Delaware medical marijuana patients unhappy

Marijuana quality and packaging were high on the list of improvements sought by Delaware's medical marijuana patients who expressed their unhappiness during the first board meeting of an oversight committee monitoring the state's medical marijuana operation.

Newark resident Judith McDonald acknowledges that she broke the law nearly four years ago by making the decision to grow marijuana out of her house. But she had to, she said; she has two rare tumors, fibrosis and spinal issues.

Now turning to First State Compassion Center to legally purchase medicinal marijuana, McDonald said, she is disappointed with the pricing and packaging. A gram, a little larger then a beer bottle cap, costs $17. Though the center offers discounts based on income, the price is too much to bear, she said.

"I was told to scrape the bottom to get the marijuana out," McDonald said during public comment. "I will have no retirement."

The Delaware Medical Marijuana Oversight Committee, commissioned under the state's medical marijuana law, convened for the first time Tuesday, bringing together a board of physicians, community members and state officials.

The nine-member board is tasked with making recommendations to the state on how the law and medical marijuana program can be improved.

"This is new and this is complicated," said committee member Dr. Karyl Rattay, director of Delaware's Division of Public Health, which oversees the state's medical marijuana program.

Mark Lally, a former state trooper, runs Delaware's only medical marijuana growing facility in Wilmington with Joel Allcock, former head of Rhode Island's largest state-licensed compassion center, as his director of cultivation and senior vice president.

"My concern, my mission is to make sure that our patients have a safe place to come, affordable medicine and education to help them with their ailments," Lally said after the meeting.

He added he is open to hearing the patients' concerns and making legitimate changes per the state's guidelines.

Sen. Margaret Rose Henry, who was voted chair of the committee at the meeting Tuesday, penned Delaware's medical marijuana law. Though marijuana use is still considered illegal under federal law, states have the jurisdiction to legislate the drug's use on their own terms.

Delaware's law was signed in 2011 with the first patient being issued an identification card in September 2012.

Now over 600 Delaware residents have cards issued by the state health department allowing them to purchase marijuana from the center.

Currently, the First State Compassion Center in Wilmington is the only operating facility, and is characterized as a "pilot center."

Deb McPherson of New Castle, also a cardholder, uses marijuana to curb the chronic pain caused by herniated discs in her back and fibromyalgia. McPherson said she started the Delaware Patient Network for medical marijuana patients because people were confused with how to obtain cards and where they could go for help.

The state needs to start hearing the patients' voices, she said.

Trevor Wiberg traveled from Sussex County to attend Tuesday night's meeting. Wiberg, who suffers with a painful connective tissue disorder, said he is seriously considering not renewing his marijuana identification card.

Consistency and quality are his biggest issues with the products available to patients. The packages easily break and are not resealable so it is difficult for the product to stay fresh.

Wiberg said he'd consider taking his chances outside of the center when the state's decriminalization law goes into effect in the new year.

The law, signed at the end of the legislative session, decriminalizes the possession of 1 ounce or less of marijuana for personal use and eliminates criminal penalties for a possession. Instead, violation of the law is a $100 fine.

Packaging is based on state regulations, Lally said, and as a business they cannot change how they operate at the compassion center without state approval.

He said he also "totally disagrees" with the center's marijuana plants lacking quality and purity.

Under the law, the state is allowed to open one clinic in each county to serve people with debilitating pain, nausea, cancer, multiple sclerosis, HIV, hepatitis C, Lou Gehrig's disease, post-traumatic stress disorder and Alzheimer's disease per a physician's referral. A separate law, passed in June, allows children to use marijuana-extracted oils for treatment of conditions such as seizures and muscle spasms.

The law continues to expand. Patients with a severe form of autism who are prone to aggressive or self-injurious tendencies as of November will be able to apply for medical marijuana cards to purchase various strains.

Committee members discussed the importance of getting information out to the physician community as the law changes and expands. Rattay said that the Medical Society of Delaware held training sessions with doctors throughout the state. One of the last sessions welcomed over 50 physicians.

Still, more outreach needs to be done, said Dr. Jason Silversteen, a neurology specialist with Christiana Care who heads the Comprehensive Multiple Sclerosis Center.

"It's [medical marijuana] still controversial and there's stigma behind it," Silversteen said.

Added Henry, "We have to sometimes hunt for physicians who believe in what we do." The state has tracked that more than 200 physicians have written medical cannabis prescriptions for patients.

Jen Rini can be reached at (302) 324-2386 or jrini@delawareonnline.com. Follow @JenRini on Twitter.