Patients, Caregivers and Treatment Centers: Who Can Grow and How?

(This article first appeared in Mass Grass. It has been changed from the original publication and contains corrections.)

Bill Downing

Cannabis will soon be grown across the state for medical purposes. We expect most of you activists would like to grow some too. What are the chances we will be able to grow and that will we be able to enjoy the fruits of our labors? As usual, the answer is—it depends.

If you can answer “yes” to these questions, then—YES, you can grow cannabis!

PATIENTS

1. Do you have a “debilitating medical condition” serious enough that your doctor or any doctor will write a recommendation that you try cannabis, which includes all the information required for it to be accepted by the Department of Public Health (DPH)? Until the DPH makes more rules (within 120 days from January 1, 2013) that recommendation will work as a “limited cultivation registration.”
2. Will you fill-in your application accurately and completely so that it meets the DPH standard and they will issue you a “Registration Card” to prove you are a medical cannabis user?
3. Will you then qualify for a “Cultivation Registration”?
• You cannot lie on your applications.
• You must wait until the DPH sets the rules (which will happen within 120 days after January 1, 2013).
• You must limit your grow to a “60-day supply” (as determined by the Department of Public Health within 120 days of January 1, 2013) per patient and enclose your grow and stash in a locked closed area.
4. Will you keep your Registration on hand for visits by police?

CARE GIVERS

1. Are you 21 years old or older?
2. Will a Registration Card-holding patient who cannot or will not grow their own trust you to grow cannabis for them?
3. Can you wait 120 days after January 1, 2013 to apply (while DPH writes the rules), then wait for approval?
4. Will you avoid being caught consuming cannabis unless you are a Card Holder?
5. Will you qualify for a “Cultivation Registration”?
• You cannot lie on your applications.
• You must wait until January 1, 2013 before your doctor’s recommendation will work as a temporary cultivator’s license until the DPH sets the rules (get your recommendation as soon as possible after January 1, 2013).
• You must limit your grow to a “60-day supply” (as determined by the Department of Public Health within 120 days of January 1, 2013) and enclose your grow and stash in a locked closed area.
• You must keep your Registration on hand for visits by police.

TREATMENT CENTERS

1. Will you be selected as one of up to 35 successful applicants? (Applications of no more than 5 locations per county will be approved.)
2. Will your treatment center be not-for-profit (really meaning all “profits” must be plowed into salaries, employee benefits and assets)?
3. Will your Treatment Center have a maximum of only 2 locations per Center—a retail Treatment Center and a cultivation location?
4. Will you develop acceptable “operating procedures” (who knows)?
5. Will you and all your employees and volunteers qualify as Dispensary Agents (must be 21+ years old)?
6. Will you only service Card Holders and Personal Care Givers?
7. Can you qualify to be given a Cultivation Registration?
• You cannot lie on your applications.
• You must wait until the DPH sets the rules (which will happen within 120 days after January 1, 2013).
• You must keep your Registration on hand for visits by police.
8. Can you wait up to one year and 90 days from January 1? DPH has one year from January 1, 2013 before they have to entertain applications from potential distributors and another 90 days to respond to applications.
9. Have you ever had your Dispensary Agency taken away for violating the rules (of course not yet)?
10. Will you report to DPH within one day if a volunteer or employee no longer works at the Treatment Center?
11. Have any of your “principal officers or board members” served as such for a Treatment Center whose Cultivation Registration has ever been revoked (obviously not yet)?
12. Do you have money to buy your license (at a cost as yet to be determined) and initiate the business (grow ops, secured facilities and a retail outlet)?
13. Do you have sufficient bearing and standing in the community where you would locate to overcome misgivings regarding the growth and sale of  “marijuana” in that community?
14. Are you willing to risk your entire effort and investment on a business that the federal government may close or seize at any moment (unless things change)?
15. Are you willing to face federal prosecution for growing and distributing cannabis?