Meeting
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Minutes
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december
12, 2007
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10:00 am –
2:00 pm
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Portland State Office
Building
800 NE Oregon St.
Portland, OR 97232
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Meeting called
by
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Sandee Burbank, ACMM Chair
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Type of
meeting
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The Oregon Medical Marijuana
Program (OMMP) Advisory Committee on Medical Marijuana (ACMM) provides an
opportunity for public to discuss administrative issues with the OMMP
management.
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Note taker
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Julie Sarnowski, OMMP
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Timekeeper
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Sandee Burbank, ACMM Chair
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meeting called
to order
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10:07 AM
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Attendees
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ACMM: Sandee
Burbank, Laird Funk, Chris Iverson, Jim Klahr, Madeline Martinez, Stormy Ray,
John Sajo, Todd Dalotto, and Brian Michaels.
OMMP Staff and Advisors: Tawana Nichols, Sanya Rusynyk, Julie Sarnowski,
Aaron Cossel, Chris Grorud, Grant Higginson and Shannon O’Fallon.
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Present as
listed on the sign-in sheet
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Daniel Chandler, Jim Dancing
Trout, Kristen Gustafson, Alice Ivany, Jim Klahr, Marilyn Klahr, Neil Larsen,
Roger Tower, Thomas N. Tower, Richard Volkman, Alicia Williamson, Jerry Wade,
Cat Koehn, M. Wiley, Robert Anderson, and Kay Dickerson.
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Agenda topics
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Review of september 21, 2007 meeting
minutes
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acmm chair
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Action items
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Person responsible
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Outcome
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Motion for minutes
to be accepted with corrections: Page
1, under “Term Limits” Madeline is misspelled, and John Klahr should read Jim
Klahr. Page 3, Marilyn Klahr and
Alice Ivany to be added to the “Definition of the Mature Plant”
subcommittee. Page 4, under public
announcements, bullet #4, “loud” misspelled, reads “load”.
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Ms. Burbank
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Motion passes
unanimously (9-0)
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Program
update [including staff update, statistics, ACMM appointments and budget
review]
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dhs administration
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Discussion
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·
Staff-The OMMP is still short staffed and
currently interviewing candidates for two AS1 openings; we are still using temporary
workers to keep up with the volume of work.
·
Statistics-As of 12/12/07, there are 17,927 OMMP
patients. 8,712 of those patients
have a caregiver, and 2,762 different doctors have recommended patients for
the OMMP. As of 11/11/07, there are
985 people registered as growers only.
·
Food
Stamps-The reduced fee
rate of $20.00 for people on food stamps will be implemented beginning
1/1/08.
·
ACMM
Appointments-Current
board members, Mr. Dalotto and Ms. Ray have been elected for reappointment
and Mr. Sajo discussed stepping down.
Once all applications for the ACMM openings have been received, their
applications will be submitted to the ACMM for review, and the ACMM’s
recommendations will then be forwarded to Dr. Goldberg.
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Budget
Review-Presented by
Mr. Grorud.
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Revenues are
coming in a little higher than expected. Significant costs are from
administrative charges and are normal for this time of year. The new projection has changed
slightly from 3 months ago because of the food stamp implementation, but is
not significant. The revenue projection might be low.
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Ms. Burbank
asks about MyLicense 2000 and when it will be in place. Mr. Grorud explains that MyLicense 2000 is
a more efficient data enty screen for project management, reporting and
processing. Mr. Higginson adds that MyLicense
2000 is a data entry standard for all licensing programs. Mr. Grorud says the program is expected to
be in place June 30, 2008. Ms.
Nichols says that it will be deployed in March of 2008.
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Mr. Grorud
states that fees might need to be changed in the future.
·
Mr. Dalotto
asks how much MyLicense 2000 and LEDS cost and under what category they
fall. Mr. Grorud says that he
believes LEDS is an annual fee that is reported under professional services
for the payment of a contract.
