Guam became the first U.S. territory to pass a medical marijuana measure in the November 2014 elections. But no Guamanians have yet received any legally sanctioned cannabis. Gov. Eddie Calvo only signed legislation to implement the program in February of this year. And even since then, there has been little progress for medical marijuana in Guam.<\/p>\n
Officials credit the delay to a failure of the island\u2019s laboratories to apply for a license to test cannabis, ensuring it is clear of mold or other contaminants. On April 10, officials from the island\u2019s\u00a0Department of Public Health and Social Services were grilled on the question by senators from Guam\u2019s unicameral legislature.<\/p>\n
Dr. Suzanne Sison Kaneshiro, the department\u2019s top public health official, blamed the failure of the government to provide necessary funds to run the testing program. \u201cSince February, we have had no one interested in a lab because it costs $1 million to operate,\u201d Kaneshiro said, according to<\/a> the\u00a0Guam Daily Post.<\/p>\n Sen. Dennis Rodriguez Jr., who introduced the enabling legislation passed in February, mentioned the\u00a0University of Guam Marine Laboratory<\/a>\u00a0as a possibility. But he acknowledged to the Pacific Daily News<\/a> that the fear of the university losing its federal funding could be an obstacle to this.<\/p>\n In any case, a university representative, Jonas Macapinlac, was on hand to deny that the University of Guam was interested. \u201cThe Marine Lab serves a specific purpose and this does not seem like a good fit,\u201d Macapinlac stated, according to the Pacific Daily News. \u201cWe would need to consider any possible ramifications to our land grant status and in our ability to receive federal funds.\u201d<\/p>\n Jonathan Savares, one of just 13 patients out of 118 applicants who have been certified under the medical marijuana program, expressed his frustrations. \u201cThere are patients that need help who are being discouraged because this program is still sitting here still,\u201d he was quoted<\/a> by KUAM News. \u201cWe\u2019ve been doing this since 2014.\u201d<\/p>\n Andrea Pellacani, of the advocacy group\u00a0Grassroots Guam<\/a>,\u00a0pointed to other hold-ups, including the attorney general\u2019s failure to issue legal guidelines to doctors. \u201cWe are extremely disappointed in the legal and medical community on Guam, as it is in the best interest of our entire island for patients to have the legal and medical assistance they need to address the many complex issues in the cannabis space,\u201d she said, according to XX.<\/p>\n Last November, Grassroots Guam\u00a0held a public protest demonstration<\/a>\u00a0to press for passage of the enabling act, officially known as the Joaquin \u201cKC\u201d Concepcion II Compassionate Cannabis Use Act. But Pellacani said she didn\u2019t anticipate that getting the law passed would only be the first hurdle.<\/p>\n \u201cI am extremely disappointed in some of the leaders in our community who have decided, for whatever reasons, that this mandate of the people is just better off being ignored. All it takes is some education and real conversations, but we can\u2019t move forward when the conversations won\u2019t even be entertained,\u201d she was quoted saying by Pacific Daily News. \u201cIt was a mandate, not an option, that continues to be disregarded by some we have put into office and some we have entrusted with our lives in our community.\u201d<\/p>\n TELL US,<\/strong> when do you think medical marijuana in Guam will become a reality?<\/p>\n The post Patients Struggle as Medical Marijuana in Guam Faces Delays<\/a> appeared first on Cannabis Now<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Guam became the first U.S. territory to pass a medical marijuana measure in the November 2014 elections. But no Guamanians have yet received any legally sanctioned cannabis. Gov. Eddie Calvo only signed legislation to implement the program in February of this year. And even since then, there has been littleContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":190,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[50,3886,53,139],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25571"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/190"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25571"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25571\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25572,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25571\/revisions\/25572"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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\nRead More: Patients Struggle as Medical Marijuana in Guam Faces Delays<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"