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Potential Collapse of WA Medical Cannabis Market

Writer's picture: David BenedicktusDavid Benedicktus


The Cannabis Alliance - Town Hall - DOH Medical Cannabis Program Summary


On December 7th 2023, the Cannabis Alliance hosted the first state wide Town Hall Meeting with the WA Department of Health (DOH). The Town Hall was held at the Seattle Downtown Library with stakeholders from around Washington remotely attending, including Jeremy Robbins and David Benedicktus co-founders of CPPNW.


Below is a summary of the take aways and a link to the full summary including audio testimony from Jeremy Robbins. 



Shannon Angell, DOH Deputy Director of Drug Systems summarized the DOH role in the regulation of medical cannabis

“limited to establishing standards for medically compliant product…. administrating and monitoring the medical cannabis registry database,” which was done by a “vendor who was hosting [the confidential] information that is in there…even confidential from Department of Health staff.” Their staff’s final responsibility was “the licensing and certification of the medical cannabis consultants,”


DOH staff heard stories and suggestions from patients, advocates, and other stakeholders on how to improve affordability, access, and understanding of medically compliant cannabis products.


Moderators offered some context around how the medical program had been set up and changed over the years before stakeholders offered comments around difficulties for patients, endorsed stores, certified consultants, and what DOH staff could do to help.


Take Aways:


HB 1453—legislation to exempt patients from the 37% excise tax on medically compliant cannabis products—would be reintroduced in the 2024 legislative session and could provide greater financial relief for patients than existing exemptions for sales and use taxes.

 Current system makes it difficult finding an endorsed store.


Jessica Tonani, Verda Bio CEO, identified as a research licensee and former patient who stopped participating in the medical cannabis data base three years ago because she couldn't find a store to get her in the database.” She called for easier renewal options that didn’t rely on patients locating an endorsed store where certified consultants on staff could register them.


Chuck Olivier, Dimebag Scale Company Owner also commented on the access to medical cannabis decreased after the passage of the recreational cannabis bill:

Olivier considered it a “cruelty” of merging adult-use and medical systems that access became more difficult as the siting of retail stores was more restricted. In addition to changes in distance requirements for licensed stores, he wanted officials to allow for “a patients’-only specific clinic with an authorization facility…not open to the general public, open to patients only where vetted product could be sold”

Jeremy Robbins, Cannabis Patients PNW focused on needs of patients access with mobility impairments land needs of long-term cannabis patients.


Jeremy Robbins indicated he was a patient who’d suffered a spinal cord injury 24 years earlier. As he would spend the rest of his life in pain and without the ability to walk, he wondered why the medical cannabis program didn’t permit a continuing patient authorization that didn’t have to be renewed annually. Robbins reported that he had limited medical clinic and endorsed retail access; he hoped the program could change to let him register as a patient online similar to how the Oregon medical cannabis program functioned.  He further wanted curbside service, a temporary allowance during the coronavirus pandemic, to become a permanent allowance to help those with mobility impairments. Carveth acknowledged that DOH officials weren’t empowered to address all those issues but they could engage on the topic with counterparts at other agencies

 

Patrick Seifert, veteran activist and Twenty22Many Founder Seifert noted his work on medical cannabis policy included getting post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) added to the list of qualifying conditions, but believed veterans had been “forgotten” since then. Even though rules allowed donation of cannabis products to patients, Seifert had been unable to get retailers to set up a program to advertise as “Twenty22Many support depots” and donate dated products to patients. At the moment, “zero have a program set up …for veterans to get free meds. You guys pay to have those meds destroyed,” he said. Seifert reported giving away cannabis to homeless veterans, “and every single time we do that their face lights up.” He hoped a more standardized program to help veteran cannabis patients would take shape, but felt the excise tax exemption could be a significant incentive for both patients and licensees to produce or sell compliant items.

Through an online survey, further feedback was collected on topics like patient confidence in the program, problems with helping patients in a retail setting, social equity, product standards and safety, along with consultant training concerns.

  • Where patients sourced their medical cannabis, retail stores were the most common answer.

  • A question on average costs per month showed a majority of respondents indicated it was over $100, while many insisted their costs were several times higher.

Lotta Brathwaite, Bakersmen Collective Founder, complained that endorsed retail stores were a poor setting to help patients, and felt immunocompromised patients deserved their own dedicated area with adequate ventilation. She said Airlift, the vendor hosting the database, required use of patient cards even as other companies like State Farm Insurance allowed records to be accessed via their mobile app. Braithwaite then commented on the lack of medically compliant products, and suggested WSLCB should help identify available products.

 

Trey RecklingAcademy of Cannabis Science Founder, emphasized that laws allowing for the donation of cannabis products to patients that would otherwise be disposed of should continue to ensure “those products don't get ground up with sawdust or whatever compost, but instead go” to patients in need “cost free.

 

Cannabis Alliance Executive Director, Caitlein Ryan, brought the conversation to a close, finding it “abundantly clear” more events and discussion were needed.


She promised the Cannabis Alliance would stay involved in “finding more opportunities to continue to have conversations like this.” She pointed to a video she’d posted with Kingsbury a year before where they discussed “how the medical cannabis program in Washington state was on a respirator and we were worried.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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