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Conclusions
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·
The OMMP patient number is reaching the 18,000 mark
and the OMMP is hiring staff to help with the workload.
·
Food stamp qualification for reduced fee will go into
effect on 1/1/08.
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Mr. Dalotto and Ms. Ray have been selected for
reappointment and Mr. Sajo discussed stepping down. The ACMM will review the application for the ACMM openings and
forward recommendations to Dr. Goldberg.
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There will be no changes in fee structure at this
time.
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Action items
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Person responsible
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outcome
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Motion to accept
Administrative Rule revisions as they are.
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Ms. Martinez; Ms.
Ray seconds
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Motion passes
unanimously (9-0)
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Dialogue between acmm and administration
[including: Faqs, acmm letterhead, new forms, physician’s 500 patient policy,
transporting plants]
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ms. burbank
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Discussion
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· FAQs-Approved. It is suggested that patients contact the
other states if they are curious about reciprocity.
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ACMM Letterhead-Approved with the
following changes:
Add ACMM e-mail and website address and darken the statement
at the bottom of page.
·
New Forms-Approved. Ms. Burbank is thrilled with the new
application form, but would like to know if we can indicate on the form
whether or not the patients are growing.
Ms. O’Fallon says there is some wiggle room on that and that the OMMP
is going to form an advisory committee.
Ms. Nichols adds that the committee will include law enforcement and
OMMP staff. Mr. Higginson says we
don’t know how many people or advocates will be on the committee and would
like recommendations from the ACMM.
Ms. Burbank suggests this should be a topic of further discussion at a
later date. Ms. Burbank asks about
caregiver and grower addresses being removed from the placards. Ms. Nichols says that would be a rules
committee issue. Ms. O’Fallon
concurs, that it would be a rule change.
·
Physician’s 500 Patient Policy-Mr. Sajo
wonders about the 500 patient policy and some alternate ways a physician
could submit information, perhaps by affidavit, instead of the current
treatment plan and other forms required.
Ms. O’Fallon states that there are some alternatives. Mr. Sajo says that he thought this was a
current policy and has been submitting these forms as such. He believes that if he was able to keep
the paperwork, the OMMP would not be getting subpoenaed by the federal
government. Ms. Nichols states that
at this time it does need to be done this way. Mr. Higginson says that this was something that was being
discussed to make a rule on, but it was shelved and taken out of the rules
because that’s how everyone felt at the time, and that the rule change could
be revisited. Ms. O’Fallon says the
confusion is that it is a draft policy and doesn’t have the draft stamp on
it. Mr. Sajo says this raises a
broader question and that we should get copies of that in writing so that
here isn’t guesswork on whether something is or is not a policy. Ms. O’Fallon says these policies govern
how the program works and shouldn’t reflect on the public directly. Policies and procedures should not be
given to the public, as they are meant for internal staff use. Mr. Sajo would like to look into a rule
change and have this topic added to the rules committee agenda.
·
Transporting Plants-Mr. Higginson
states that there is nothing in the rules that states plants can or cannot be
transported. Ms. O’Fallon states that
the language has been changed so that the delivery term rule and statute now
match in their definitions. Ms.
Burbank and Mr. Michaels would like the new definition in the FAQs. Ms. Burbank wonders if patients can
transfer plants to one another. Ms.
O’Fallon says that can be looked into and asks an e-mail be sent to the OMMP
with that question.
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Conclusions
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The OMMP is going to form an advisory committee made
up of law enforcement, OMMP staff, and others yet to be determined.
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The physician’s 500 patient policy will be put on the
rules committee agenda.
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The language has been changed so that the delivery
term rule and statute now match in their definitions.
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MEETING ADJOURNED FOR LUNCH: 11:55
AM
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MEETING CALLED TO ORDER: 1:08 PM
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medication stations at mass gatherings
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ms. burbank
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Discussion
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·
Ms. Nichols
states that she has spoken with the Food, Pool, and Lodging Program. They are
currently restructuring their rules which should be adopted by midsummer, and
would love for someone from the ACMM to meet with them at their next meeting
believed to be in January 2008. Ms.
