This might come as a shocker, but if you go visit one of the medical marijuana pop-up clinics, you too might find out that you have a debilitating condition you never knew you had.
And in a story that appeared a few days ago at Dakota Scout, that’s just what State Representative Fred Deutsch did. He went to one of the pop-up clinics being held across the state for this purpose. And shocker – he was declared debilitated and issued a card.
At the appointment, held in a breakout room at the Watertown Holiday Inn, Deutsch met with a medical practitioner who determined he met a qualifying condition, he said.
Deutsch said was truthful throughout the consultation, telling the practitioner he’d been in a car accident last year and had some pain as a result.
“If you qualify for pain, it’s supposed to be debilitating. But she didn’t ask me if it was debilitating,” he said. “I went in to see if they’re following the law and they really aren’t.
I’m kind of thinking the legislature might add a little more scrutiny to the “Holiday Inn-Doctors” declaring people as having medical marijuana qualifying conditions this next session.
Good for Fred! I hope he finds the relief he is seeking.
Are we really surprised that the criteria for getting a card wouldn’t be that restrictive? I think it was destined that more would get approved than not.
If you don’t want to use it, don’t. Quit meddling in other peoples concerns. He’s just being a crybaby cause he can’t run other people’s lives. Typical republican.
Richard, it all sounds like nobody else’s business until somebody else has to pay for it. First you qualify for medical marijuana, then you can’t pass a pre-employment drug test, so you cant work, and then you get disability payments from the social security administration because you’re unemployable. Then it becomes the taxpayers’ business. Variations on this process include never-ending workers’ compensation claims, or perpetual payments made by an auto insurance company. A medical diagnosis of a debilitating injury/pain results in bills that have to be paid by somebody else. That ‘s why it’s everybody’s business.
Wow, what a fantasy world you live in. So what else can we apply this logic to, anything else we disagree with that has a connection to public funding (which is literally everything)? How about military service, do we really need F-16 flying over Sioux Falls every day, what happens when those ANG pilots, who have never been deployed get military disability from back pain? What about the developer Stan Kroenke (net worth $13B), when he wants to put in a Wal-Mart (he is married to a Walton daughter), and he gets the city to pay for the road, utilities, and upkeep for the Wal-Mart? According to your logic, I am sure you are against the military and the super rich too…….*eye roll*
This just proves you are searching very hard for a reason to be against personal liberties. It isn’t your business, even if you think you can find some sort of connection. We as a society decided to put safeguards in place, if you are disabled, we take care of you, your problem appears to be with disability insurance, not marijuana.
How about this: if you are suffering from “debilitating pain” shouldn’t you also be on disability already?
Marijuana has its uses; it is a perfect drug for someone in hospice, who require a doctor’s determination that they have only six months or less to live.
But for people who need to recover and get back to work, it’s pretty bad. It’s especially bad for their families who are waiting for them to get off the couch and be productive again. It’s not like a narcotic prescription that only lasts a few days, for some reason we let people have marijuana for years. Stop kidding yourself about the effect it has on people..As more families find themselves stuck with somebody who sleeps in every day and eats all the food in the house, there will be a backlash.
The rest of us end up paying the costs. Med Mj is simply legal cover for rec use. That is it.
My opinion of course but 3rd generation of potheads in a nice neighborhood where they do not belong. One of the kids quit HS 10th grade. One grandkid a young man has kids with 4 or 5 different mothers. One of those kids possibly has brain damage due to one of the mother having an affair with another pothead that abused the child as an infant. Two grand daughters also potheads also have kids and have very limited education all with different fathers too. Mother and boyfriend all potheads live on a cash under the table lifestyle gaming the system. Grandma pothead who got a house by marriage more than likely in foreclosure now died of lung cancer. Not much stability, high traffic, junk, campers, garbage, house is a nuisance property where neighbors cannot enjoy their back yards due to constant pungent odor of skunk. The state has a hefty bill on these folks along with neighborhood resale values taking a hit. Local law enforcement and city code enforcement are well are of them too. They all have their Med MJ cards and have been smoking since very young supplied by the black market dealer since that dealer will always be cheaper.
This is a nice neighborhood with neighbors homes and yards that are immaculate. South Dakota taxpayers are stuck paying to support this family of multi-generation of potheads that are growing. Boyfriends and new fathers are cycling in and out. Just think they are one of many out there which will just get worse.
Recreational Marijuana sold as Medical MJ. It’s a well known joke and always has been in California. There 24/7 pot doctors where $25.00 will get you a script.
What did these addiction profiteers charge?
Or everyone will just drive to neighboring states and buy it legally in a year. This is a fool’s errand.
The D.O.s (Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine) moving in on the territory of bone crackers (chiropractors).
I understand Fred’s deep concern for his profession.
Fred shoot light one up, or have a magic brownie. Might make him more relaxed and less of a busy body, shove my beliefs down your throat, kind of a conservative.
We all know what a joke this whole medical marijuana really is, thank you for exposing the truth Fred. More addiction, more crime, more social issues for SD is not good.
I hope Fred feels groovy.
Friendly reminder that 2/3rds of Republicans nationwide are pro Marijuana legalization. If marijuana prohibitionists clutched coal instead of pearls, they’d have a nice diamond necklace by now.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/ajherrington/2023/02/24/new-poll-shows-23-of-republican-voters-support-legalizing-marijuana/?sh=3818e7f436cf
I just have one question for Fred. What do you expect to accomplish by tightening up how people get the cards? You aren’t going to stop these people. You are just going to push them to the black market, other states, or having their friends with cards getting then what they need. Access to cards is not a factor driving people to smoke. They already did and they will continue to. The people getting cards aren’t new people to this arena and they aren’t just getting a card to experience it for the first time. Prohibition doesn’t work and it never will.
I had a different experience with a pop up clinic than Fred experienced. I actually had to provide medical records and it took a lot longer than 2 minutes. My primary doctor sent me to the pop up clinic because her Avera refused to give her the names of the Doctors within the Avera facility who could help me.
If you think marijuana is harmless fun you should visit Portland OR.
All the homeless people living under tarps and pallets along the freeway, on the sidewalks, even in homeowners’ front yards, had homes once. They got kicked out by families who got tired of them, or landlords who evicted them, and they gravitated to Portland where pot was readily available and nothing is illegal. It’s a mess.
Unlike alcohol, which can be lethal in sufficiently large quantities, marijuana doesn’t kill, and this has become viewed as what’s wrong with it. Dopers don’t die, prompting some Oregon residents to suggest it’s time to poison them. I laughed and suggested they stop voting for Democrats instead. Every nation gets the government it deserves.
Holy cow if you think pot is the problem in Portland I’ve got a bridge in Brooklyn I’d like to sell to you. Biggest gateway drug out there is alcohol, or doctors bribed to prescribe opioids.
“Holy cow if you think pot is the problem in Portland I’ve got a bridge in Brooklyn I’d like to sell to you.”
You are correct there…the biggest problem is liberals in control of the government.
I envision dueling popup firecracker stands on the SD side of the border and popup pot stands on the Minnesota side. This is going to get interesting.
All I want is for the law to be followed. Nothing more, nothing less. Look for more information Thursday in the Dakota Scout.