(IL) Pharmacists ask to be allowed to run pot dispensaries

[Jesus Malverde]

Pharmacist Joseph Friedman has a dream to open his own medical marijuana dispensary in Illinois.

Who better to oversee the recently legalized sale of medicinal pot, he asks, than pharmacists, who understand dosing, side effects and drug interactions?

"It makes perfect sense," he said. "After all, pharmacists are the drug experts."

One problem: Pharmacists' federal licenses prohibit them from dispensing the drug.

That's why Friedman, of Lincolnshire, is leading a push in Illinois to have pharmacists run marijuana dispensaries and to reclassify the drug as a "Schedule II" substance for medical use.

After Friedman's presentation Tuesday before the Illinois State Board of Pharmacy, other leading pharmacists expressed interest in the board getting involved as the rules for medical marijuana distribution are sorted out.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/health/ct-medical-marijuana-pharmacist-met-20140115,0,369192.story

[frazzled]

1. I think it's a good idea

The Illinois law is highly restricted as to the diseases covered. Pharmacists will be far better equipped to deal with the stringent doctors' diagnoses and certifications required. If this is truly a "medical" marijuana bill (and it is constructed that way), then medical professionals such as pharmacists should be involved in the dispensaries.

Sorry folks, but this isn't a backdoor bill to recreational pot, as in California or some other states. If you're going to call it "medical marijuana" then it should be medical. If you want to legalize in general then legalize. I don't care either way. I do care about playing games with laws and legal language, however ... simply because it opens the door to prevarication in other, more significant, areas.