By way of clarification...
Thoughts from the editor
September 16, 2020
It was brought to my attention that a few details in last week’s article regarding the pending opening of The Cassville Dispensary may have been misinterpreted.
To clarify, The Dispensary, as of the date of last week’s publication, was not yet open for business.
When they do open, they don’t expect to immediately have product available. However, they will be available for preliminary patient consultations, with no appointment necessary.
While the initial part of the dispensary’s commencement inspection was conducted September 3, the inspection will not be complete until some minor changes requested by the Department of Health and Senior Services are finished and approved.
For updates on the status of The Cassville Dispensary, please monitor their Facebook page at Cassville Dispensary.
To monitor the progress of other Missouri facilities, you may visit https://health.mo.gov/safety/medical-marijuana/stats.php.
In a September 11 press release by the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, Lyndall Fraker, director of the Section for Medical Marijuana Regulation, says he is confident that medical marijuana will become available for patients in Missouri this month.
“The first testing facility,” he said, “is on track to become operational very soon.”
In the meantime, we all wait.
I do not have a medical marijuana patient card. Right now, thankfully, I don’t have a need for one. Nor, thankfully, do I have a need for any of a litany of prescription pharmaceuticals. Not today, anyway. But that could change tomorrow, especially given the fact that I’m pushing six decades of life.
Which is one reason I’ve been intensely interested in seeing this alternative medicine legalized. If I ever need it for medical reasons, I want to have it legally available as an option.
Marijuana was prescribed by physicians over a century ago, long before the monetary interests of corporations who manufactured competing products made it illegal by the use of scare tactics.
The big thing medical marijuana has going for it, in my book, is that it affects different receptors in the brain than those affected by prescription painkillers (for example). While prescription opioid pain medicines can kill you, marijuana won’t.
I’m not out to change anyone’s mind about its prospective benefits (now that the votes have been cast, at any rate), but here is a tidbit worth considering: This natural medicine is still being held hostage on a federal level. Why? Because corporate pharmaceutical dollars are still at stake, as well as funds channeled to other entities.
I won’t go into a history lesson, but the history is interesting.
In Missouri, medical marijuana will generate revenue to serve Missouri veterans. The September 11 press release I alluded to earlier stated that $2,135,510 is currently in the process of being transferred to the Missouri Veterans Commission, per the provisions of Constitutional Amendment 2 (now known as Article XIV), the medical marijuana initiative approved by voters on the November 2018 ballot. These funds were received from facilities and patients seeking licensing.
Future sales of product from licensed dispensaries will be taxed at a rate of four percent, according to the provisions of Article XIV.
No, I don’t believe that medical marijuana is the be-all and cure-all for every ailment which could conceivably afflict a person, but, for those who need it, I’m happy its benefits are now available without threat of negative repercussions.
I’m also curious to learn how its sales will impact Cassville and the state as a whole.
We’ll soon find out.
