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Federal agency quashes Georgia's plan to let pharmacies sell medical marijuana
(www.seattletimes.com)
this post was submitted on 17 Dec 2023
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Fine, who would want Walgreens, Walmart and CVS to be where you get your weed? I would rather buy it at independent stores both for atmosphere and that large pharmacies are shitty companies in every way possible.
Because it's a prescription medication, just like any other. It's far more convenient to pick up prescription just like you do any other.
There will be far fewer dispensaries than pharmacies, so less choice, more driving, and worse hours.
Dispensaries vastly outnumber pharmacies in the towns I’ve lived in (Oregon, Colorado, New Mexico) and also have more convenient hours (Denver they’re 8 am - 10 pm). I also have doubts about the varieties they’d stock and the quality. Being prescribed cannabis in most states means you shop at regular stores and get a discount, or in non-rec states that you can go there at all - and they tend to have a tremendous variety. It’s not like being prescribed a pharmaceutical that comes in one brand and a generic pill like most prescriptions.
I’d also much rather talk to someone who understands cannabis and cannabinoids topics - RSO, CBD, edibles, dabbing and so forth - than a pharmacist. I would anticipate a pharmacy giving much worse overall service than a dispensary.
Your experience is nothing like what Georgia has going on.
It doesn't sound like Georgia has anything going on, based on the article.
It's virtually nothing, yes.
Norml.org is a great resource to understand what the current laws and options are on a state by state basis.
Do you care to elaborate?
You should just look it up on norml.org for yourself really.
Basically though, GA has a very restrictive MMJ program with only low THC oil allowed at all and something like 6 dispensaries total in the whole state... Nothing like Colorado, Oregon, or New Mexico at all.
The option for pharmacies to dispense the super low THC oil was an idea to expand access in the state.
I’m aware and it’s not surprising that they have an anemic MMJ program. If they wanted to expand access, there are plenty of other states to emulate vs. handing business to Walgreens and CVS. Perhaps just expand the number of dispensaries.
Canada legalized years ago and there are dispensaries all over the place in cities! If you're in living in rural areas obviously there's not as many, but still one or two within reasonable distance.
Remote areas have their stuff mailed in.
Right. Where I lived in Denver, there were 4 dispensaries in wakking distance and 1 pharmacy, Walgreens.
The only exceptions are the small conservative towns that banned dispensaries in their city limits or counties saying “we don’t want DRUGS in our city!!” So the stores set up just outside of city limits and the cities have just as much weed and no tax revenue.
If you’re talking about the Springs, the whole county has banned recreational. Manitou is able to have them because it’s a home-rule city.
I was think of some towns on the Front Range... Greeley, Fort Collins, Windsor. I recall that about Springs but they still have medical, right?
Yeah, there are medical dispensaries on every corner it seems. It’s not nearly as conservative as generally portrayed, it’s just that the only people that vote in local elections are the focus on the family crowd so we end up with shit.
It's not the county. Palmer Lake has dispensaries now, too.
Yeah, except no. Again, most Colorado municipalities are home-rule.
Edit: I like how I linked directly to the county showing that El Paso county does not allow recreational cannabis retailers, including the ordinance banning retail (13-01) and still got downvoted.
I agree with the other commenter here. I could see this going the other way for smaller towns or more rural areas, but where I am at right now there are 4 dispensaries and 2 pharmacies in a 5 mile radius.
It's also Sunday; one of those pharmacies is closed and the other one will close at 12 in the afternoon. As for the dispensaries, one of them will close at 5 and the others will close at 10 ~no different than any other day of the week.
Getting rid of dispensaries in favor of pharmacies here would benefit nobody except for the drug companies.
I'd much much much rather pick my shit up at Wegmans while shopping for the rest of my shit. I couldn't give a fuck about atmosphere. I'm not there to have out and smoke out my dealer anymore.
If weed is one of your prescriptions and for one of many reasons it's hard to be out in public, being able to get it all in one place would be great.
It would be cool if it was an option, but not the only option. A lot of states have home delivery now too.
Yeah I'm in Australia and I do it all online, but I would like the option of being able to just go do a pharmacy, I'm stuck on the whim of Australia Post and I'd depends on how the feel on if you'll get your stuff on time or half a week late.
I can already see it (again): an employee of Walgreens that is not a pharmacy employee gets tasked to help the pharmacy during a busy period. They are put at the counter to grab and distribute customers' ready prescriptions. A customer comes up to the counter to pick up their prescription of marijuana, the employee sees the prescribed drug, and promptly refuses to give the customer their prescription. It's already happened in southern states with birth control, it feel confident it would happen in this scenario, too.
There are independent pharmacies. Compounding pharmacies are even in many small towns. They tailor medications specifically to your needs. They would be perfect places for patients using cannabis medicinally to get pre-set dosages.
There are some, sure. The largest 7 pharmacies have over 70% of the market though.
I live in Oregon in a city of 250k and literally every single independent pharmacy has been driven out of business because they can't compete against Walgreens and RightAid on drug pricing. These two companies are the only option outside of Walmart and Costco, and have terrible hours and reliability. Walgreens is only open M-F 8-5 and numerous times recently have been inexplicably closed in the middle of the day when I've gone to pick up prescriptions for my parents.
On the other hand, we have probably 100 different dispensaries in town all owned by different people. Prices are dirt cheap and availability is great. One is open 7 days a week from 7am to 10pm. Having this shit be handled by some corporate pharmacy would be a death sentence for the entire industry.
I see you've never taken prescription drugs for an extended period of time.
Not sure why you’d think that. I have type 1 diabetes, so without prescription drugs I would be dead in 3-4 days.
So you'd rather make a special trip to a dispensary to enjoy the atmosphere than just pick up cannabis products with your insulin?
Yes, I think I already described why. For one, the pharmacies where I live are understaffed and complete crap... I have to pick up prescriptions for my parents and often am waiting at Walgereens in line for 45 minutes.
Then, unless they had a large selection like how Walgreens has full liquor stores, the experience and pricing would be far inferior to shopping at a regular weed store. It's not 'the atmosphere', and I don't like the atmosphere of 60% of dispensaries (though I mean seriously, it's better than CVS?) it's the selection, service and so on. Would Walgreens let you look at and smell a dozen different varieties of weed? Open each jar of concentrate and let you smell and look at it before purchase? Have loyalty clubs with discounts? Have a menu with 50 different things on it? Probably not.
So I think it should be an option but not the only way to do it. And of course I recognize that Georgia doesn't have a 'real' medical or rec cannabis program. I don't think some of the people giving opinions here have ever lived in a state that does. I have lived in 3 different states with good programs for 15 years.