Providing Medical Marijuana for Distribution by the New Mexico Department of Health

A Proposal

AUGUST 29, 2002

It is an interesting time we live in. At this moment, the momentum to allow marijuana to be used again as a medicine in the United States is growing. More than a half-dozen states have already approved its use, though the federal government continues to interfere with and impede those local decisions. In each of these states, however, there remains strong support for medical marijuana and efforts to allow its availability to the sick continue as a two-pronged attack. On the one hand, activists are working to overcome the legal hurdles that have been placed before states that have approved medical marijuana. On the other hand, marijuana continues to be distributed, in disjointed and disorganized ways, to people who are sick and in need, in these states and many others.

At the same time that these battles continue, other states are cueing up to consider allowing medical marijuana to be available to their citizens. New Mexico is obviously in this group, and the likely next governor, Bill Richardson, has stated that he would support reconsideration of that issue by the New Mexico legislature when he is elected. In order to prepare for that opportunity, it is important that some of the issues which helped shelve the bill earlier this year be re-thought, and that an effort begin now to clarify those previously muddy issues to gain support early on for a revised medical marijuana bill.

As I understand it (observing the process from a distance), one of the stumbling blocks last year was the absence of any language in the bill to delineate how patients would obtain medical marijuana. There was language dealing with how patients and their medical caregivers would obtain approval to use medical marijuana, but no language on how they would obtain the medicine thereafter. This is obviously an important issue, and one that needs serious consideration.

For those states with medical marijuana experience, the most common ways through which patients have obtained medical marijuana was to receive permission to grow their own, to join a compassion club through which they would obtain the medicine or to buy it from the underground market. There are problems with each of these avenues. While some patients suffering from chronic conditions which are not immediately life-threatening can learn to grow their own medicine (not an easy task), there are many potential patients whose life expectancy is too short or whose ability to grow marijuana is too limited for this to be the only allowable option. Likewise, compassion clubs have been successful in serving as brokers between patients and marijuana growers. But only a few compassion clubs have grown their own medicine. As a result, these clubs often have had to pay bloated underground market prices to growers to obtain medicine and their supply was at the mercies of all of the forces that impact that underground market. Finally, having patients obtain their own medicine directly from the underground market is inadvisable for a number of reasons, not the least of which is the questionable quality and purity of the medicine that is available on the streets. This issue is of particular concern in New Mexico, where adulteration of street marijuana with PCP and other substances is not uncommon. (This is also a good argument for states not to use confiscated marijuana from their evidence rooms as a medical marijuana source.)

At this point in the rapidly evolving history of medical marijuana, there are only a few examples of governments serving as the provider of medical marijuana. We are all aware of the U.S. government's pot farm at the University of Mississippi, where the few patients now approved to use medical marijuana obtain their supplies. But we have also learned in recent months that the Ole Miss growers don't seem to know what they are doing, providing patients with seeds, stems and leaves in addition to dried flowers of the female cannabis plant (the only medically useful part of the plant). For those of us who have met one of the "approved" patients, the quality of the Ole Miss marijuana they are provided appears inferior to almost anything available on the streets. This fact has been made public recently, after a California researcher obtained medical marijuana from Ole Miss that his patients deemed as worthless. (Many Americans, including many sick Americans, know a good joint when they smoke it.) So having New Mexico rely on obtaining medical marijuana from Ole Miss seems a bad idea at present.

To our north, Canada is currently subsidizing the small-scale production of medical marijuana by an organization that was created specifically for this purpose. The non-governmental contractor employs persons (I am told) who are experienced in growing marijuana hydroponically for the underground market in Canada. They have established a grow operation deep underground, using the latest advances in indoor growing technology. However, I am also told that there have been at least two set-backs in this fledgling operation, including the failed attempt to grow 150 varieties simultaneously and B paradoxically B the decision to produce only limited quantities of the medicine. However, if Canada continues on its current path toward approving medical marijuana (as well as relaxing its legal sanctions against responsible recreational use of marijuana by healthy people), it is expected that their government-sponsored medical marijuana production facility will do a better job of serving at least some of the need for medicine in Canada. (However, just in the few days since I began work on this memo, there does appear to have been a reversal in support for medical marijuana production among some health authorities in Canada.)

