In legal pot debate, don’t forget about actual patients

Here in Connecticut the ongoing conversation regarding legalization of marijuana is finally coming to a head. The end is near and within the next few years there will be a legal market here in Connecticut. This is very exciting for any resident, but should be a bone-chilling reality for the state’s currently registered 18,000 patients who are already experiencing issues with the current model. In Nevada, there was an immediate shortage of marijuana within the first week of their recreational sales.

As a registered patient in Connecticut, I can only be left to say, what about the patients? With no plan to supply a market that could consume up to 4,000 pounds of recreational marijuana per week, it is apparent patients will be ignored. The state will be hungry for money and will certainly release product to the highest payers (taxed recreational users) and patients will be left to continue to suffer.

There is no marketplace in America that tolerates the oppression of those in need quite like the health care industry or our Medical Marijuana Program here in Connecticut. Come this time next year we will be surrounded by at least two states that allow growth of marijuana by patients and residents alike. Connecticut will be a through-state for traffickers to transport out-of-state-produced product throughout the Northeast and here in our state. Millions of dollars in lost revenues will be directed out of state for other microeconomies to benefit from. No jobs, no spending and certainly no compassion is what Connecticut has in plan for us. I say, if you or someone you love has benefited from the use of marijuana in their life, please write and call your representatives and demand that patients be allowed to grow marijuana before any legal marketplace is implemented.

— Colin Souney Guilford