What About Medical Cannabis Patients

What about the Patients?

      Recently, the legalization of adult use recreational cannabis in Nevada has brought to the for front an issue many legal states have struggled with. As cannabis becomes legal, often the needs of the medical cannabis patients of the state are put on the back burner in favor of recreational cannabis. Patients struggle with new regulations, cannabis shortages and outrageous price increases. All the while the fact many have debilitating conditions is over looked by regulators and the media and patients are left to fend for themselves.

     Nevada’s problems arise from an issue with distribution. Due to hastily written regulations, there is no one to restock the shelves once retail shops run out. In the Silver State, the high prices and shortages have pushed patients back to the streets to buy their needed medicine. Unfortunately, there has been little reporting on how the misstep has effected medical cannabis patients. Oregon and Washington medical cannabis patients have suffered under newly written regulations. Citing illegal grows Colorado ended cooperative grows, joining Washington State in reducing this system of growing that has helped many suffering patients. All the new regulations, compounded by high taxes, have produced a market of scarcity, which have led directly to the higher prices.

     The problem arises when regulators think of recreational cannabis consumers and medical cannabis patients are in the same cohort. In fact, both groups are very different. with the main difference being access to disposable income. Most recreational cannabis consumers’ have jobs. Many medical cannabis patients are on Social Security, with very little extra income. The high prices often lead to patients going without, or turning to the illicit market for their cannabis. This is the very reason medical cannabis activist undertook medical legalization to begin with. And now regulators are forgetting about the very people who need cannabis the most. Regulators must think of medical cannabis patients first when they write legal cananbis regulations.