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Last Word: Yes, Medical and Recreational Cannabis CAN and SHOULD Co-Exist

Can medical and recreational marijuana co-exist?

It’s a good question given the recent CBE stories about the issues for many medical marijuana dispensary owners who seem to be getting shut out, ignored, and perhaps even discriminated against as the State of Washington stumbles around trying to issue licenses and deal with full recreational legalization.

In Washington State, having a medical marijuana dispensary almost seems to be a black mark against you if you want to get a license for recreational cannabis.

But in Massachusetts, there is a lot of discussion — as this story in the Milford Daily News points out — about how medical and recreational marijuana can get along.

The bottom line? The medical marijuana industry, at least in the Bay State, doesn’t feel like it has anything to worry about. As the newspaper pointed out”

Medical marijuana is here to stay. We have a good law, and a lot of patients,” said Boston attorney Valerio Romano, who represents the Millis-based Commonwealth Cannabis Company, or CommCan. That business has sought to place growing facilities in Southborough and Medway and a dispensary in Framingham. “I don’t see (recreational marijuana) as a concern.”

When legal recreational marijuana comes along, Romano said, the medical product will have a price advantage. While the recreational form will be subject to taxes, the state has determined that medical marijuana should not have a sales tax imposed on it.”

Given all the taxes that get dropped on to marijuana at the point of sale, giving medical marijuana users a tax break is a good thing — and a plus for the medical cannabis industry,

And it makes me wonder — why can’t medical marijuana co-exist with recreational or adult use marijuana in every state where both are legal?

Or to put it another way, given that medical cannabis has been the foot in the door to some form of legalization is so many states, don’t we owe it to consumers and patients alike to make sure that marijuana is available in both forms for all?

If medical marijuana is indeed the pain-killing wonder drug so many in the industry tout, it should continue to hold that status everywhere that marijuana is legal.

And, it shows — again — how the licensing follies in the State of Washington that seems to be penalizing medical dispensaries are an abomination that should disgust anyone who has been fighting for legalization to continue to spread and take hold.

Washington State is an example of how NOT to have medical and recreational marijuana co-exist. We need to do what we can to solve that problem and deal with state-sponsored bureaucratic stupidity that gives everyone in the Cannabis Industry a bad name.

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