Medical Marijuana Legalized

By C.S. Hagen

cshagen@hpr1.com

Election results shocked the nation last week, but it was Measure 5, the legalization of medical marijuana that took the state by surprise.

Medical marijuana, now legal in North Dakota and not considered recreational, will take some time to implement, but patients are already hounding the phones for information. Fargo native Riley Ray Morgan initiated the measure, and it passed with 64 percent of the vote.

“It’s a good day to be alive,” Morgan said. “I would never have believed that number could be achieved. I was shocked.”

Morgan is a stockbroker who suffers from debilitating pain including drop foot, which is pain and numbness, similar to the sensation of having a limb fall asleep – but worse – after he underwent spinal surgery in Germany. For years, Morgan has been taking prescription painkillers that could cause liver damage, and he initiated the measure to offer alternative relief for those suffering from seizures, and chronic pain from cancer, glaucoma, HIV, hepatitis C, Crohn’s disease, and other illnesses.

“I’m not a big pill guy, the stuff the doctors give us is not good for us, like the end of commercials, … that’s scary,” Morgan said. “I wanted something natural that I have faith in, rather than a man-made chemical.”

He’s pleased the measure passed, and even happier the battle to legalize medical marijuana is over.

“And we want things to progress as quickly as possible. It was a great day for the voters of North Dakota, and a great day for the people who have various illnesses in North Dakota.”

Although the measure passed by a wide margin, the road to its passing wasn’t easy, and was rejected twice by the state legislature.

Pamela Anderson D-N.D., state representative, said medical marijuana wasn’t on her to-do list originally, but she researched the issue after Morgan approached her, discovering that 25 states have already passed similar measures.

“We put together a bill, but the North Dakota Committee, the Human Services Committee, and the whole legislature they certainly weren’t in favor of it. You know, they kept talking about Colorado and all the problems of Colorado… and we kept saying this isn’t legalizing marijuana for everyone; this is for medical purposes. Minnesota for heaven’s sakes has a dispensary. Moorhead hasn’t gone to hell in a handbasket.”

With no initial success, she proposed a bill to authorize research into medical marijuana. “They shut that down too. And then a light bulb went off in my head, as I was not very happy with the response of the state legislature… I can remember standing up and testifying that out of the hundreds of emails, phone calls everything that I got, there was one person that didn’t think this was a good idea.”

Morgan, his wife Anita, and his initial team of 25 people, circumvented the state legislation process, and began their campaign to place medical marijuana on the state ballot. They didn’t politicize the issue, Anderson said, they made the issue about quality of life.

Although technically medical marijuana is now legal in the state, marijuana usage is still federally illegal, and the drug won’t be available for months to come, Public Information Officer of the North Dakota Department of Health Jennifer Skjod said.

North Dakotans cannot drive across Memorial Bridge and legally buy medical marijuana; state line regulatory enforcement has not changed.

“There’s a lot of unknowns that we’re working with,” Skjod said. Her agency’s phones are ringing off the hook, but for now, updated information can be found in the upper right hand corner of the department’s website.

Some in her department were surprised the measure passed. “It was like anything. There were some of us thinking it was a possibility and others weren’t so sure,” Skjold said. “Personally, if it didn’t pass this year it would have eventually.”

Patients must obtain prescriptions from their doctors, and then they will be issued identification cards after background checks, Skjod said. Those living 40 miles or more from a future dispensary are allowed to grow up to eight plants inside their homes.

Anyone who is interested in growing medical marijuana must be:

At least 21 years old

Agree to assist patients

Have no felony convictions

Cannot have more than five qualifying patients

Cannot grow medical marijuana within 1,000 feet of a school

Must live 40 miles or more from a dispensary

A USD 125 non-refundable application fee applies

A USD 5,000 application fee applies

A USD 25,000 certification fee applies

Measure 5, according to Deputy State Health Officer Arvy Smith, could cost the state USD 7.35 million during the first biennium. The bill took 18 months to implement, and will “require significant amendments by the legislature to provide clarity, corrections, and adequate start-up funding.”

North Dakota’s medical marijuana law now allows for unlimited growers and sellers, if they pass background checks and other stipulations, and allows any form of the drug’s use, Smith said.

According to the measure’s initial bill, users, which include individuals of any age, can smoke, vaporize, eat, use as a topical, or as a tincture. Compassionate care centers, or dispensaries can possess up to 1,000 marijuana plants, and designated caregivers can possess up to eight marijuana plants.

Users who do not grow their own marijuana plants can obtain three ounces or less every two weeks.

At the state level, the measure will require adding 32 full-time employees, but gathering the funding necessary for growing the plants, and for setting up dispensaries, will take time and funds, which are not yet in place.

“We have to ramp up our game,” Skjold said. “We are meeting daily.” Her department is beginning talks with the North Dakota Office of Management and Budget to request emergency funds, she said.

Revenues from the sales of medical marijuana will be taxable, the Office of the State Tax Commissioner reported. The role of the physician is to certify, and not prescribe medical marijuana to patients qualifying under one or more of the medical conditions.

“The initiated measure does not impose any state taxes,” the official statement from the Office of the State Tax Commissioner reported. “However, under existing law, the state sales tax of 5 percent would apply to the retail purchase price of all medical marijuana products sold in the state, including seeds and plants for “grow your own” usage, as well as products sold in final form.”

The Office of the State Tax Commissioner could not make estimates of the potential tax revenues from marijuana sales in North Dakota.

The North Dakota Attorney General’s office reported the legalization of medical marijuana will result in a significant increase in workload for the Crime Laboratory and Criminal and Regulatory divisions, for the Fire Marshal, the Bureau of Criminal Investigation, and the State and Local Intelligence Center. The Attorney General’s office estimates that 2,000 records checks will be necessary per year, and that the department will need to hire six agents, one chief agent, one supervisory agent, analysts and criminal history investigators.

The North Dakota Department of Health estimated 16,500 patients in North Dakota will initially qualify for medical marijuana usage. The annual registration fee will be set at USD 117, for both qualified patients and designated caregivers. If the price per ounce is USD 300, and all eligible patients bought one ounce per year, already total sales would equal USD 4.95 million, of which USD 247,500 would be pocketed by the state. If all 16,500 patients purchased three ounces every two weeks, the total sales would equal nearly USD 386 million, of which USD 19 million would be taken by the state as taxes.

For now, Morgan and other patients in the Peace Garden State will have to wait. There are rolls of red tape that must be unraveled. Morgan hopes within nine months he can quit prescription painkillers and begin taking medical marijuana, by vaporization or tincture.

By law, measures passed by voters must be implemented within 30 days of approval by the voters, which would be December 8, 2016. Estimated startup costs for the state are approximately USD 1.4 million, with an additional USD 200,000 for monthly salaries and operating costs.