitle Prairie Plant Systems Inc., a Canadian firm, the right to set up 16 of their 1,000-plant growing facilities around the state, when or if the federal government changes the designation for marijuana to a Schedule II drug.
If marijuana is redesignated, Michigan Republicans are said to be ready to move the bill through the state House of Representatives by the holidays.
Supporters of the bill said the 129,000 Michigan residents now permitted to smoke pot to treat cancer and other illnesses could continue to grow their own pot or buy it from an estimated 27,000 licensed caregivers.
FDA lists marijuana as a Schedule I drug, along with heroin, peyote, and LSD, which have no accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse.
The bill also authorizes private facilities to grow and test cannabis.
The bill was sponsored by Sen. Kahn (R-Saginaw), a physician, who said patients using medical marijuana under the state's 2008 law should have more ways of obtaining it. Right now, Michigan patients using medical marijuana can only obtain it from state-licensed growers.
"The idea is now that marijuana is considered a medicine ... there should be a medically reviewed way to get the product," Sen. Kahn told the Detroit News, adding:
"Despite its initial presentation to our people as 'medical,' Michigan's constitutional (marijuana) provision contains no patient protection standards and, in particular, no standards that will protect immunosuppressed patients from molds, pesticides, metals, or other contaminants commonly present in marijuana."
Sen. Gretchen Whitmer (D-East Lansing) charged that Kahn's real motivation was creating a business opportunity for Prairie Plant Systems, a Canadian biotechnology firm that produces medical marijuana. Former GOP legislators are said to be lobbying for the Canadian firm.
In 2000, the Prairie Plant System launched SubTerra LLC, a Michigan based subsidiary, specializing in Plant Made Pharmaceutical research and manufacturing.
SubTerra is a Michigan registered operating company, with office facilities at the White Pine Industrial Park, in White Pine, Michigan. The majority of the company is owned by the acting parent company, Prairie Plant Systems Inc.
Prairie Plant Systems Inc., (PPS) established in 1988, began working with underground growth chambers in 1991. After ongoing successes with their chambers in Flin Flon, Manitoba, Canada, Prairie Plant looked to possible ventures in the United States, leading them to the decommissioned White Pine Mine.
"There's a need to bring this under the proper reins of appropriate manufacturing for patient safety and for public safety," PPS CEO Brent Zettl said.
Michigan voters approved the use of medical marijuana in 2008, but the law does not explain where people are supposed to get marijuana if they don't grow it themselves or have a caregiver who grows it for them. That issue is before the courts. Federal law still prohibits the sale and cultivation of the drug.
In 2003, SubTerra acquired the White Pine Mine (35 square miles of underground area including surface buildings and commercial property. White Pine is west of Ontanogan in the Upper Peninsula, near the Wisconsin border. Underground Growth Chamber facilities located in this mine site are home to Plant Made Pharmaceutical research and manufacturing.
"Since the passage of the public referendum to legalize marijuana for medical use in 2008, the Michigan legislature has tried and failed to regulate the industry in a way that accommodates patients while appeasing social conservatives," Sen. Whitmer said. "The end result has been constant confusion and legal ambiguity and an array of red tape that has impeded Michigan's sick from getting the treatment they need."
The Michigan Pharmacists Association did not take a position on the legislation but issued a statement: "Unlike other prescription medications that pharmacists provide for patients, marijuana has not gone through the rigorous studies on safety and effectiveness required to be approved by the FDA."
- See more at: http://drugtopics.modernmedicine.com/drug-topics/news/michigan-bill-calls-pharmacy-medical-marijuana-dispensing#sthash.LiqGJChi.dpuf ###
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