Dispensaries seen as opportunity for corrections officers turned medical marijua

[Silent_Bob]

http://www.unionleader.com/article/20141102/NEWS12/141109918

"Why not us?"

With that question, three employees of the state Department of Corrections launched a plan to open one of New Hampshire's first medical marijuana dispensaries next year.

Scott Dodge, Normand Marquis and Rex Bunnell are the three principals behind White Birch Medicinals, Inc., a recently incorporated non-profit based in Concord. Dodge and Marquis are probation officers; Bunnell is a licensed alcohol and drug abuse counselor.

The trio plan to submit a bid to run an Alternative Treatment Center (ATC) that "acquires, possesses, cultivates, manufactures, delivers, transfers, transports, sells, supplies and dispenses cannabis, and related supplies, and related educational materials," under the state's new medical marijuana law, according to documents on file with the Secretary of State's office.

"We are just normal guys trying to offer something for a lot of people that really need it," said Bunnell, a Wolfeboro counselor who does substance abuse evaluations for the Department of Corrections.

"We think this is a law that could help a lot of people," said Dodge, who has worked for DOC for 22 years, the last 13 as a probation officer. However, he said, "It's important to be regulated so it's not misused, and so that the people who are actually going to benefit from it will benefit from it.

"So we thought, why not us?"

A second career

All three men plan to retire from their state jobs if they get the contract to open an ATC.

So why would a substance abuse counselor want to get involved in dispensing a controlled drug?

Bunnell estimates that 90 percent of those he evaluates meet the diagnosis for opiate addiction. One day at work, he was discussing the state's drug epidemic with Dodge and Marquis, "talking about our frustrations over what we're seeing on a daily basis."

"This whole thing came up about medical marijuana, and one thing led to another," Bunnell said.

He said the three are "on the fence" about recreational marijuana use, but "we believe in medical marijuana, and we decided to give it a shot."

A recent study published in JAMA Internal Medicine found that states with medical cannabis laws had a 25 percent lower rate of opioid overdose death than states without such laws. It also found those rates tended to drop over time.

"That would lead me to believe that the pain relief that can be gotten from some of the cannabinoids in marijuana are replacing these narcotics that doctors are prescribing," said Bunnell, who studied the effects of cannabinoids on the brain during his graduate work at Antioch College.

State officials say they expect at least half a dozen companies to apply for certification to operate ATCs. By state law, an ATC has to be operated by a nonprofit company; and no taxpayer money can be spent on the program.

The Department of Health and Human Services can certify at least two, but no more than four, such facilities, under the new law.

It's no small undertaking. The annual state registration fee for an ATC is $80,000.

The White Birch partners are looking for a place to grow the cannabis indoors; they've also been studying the new state regulations governing the program.

Bunnell, who would be the administrator of the ATC if his group gets the contract, has four grown children and seven grandchildren. He's not worried about what they'll think if he becomes a marijuana distributor.

In his view, it's no different than a doctor prescribing any medication - although under the new law, it's not a prescription but a "certification" that a provider writes.

"If that doctor recommends that that person receives medicine and what type of medicine that is, we're just offering that to people for them to be able to get some relief," Bunnell said.

The goal of the White Birch partners, he said, is to make sure the product they sell is safe and only going to people using it "for the right reasons."

"We need to be responsible here," he said.

Dodge said he's concerned about what could happen if an out-of-state corporation gets a state contract. "We've lived and worked in New Hampshire for all of our lives, and we're invested in this community, and we don't want outside investments coming in."

Why not? "We think it would be just about the money and not about the patient," said Dodge.

"And I think the way legislators want this is for it to be a smaller operation that would be regulated."

Dodge said "like anybody else," he's been touched by stories of people desperate for relief, such as cancer patients suffering the side effects of chemotherapy.

But he said he does have concerns about the potential for misuse. The burden will be on physicians to properly diagnose patients who truly can benefit from cannabis, and on the Department of Health and Human Services to monitor the new program, he said.

"If they see the same doctor (recommending it) over and over, I think that's probably something they would be alerted to and probably looking out for," Dodge said.

The partners named their company after the official state tree. "We wanted something representative of New Hampshire," Dodge said, noting the state rejected about 20 other suggested names before approving White Birch Medicinals.

They stayed away from names that played off stereotypes about pot, he said. "We don't want this to be a joke," he said. "We want it to be serious. We want transparency."

[Free libertarian]

Some pigs are more equal than others.

[Tom Sawyer]

Had to calm down before I could even formulate a response to this shit.

First off who thought it was a good idea to create a government issued monopoly model for medical marijuana. Some politician's brother in law gets the contract is the way that plays out.

The pigs getting licensed to profit off this is beyond the pale. "Well I made my living persecuting these people, now I get to have a monopoly in the pot business." That would have been the best way to handle Auschwitz... "Well you guards get first dibs on licensing Jews and we get the tax revenue!"

[Jim Johnson]

Now it's seems wrong that hypocrisy is not a crime.

[KBCraig]

Having recently retired from the prison industry, and having had very frank discussions about this topic with BOP coworkers (none of whom ever hesitated to offer an opinion, even without solicitation), I'd say a solid 75% or so favor legalization.

That also holds true for state prison employees who participate on a certain prison web forum.

To cut to the chase, more than once I've heard some version of, "All that stuff they confiscated? Shit, I wish they'd hand it out at Main Line every day. Sure would make our job easier!"

Just like street cops, prison cops never fought anyone who was high. Drunks, on the other hand...