Burbank asks Ms. Nichols to contact the committee with that information.
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Mr. Michaels
indicates that he would very much like to meet with them to pursue all
options.
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Conclusions
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·
Ms. Nichols
will find out when the next Food, Pool and Lodging advisory committee will
meet next.
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This will be
an agenda item at the next ACMM meeting.
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Definition of the mature plant
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mr. Klahr
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Discussion
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·
Mr. Klahr
states that they have been talking with horticulturists about plant stages.
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Mr. Dalotto
states he has been doing research to see how the starts and seedlings can be
aligned with horticultural guidelines.
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Ms. O’Fallon
states that administrative rule changes are possible. She suggests that if Mr. Michaels has an
idea, they could bring it to the rules advisory committee, but believes this
is legislative. Adopting these new
definitions prematurely, would just put patients over the legal limit.
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Mr. Higginson
thinks it would be a good idea to have law enforcement involved in the
discussion at the rules advisory committee meeting.
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Mr. Funk
states his appreciation for the research that has been done on this issue.
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Ms. Martinez
reminds attendees that a lot of people got upset about senate bill 1085, but
that it did make a lot of things better.
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Mr. Michaels states that there are seedlings,
immature, and mature plants. The
committee is asking for there to be definitions between seedling and mature,
and that it might be within our rule making authority to add more plants.
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Mr. Iverson asks if a definition of an immature plant
is made, could it be used?
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Ms. O’Fallon says that she thinks the patient would
be put at risk.
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Mr. Iverson adds that he believes it is worth the
committee’s time to try and change the definitions and add new categories of
plants.
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Conclusions
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·
The
subcommittee will continue to work on ideas to present to the rules advisory
committee about adding or changing definitions on plant stages.
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program research/reports
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mr. sajo
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Discussion
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·
Mr. Sajo would like to know the number of physicians out
there who are no longer qualifying patients because it wasn’t medically
appropriate, or who had changed their minds.
Mr. Cossel states he is quite sure he can get those numbers.
·
Mr. Higginson and Ms. Nichols state that the OMMP
could provide current and non-current numbers, but that you can’t infer from
those numbers that the physician changed their mind about the program. It could be that the patient decided not
to participate.
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Mr. Sajo wants to know if physicians are finding this
effective, and wants to know about getting law enforcement inquiry
reports. He states at one point the
committee used to receive those, and Ms. Burbank agrees it would be nice to
get those reports again. Ms. Burbank
asks about getting this information by county. Mr. Cossel is not sure they can get the information sorted by
county.
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Ms. Ray says the information previously received was
about how many calls were received by month in a 30 day period.
·
Mr. Cossel asks if this was post senate bill
1085. He states we can get that information
if law enforcement is checking through LEDS, but not through calls.
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Mr. Sajo would like a report on how that is working
because Portland Police have taken medicine from a patient even though the
patient had cards. The medicine was
returned, but was there a breakdown in the system? Have there been other incidents, and how does this happen?
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Ms. Burbank states that it would be up to the patient
to make the inquiry.
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Mr. Cossel states that law enforcement officers have
called him not knowing how to use the system because they weren’t keying it
correctly.
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Mr. Sajo asks if there are more officers using LEDS
or calling the OMMP. Mr. Cossel
thinks they prefer to talk to a person.
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Mr. Sajo asks if LEDS gives them all the information
they need. Mr. Cossel says no.
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Conclusions
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·
Mr. Cossel and the OMMP will look into creating
reports about the discussed items.
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This will be
an agenda item at the next ACMM meeting.
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Committee
training
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ms. burbank
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Discussion
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·
Mr Klahr really enjoyed the training. He says it was very informative and gave
the committee some really good information.
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Ms. Burbank dicusses the retention of e-mails since
they are a matter of public record.