And now, within the past month, we have at least two states (Nevada and Arizona) that have serious efforts underway to make their state governments the growers and distributors of marijuana, with taxes and any profits being returned to the states' coffers. It appears that we have crossed a thresh-hold in the dialogue when the role of state governments may change from providing begrudging approval of limited (and difficult to obtain) medical marijuana to becoming an active participant in the provision of this medicine to its citizens.

As revolutionary as this idea is in the U.S., it has a number of merits. Aside from overcoming all of the previous hurdles associated with obtaining medical marijuana that were discussed earlier, having state governments support the production and distribution of medical marijuana would provide an opportunity to fill the gaps in previous distribution methods while maintaining significant control and influence over how this new "legal" market would be developed. While I do not think that the state should be the sole source of medical marijuana, it should consider becoming a supplier if it can produce a quality, pure and reasonably priced source of the medicine.

To repeat, the state should not consider entering into medical marijuana production unless it commits itself to the production of quality, pure medicine. It is a commonly stated factoid that marijuana B being a weed B is easy to grow. To an extent, that is true, if your end-goal is not to produce high quality, medically useful marijuana. By quality, I mean that the state-supported medical marijuana should represent the cumulative knowledge of 30+ years of marijuana production for the underground market. Marijuana growers (and users) have become deeply aware of the biology and life cycle of cannabis, and of the genetics and agricultural methods that can maximize the production of THC and other medically useful cannabinoids. While much commercial marijuana continues to be grown haphazardly, those underground farmers who have evolved to serve the "high end" marijuana market have developed methods which should be applied to the production of state-sponsored medicine. However, the contractor selected to produce state-supported medicine should do so at one-eighth the cost which growers for the high end medical and recreational markets routinely receive for quality marijuana, and one-sixteenth the cost of an equivalent supply of Marinol, the synthesized THC now available by prescription.

The issue of purity also enters into the discussion of what state-supported medical marijuana should be. It should go without saying that any medicine which is to be smoked or ingested should be completely free from pesticides, fungicides and other hazardous substances which might be introduced by the application of traditional agricultural practices. Thus, New Mexico's medical marijuana should be produced to the highest organic farming standards. In addition, the New Mexico medicine should use organic fertilizers to the greatest extent possible. Through trial and error, many growers have learned that non-organic fertilizers, particularly nitrogen and phosphorus, can be absorbed and retained in the marijuana plant in high enough concentrations to negatively impact the final product. As a result, high end market growers have gravitated toward organic fertilizers (or preparing the soil organically, which obviates the need for much supplemental fertilization), and these methods and materials should be applied in New Mexico's program.

Before going into some preliminary details about how a government-sponsored grow operation might be developed and operate, I would like to state that I think the best approach for New Mexico to take re: how access to medical marijuana would be accomplished should be three-fold:

1. Approved patients should be allowed to grow their own medicine, if they choose. Limits on the number of live plants, and dried medicine, can be delineated. (A good starting point might be 20 live plants and a half-pound of dried medicine.)
2. Approved patients should also be allowed to sign over the right to grow their medicine to another person or persons. These "caregivers" would be identified either during or after the patient approval process. This provision would allow compassion clubs to be developed and to operate in New Mexico. (The extent to which the state would want to regulate or monitor the activities of these "caregivers" is an issue to discuss at a later time.)
3. For patients who do not choose to use either of the above-mentioned methods, the state should contract with an organization that can produce high quality, pure medicine in a cost-effective manner. (This same operation could also serve as the "greenhouse" through which to supply marijuana plants to the above two groups.)

The remainder of this memo will address how the state could accomplish this third option in a timely and competent fashion. In a nutshell, the state/contractor partnership would be an active one. That is, the operation should be identified and protected as a "government" farm, and oversight of the operation by appropriate government agencies (Public Safety, Health) should be continuous. However, the contractor should bring the necessary agricultural experience (general as well as marijuana-specific), field research experience, access on a worldwide basis to the best genetics expertise available and the temperament and capacity to accomplish a highly scrutinized enterprise in an ethical, professional and completely competent manner.

