Quote Originally Posted by CFO;2208030[I
]No reason to be scared. First, the inactive of the total represents about 20%.

My theory is that some of the applications for renewal are sitting at DOH waiting to be recorded. A family member and another friend sent their apps in back in July and are still waiting to hear. Of course when you ask someone to check you are told they have to submit a status request in writing and that just goes in the pile waiting with all the rest!! If the lawsuit would go away then the few DOH staff members assigned to our program would be able to get back to doing their job. The patients are supposed to come first. Someone should file a motion to dismiss the lawsuit so the patients can get their cards.

Additionally, I think that because some patients can only afford the brick and purchasing from anyone other than the LNPPs is illegal then they don't need the card and are going back to the way it was before the MCP was established. Sad, but true. Some doctors refuse to sign the certification forms. So the patient then needs to find a new doctor who will do so and that costs more. So, if it costs more to do things legally, and there isn't the money, human nature is such that people will return to prior ways rather than pay more. Even though the medicinal quality is so much better than street[/I].
Here are some facts; let us know if you disagree.

1. The total number of patient cards issued is 3,981 (call it 4,000 by now), of which 1,227 are "inactive." That means about 1/3 or more than 30% of the people who applied for and received cards have had them expire and have not renewed them. Your 20% comes from erroneously adding the "inactive" patients to the patients who got cards. That's wrong of course because that would mean there were "inactive" patients who were never "active," which can't be.

2. You say that "if the lawsuit went away then the few DOH staff members assigned to our program would be able to get back to doing their job." I guess you're talking about the applicants' lawsuit, filed by six applicants who were approved, qualified (some had site visits, some not) and then left to rot, with all their business plans, Boards, investments, employees, hopes, etc., on hold indefinitely until the DOH decides what to do or how to justify the 25 picked, seemingly at random but maybe for other reasons. What you claim is not only dead wrong, but insulting to those who obviously care about the program more than you. So we'd sure like to know where you got the idea that dismissing the lawsuit would help the program. It's totally false, an outright lie. The fact is the State hired an Albuquerque law firm, and from the start of the lawsuit they have handled all the litigation. Nothing has been done by the DOH in Santa Fe, or by any of the staff on the applicants' lawsuit, and if they are trying to excuse not doing their jobs, then they should be held accountable, which incidentally is all the lawsuit tries to do -- hold them accountable.

3. Who are you, that you pretend to know all about the medical cannabis program and can smugly tell us that when the patients buy from the producers it costs more but " the medicinal quality is so much better than street." How would you know that? What would make sense is that the price right now should be lower, and the quality relatively higher "on the street" than from the LNPPs, who have numerous restrictions, limitations, and expenses not shared by their illegal counterparts. So tell us what you know about relative price and quality, and how you "know" it. Or about law enforcement, and efforts to wipe out marijuana in New Mexico?

Some questions, if anyone knows: what happened at the DOH-Producers meeting last week in Santa Fe? How many LNPPs are going to be able to pay the annual fees? If some don't or can't pay, will they replaced with others on the list of qualified producers? How do street prices and quality compare with LNPPs' prices and quality?