The next editorial appeared within the Pittsburgh Tribune-Evaluation. It doesn’t essentially mirror the opinion of The Tribune-Democrat.
The dialog surrounding marijuana has shifted over time.
It went from being demonized for many years to being urged as useful in relieving signs of some medical circumstances to being touted as all however a miracle remedy.
In 2016, Gov. Tom Wolf signed the regulation that made medical marijuana authorized in Pennsylvania. The regulation went into impact in 2018.
Since then, marijuana dispensaries have popped up throughout the state like weeds. Not that type of weed.
However whether or not you assist the concept of medical marijuana or not, you possibly can’t deny that it’s changing into large enterprise. The Medical Marijuana Advisory Board reported greater than 384,000 lively sufferers in November 2021, producing greater than $4 billion in income.
That implies that, regardless of its plucky, grassroots picture, medical marijuana is a full-on business that needs to be considered with all of the essential pondering one would deliver to another moneymaker.
In order for you proof, look to the Highlight PA story that reveals how some dispensaries are pushing the concept of medical marijuana as an answer to the opioid disaster.
Highlight reviewed 60 web sites of marijuana corporations and located various claims that have been both selective within the analysis offered or outright misrepresented it.
Opioids have been an epidemic that was unfold, partially, by the best way Massive Pharma marketed authorized pharmaceuticals. It’s a lesson some medical marijuana companies both discovered too nicely or didn’t take note of in any respect.
Whereas it’s tempting to place all of the blame on the businesses, that may be unfair. The vast majority of the blame? Certain. How- ever, it’s nonetheless necessary to acknowledge the state has a accountability, as nicely.
Since 2018, when medical marijuana went from a marketing campaign promise to a jingling money register, Pennsylvania has had an obligation to deal with it like a brand new business that has rising pains to handle.
It ought to have discovered these opioid classes because it was actively battling the issue – and suing opioid corporations.
As an alternative, the state appears to have devoted extra of its time to rising the business than managing it, together with a variety of dialog about marijuana legalization exterior of its medical makes use of.
If Pennsylvania is absolutely destined to be the following place the place marijuana is totally authorized, it’s as much as the state to determine find out how to do it safely and fairly – and find out how to preserve Massive Weed from following in Massive Pharma’s footsteps.