Mr. Funk reminds everyone to be respectful and professional in all
e-mail correspondence.
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Ms. Burbank states that Mr. Chandler videotaped the
training and is putting it on DVD.
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Mr. Funk resigned as the chair of the Clinic
Standards Committee and Mr. Chandler has been designated to take his place.
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Mr. Michaels would like to teach law enforcement how
to appropriately treat patients who are legal so they stop breaking down
doors. He says Ms. Ray is setting up
meetings with law enforcement, and they, with Mr. Berger will hopefully get
legal patients treated like law abiding citizens.
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Mr. Higginson says to follow up, his department is
committed to getting accurate information to law enforcement, and if Mr.
Michaels needs one of his staff members at the meeting, he would be happy to
oblige.
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Ms. Burbank says that Mr. Anderson and Ms. Koehn
would like to be on the committee as well.
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Conclusions
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·
The committee training was a success, and will be
available on DVD.
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The law enforcement committee has support and is in
the process of setting up meetings.
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Patient Handbook
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Ms. Burbank
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Discussion
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·
Ms. Burbank thinks the patient handbook should be on
the web and not printed since we will be continually changing it. Mr. Iverson doesn’t think it will be
effective on the web. Mr. Sajo and
Mr. Klahr think it should be included in the patient package.
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Ms. Ray makes a motion for the handbook to be revised
and framed from a patient’s perspective.
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Mr. Iverson seconds.
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Ms. Burbank asks if there is any discussion about
revisiting this in the New Year. Mr.
Sajo says the subcommittee should be in charge of this, and it should be
revisited when there are rule changes.
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Ms. Burbank would like to get the handbook up and
running and clarifies she doesn’t think it should be revisited until the
rules change.
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Conclusions
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The patient handbook will be posted on the web and
will be printable from the website.
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The handbook will be reviewed and revised in the
upcoming year.
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Action items
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Person responsible
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outcome
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Ms. Ray makes a motion to review and revise the patient
handbook in the upcoming year.
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Ms. Ray; Mr. Iverson seconds
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Motion passes (8-1)
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Public
announcements and comment
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public-acmm
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· Sandee Burbank would like to look into getting
donations for microphones, and also would like to remind anyone that if they
really want the ACMM to look at something, they should write it down and
submit it to the ACMM in writing.
· Al Jessie says he grew his medicine outside and
was treated like a criminal. He had
guns waived in his face because of our law.
He sent an e-mail 6 months ago that was never responded to. He thinks our effort is meaningless, and
our words mean nothing.
·
Sandee
Burbank reminds Mr. Jessie that the committee doesn’t write the law,
just makes recommendations based on statutes.
· Santa Claus would like to thank us for the peaceful
meeting.
· Marilyn
Klahr would like to give a public expression of
thankfulness for having the meeting minutes and other handouts
available. She feels things have come
a long way since inception.
· Gerry Wade says that the OMMP has its faults, but
that is because the federal laws don’t accept it. He would like us to acknowledge that we have the best program
of any other state.
· Kay Dickerson is appreciative that medical marijuana
has helped her husband get off all the narcotic drugs he used to take, and
that now he is able to sleep and gain weight.
· Daniel Chandler states that a recent article has brought
clinics into the light, and one clinic claims to bring in half of the
patients on the program. He also
feels that patients are falling through the cracks with law enforcement.
· Cat Koehn states she was at the last meeting and
volunteered for law enforcement training.
She is a retired teacher and would like to be proactive. She says the feds are doing fly-overs and
would encourage the committee to compile information on whether or not this is
an increased problem. She also
suggests getting grants to make a video to educate law enforcement and offers
her thanks.
· Mae Wiley is
part of the medical community and offers her thanks to everyone
involved. She also states that
patients aren’t instructed what to do once they get their cards.
· Elvy Musikka says thank you,
and that getting patients help is a matter of life and death. She would also like to see the cards get
laminated.
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