How can Idaho be compassionate for the Idahoans who need the true medical benefit of marijuana without following the path of other western medical marijuana states that have gone on to develop commercial recreational marijuana sales?
PAMDA is the Idaho Way to help John and Jackie.
John (79) and Jackie (74) are a retired couple living in Nampa, Idaho. Jackie was born there and John was born back east in Shelley, Idaho. They’ve raised their three children in Idaho. They still camp and hunt and fish in Idaho. They love spending time with their large family and friends who live in Idaho.
They are also medical users of marijuana products that they purchase legally, like many Idahoans, on their monthly trip to Ontario, Oregon.
John suffers from cancer, diabetes, and peripheral neuropathy. Doctors had him on a handful of pills, including the powerful opiates Vicodin and morphine, as well as the pills to deal with the side effects of the opiates.
Since adding a marijuana-based tincture heavy in CBD to his regimen, John’s health has made a remarkable comeback. His cancer is in remission, his A1C is steady enough that his doctor has taken him off all diabetes medication, and his daily opiate prescription has been reduced from 60mg to 10mg.
John’s not someone you’d identify as a marijuana user. In fact, he’s a recovered alcohol and drug addict who’s approaching forty years sobriety, who got a social work degree from Boise State and became a drug and alcohol rehab counselor.
But if John and Jackie are pulled over and searched by the Idaho State Patrol on eastbound Interstate 84 from Ontario, “illegal marijuana user” is how they’ll be identified on the arrest or summons paperwork. They will be charged as marijuana criminals, and these two elderly retirees on Social Security will have to scrape up hundreds of dollars to pay fines and might even face jail time.
Under PAMDA, any adult who crosses the border to purchase marijuana legally would be safe to bring it straight back home in its sealed containers with proof of purchase—as John and Jackie do.
Under PAMDA, Idaho doesn’t have to create a brand new bureaucracy to create medical marijuana cards, regulate medical marijuana doctors, evaluate medical marijuana conditions, or grow, process, transport, test, and sell medical marijuana.
Under PAMDA, all adults who need medical marijuana can get it without doctor’s visits, paperwork, and annual fees. Those adults who just want marijuana for fun can get it for restricted personal private use without making a mockery of a medical marijuana system.
Isn’t it time we “legalize the drive” for John & Jackie?
