{"id":5690,"date":"2017-12-03T12:26:04","date_gmt":"2017-12-03T17:26:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lcpllutzlivetotell.org\/?p=5690"},"modified":"2019-08-08T12:55:55","modified_gmt":"2019-08-08T16:55:55","slug":"medical-marijuana-sold-maryland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lutzlivetotell.org\/?p=5690","title":{"rendered":"Medical Marijuana sold in Maryland"},"content":{"rendered":"

MEDICAL MARIJUANA IS FINALLY SOLD IN MARYLAND AFTER YEARS OF DELAYS<\/h1>\n
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For years, many Maryland residents anxiously awaited the sale of medical marijuana, but continual delays proved to be a setback. On Friday, the doors finally opened to the much-anticipated medical marijuana dispensary, called Potomac Holistics.<\/span><\/div>\n
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watch full video here:\u00a0http:\/\/www.newsweek.com\/medical-marijuana-finally-sold-maryland-after-years-delays-729731<\/div>\n
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Residents flocked from across the state to buy products from the Rockville shop,\u00a0The Washington Post<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>reports. Among the first group of customers to make a purchase was Denise Broyhill, who told\u00a0The Associated Press<\/a>\u00a0that she\u2019d hope the marijuana tablets would help ease the pain of a neurological condition, of which she didn’t\u00a0specify.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very excited to try it and relieved to get through the whole process after waiting so long,\u201d Broyhill told the AP. \u201cIt\u2019s been a longtime, but I\u2019m looking to have some good pain management.\u201d<\/p>\n

Third in line was 38-year-old David Johnson, who is hoping to relieve the pain of nerve damage he\u2019s suffered from for nearly 10 years, he told The Washington Post.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m looking forward to no pain, no stress,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cI know you can\u2019t smoke it in the parking lot, but I won\u2019t make it too much past here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Any patient in the state who seeks to purchase medical marijuana as a treatment option must have approval from their medical provider and be diagnosed with one of the following conditions: cachexia, anorexia, wasting syndrome, chronic or severe pain, severe nausea, seizures, severe or persistent muscle spasms, glaucoma, and post-traumatic stress disorder, according to the\u00a0Maryland Medical Cannabis Commission<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn Maryland, there are very liberal qualifying conditions,\u201d William Askinazi, one of the owners of Potomac Holistics, told the AP.<\/p>\n

“Medical provider” is loosely defined and allows not only physicians to confirm a patient\u2019s eligibility, but also nurse practitioners, dentists, podiatrists, and nurse midwives.<\/p>\n

Although the state\u2019s medical marijuana bill passed in\u00a02013<\/a>, the first plants weren\u2019t grown until the fall of 2017. One reason for the long delay was due to a change in the law. The 2013 law was only open to academic medical centers, but none showed interest.<\/p>\n

Therefore, the law was changed the following year to give permission to licensed doctors to offer marijuana as a treatment option for certain conditions. As of September 2, nineteen companies were enrolled in the medical marijuana program,\u00a0The Washington Post<\/a><\/em>\u00a0reports.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis program is launched now,\u201d Patrick Jameson, executive director of the Maryland Medical Cannabis Commission, told\u00a0The Pos<\/em>t on September 2. \u201cWe have growers, processors and a dispensary, and we have a lab. The market will determine how this moves forward.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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BY\u00a0JANISSA DELZO<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>