In an effort toward awareness and expectation, Trigg County Hospital’s Chief of Staff Dr. Joe Thomas spent most of Thursday night’s Board of Directors meeting laying out the future of medical marijuana in the community.
With the state’s new laws going into effect January 1, and the community approving it in the recent General Election, it is coming to Cadiz and the surrounding burghs. And Thomas noted everyone is entering uncharted territory.
Medical cards, he said, won’t function as prescriptions, per se, but will instead authorize a qualified individual to obtain certain amounts of THC products at a dispensary.
What is difficult, he added, is the full understanding of dosage, and how to assign it.
Thomas said he consistently receives questions mainly surrounding its legality, because for so long, marijuana and its derivatives have been the root of criminal charges.
This isn’t so different, though, to other medical breakthroughs.
According to the Associated Press, CNN and Fox News, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration is making moves toward reclassifying marijuana from the “Schedule I” group to the “Schedule III” group, making its potential possession and abuse severely decriminalized and less regulated.
However, that hasn’t happened as of yet. This proposal must still be reviewed by the White House Office of Management and Budget, and the public comment period through the DEA begins December 2 — leaving litigation and law in a sort of gray-green area.
Joe Nichols, of Seven Springs Farms, confirmed these concerns to the board, noting he and others worked to apply for a cultivator’s license — only to learn of some drawbacks.
Thomas said one of the main detractors for him is that lack of a prescription base, where one might suggest the use of an oil over an edible, or an edible over a balm, or a balm over a vaporized inhalant.
Instead, he noted there is a bit of trial and error.
Also, he said January brings about the policing of the new “two-step” rule, in which said medical products must be at least two steps away from a patient if they are operating heavy machinery — like a vehicle, a forklift and/or construction equipment — and that public and private HR departments will need to either revise copy, or remind staff, of company policies regarding medications.
In the November 5 General Election, Trigg Countians overwhelmingly approved the state’s January 1 marijuana measures on cultivation and sales for both inside and outside the Cadiz city limits — nearly 2:1 for both jurisdictions.
Furthermore, on Thursday afternoon, Governor Andy Beshear noted that the Office of Medical Cannabis has already issued 29 licenses to cultivators, safety compliance facilities and processors. The dispensary license lottery will be held on two dates: 2 PM Monday, November 25, and then again on Monday, December 16. Both drawings will be held in Louisville, under coordination with the Kentucky Lottery Corporation.
Earlier this year, several Kentucky-licensed doctors and Advanced Practice Registered Nurses (APRNs) began applying to their licensing boards to become authorized medical cannabis practitioners. As of this week, more than 150 have become authorized for as practitioner, and that number is expected to grow exponentially after the New Year.
A directory for such doctors can be found online at kymedcan.ky.gov beginning December 1. A monthly webinar for prospective medical cannabis cardholders is expected in the coming weeks.
FULL DISCUSSION