It is not too early to discuss the potential for this third option in the next round of medical marijuana debate in New Mexico. To begin a discussion, I would like to raise some of the practical issues that would have to be addressed should the state enter into partnership with a competent contractor to produce medicine. I will also present one model for how such a farm would operate.

Producing Medical Marijuana in New Mexico

As anyone knows who has followed the decades-long coverage of marijuana pr9oduction in the U.S., marijuana can be grown anywhere. Since the 1960s, many Americans (in all 50 states) have experienced the process of outdoor cultivation of marijuana, with varying degrees of success. However, with the advances in, and dissemination of, indoor growing technologies in recent years, marijuana growers can now produce quality medicine in any structure to which electricity can be supplied. Canada is certainly proving this point now, with their own grow operation located 600 feet down at the bottom of a salt mine shaft.

As "high tech" as indoor grow operations are, I do not think that this technology is practical, or even preferable, as the means for producing state-provided medicine. Producing marijuana outdoors in New Mexico would allow contractors to reach the scale necessary to supply the state's expected demand, while taking advantage of the beneficial climate which New Mexico provides for producing quality, pure medicine.

Northern New Mexico's climate and topography mirrors that of the homelands of several medically useful cannabis lines from Nepal, Afghanistan, Mexico and other countries. The state's low humidity minimizes fungal threats to the plant, and several insect pests that pose serious threats to marijuana (e.g., mites) do not thrive in dry climates. In addition, the high altitudes available in northern New Mexico increase the solar radiation received by the plant, which has been shown to greatly increase the production of THC and other beneficial cannabinoids.

There are some basic agricultural challenges to outdoor marijuana production in New Mexico, most of which can be resolved without great difficulty. Marijuana prefers an acid soil, which would require amending most arable land to be less alkaline. It can be a thirsty plant, particularly the larger sativa strains, so a reliable source of clean water would obviously be necessary. And methods would have to be identified to address some resident pests (e.g., grasshoppers) in ways that would not chemically adulterate the medicine. However, these challenges are easily overcome.

There are six additional challenges that would require more effort, planning and investment to insure a reliable crop grown primarily outdoors in New Mexico. To begin with, the vagaries of New Mexico's weather B throughout the growing season B represent three major challenges to be overcome. At higher altitudes, a killing frost or freeze is possible during many months of the growing season. In addition, high winds at the wrong time of year can lodge over any tall crop, be it corn, sorghum or marijuana. And hail storms in the late summer or early fall could severely damage an outdoor marijuana crop.

There are two other challenges to successfully implementing a reliable state-operated marijuana production system in New Mexico. Providing a secure location where the production of medicine could occur unimpeded by the curious or the callous would be paramount to a successful operation. In addition, the possibility exists that the early demand for medicine in New Mexico might exceed the crop volume from the first year of an outdoor-only grow operation.

(The sixth problem B the potential for inadvertent pollination of the medical crop by male plants outside the farm's boundaries B could greatly reduce the medicinal value of the resultant crop. This issue needs to be considered, but not in this memo.)

These challenges would suggest that a hybrid indoor/outdoor grow operation would be most appropriate for New Mexico. Using existing technology, metal structures could be built with both retractable roofs and large side openings with retractable doors. Using these structures, medical marijuana could be protected, when necessary, from cold, winds and hailstorms; but otherwise, the marijuana could grow in the high intensity passive solar/low humidity climes that would occur when the roof and sides are opened. In addition, this building design would help reduce the visibility of the grow operation within the community (or communities) where it is located, which should facilitate security. And they provide the opportunity to produce an off-season indoor crop (or multiple crops), if that is necessary to meet early demand.

As of yet, I have seen no projections for how many New Mexico patients might be expected to be eligible for medical marijuana, the proportion of physicians who would be expected to prescribe medical marijuana, or the recommended dosage schedules for the medicine. Thus, it is difficult to determine how much medicine would have to be produced to meet the early demand in New Mexico. However, I believe that it is better to over-produce than to under-produce medicine in the first years of the program, in order to insure that a smooth transition can be accomplished with the largest number of physicians and patients possible. For this reason, I would suggest that the grow operation be contracted for at least 5,000 pounds of quality, pure medical marijuana in the first year. With 5,000 pounds, the state could provide up to 80,000 ounces of medicine, a dosage unit at which the medicine might be provided.

Fortunately, high quality, pure medicine maintains its potency for some time if stored properly, so an early overproduction could be adjusted in the second year without problems. In addition, given the growing number of states that will be considering medical marijuana in the future, New Mexico might be able to market any excess medicine to other states which choose not to produce their own. And depending on the evolution of our sensibilities re: marijuana in the next ten years, New Mexico might position itself as a reliable supplier of quality, pure medicine to a wider audience of patients and practitioners in the near future.

With the use of the metal structures described above, I believe that a competent contractor could provide all of the medical marijuana needed in the first year of the New Mexico program (5,000 pounds) on two acres of land and using a small number (4-8) of the metal structures. In addition, I believe that the contractor could supply the first distributable quantity of the medicine within four months of the initiation of the project, and the first major harvest within six months, depending on the time of year the project begins. I also believe that a competent contractor could set up and administer this grow operation, assuming all responsibilities (except one) from seed to the packaging of finished medicine as part of their operational duties.

The one responsibility which the contractor cannot assume alone would be the provision of security for the operation. Given the revolutionary nature of this state-supported grow operation and the value of the medicine it will be producing, the state will have to make some provision for security of the facility. However, if the grow operation is located in a relatively isolated location, this security may need to be nothing more than the funding of some additional DPS or sheriff's deputies in the county where the farm is located. The contractor would establish a secure and discreet grow operation, with security procedures maintained and supported by the contractor, the county and the state.

In addition to serving as the principal provider of state-sponsored medicine, this farm operation could be designed to accomplish at least three other roles that would be useful to the New Mexico medical marijuana program:

1. The farm could supply "certified" marijuana plants to patients empowered to grow their own medicine or to compassion clubs. These plants would be female clones. Where possible, the plants would be varieties that are most likely to address the symptoms of the individual patients. (Providing female plants will also reduce the likelihood that more cannabis pollen will be introduced into the New Mexico environment by patients who cannot tell male from female plants.)
2. The farm should be actively engaged in research from its inception, to monitor and refine its own production methods and to add to the body of knowledge re: optimum medical marijuana production.
3. Farm staff could be involved in the development of educational materials for patients who grow their own medicine (or their caregivers), in order to maximize the quality and purity of medicine produced by these persons.

Moving Forward

I think this initial memo is long enough to raise some of the issues that I think need to be considered now. I would be happy to write more on any of the issues I have raised, or to address other issues that you believe need to be considered at this point. I would also be happy to travel to meet and discuss this important component of a successful New Mexico medical marijuana strategy.

As you may have surmised by now, this opportunity is one that I think could have a profound effect on the evolution of our society's relationship with marijuana. I have followed most aspects of this issue for three decades, and have a strong interest in seeing that this option be considered and, if pursued, that it succeed. To that end, I have secured preliminary commitments from several organic farmers in the U.S., Canada and Switzerland to offer their expertise and support for this endeavor. One of the leading seed brokerages in Canada has indicated that they would assist in securing sufficient seed quantities of the most medically beneficial cannabis strains now known with which to initiate this operation. It is also highly likely that the selected contractor could gain access to key compassion club activists in California and other states whose knowledge and experience could help inform the legislature and any resultant program which results. All of us believe that New Mexico can accomplish a seismic shift in our political sensibilities by applying what we have learned over the past three decades to the conduct of a cost-efficient, compassionate, beneficial and legitimate medical marijuana program.

I look forward to engaging in further dialogue with you and others about these issues. Feel free to circulate this memo to whomever you believe appropriate (without my name attached, of course). If the two of you believe that there is value in moving forward on this discussion, I would be happy to meet with anyone face-to-face to discuss these issues in order to develop a strategy that will work in New Mexico and other states.