Not Your Typical Stoner.

Posted by CN Staff on March 12, 2011 at 19:47:16 PT
By W. Zachary Malinowski, Journal Staff Writer
Source: Providence Journal

Providence, RI -- Richard Collins doesn’t fit the profile of your typical stoner. He’s 67 years old, a Marine Corps veteran, and he said he’s never had a brush with the law.

But you would be hard-pressed to find anyone who smokes more marijuana than this Montana native. He tokes “all day, every day,” to ease a host of ailments including depression, back pain, headaches and arthritis. For the better part of 50 years, Collins, an artist, bought his dope on the street, often from unsavory characters he calls “crooks.”

Last year, he joined about 125,000 Colorado residents in the state’s booming medical marijuana program. Once a week, he drives 12 miles to Denver from his home in suburban Lakewood to buy his marijuana at Cannabis Medical Technology, housed in a brown stucco building near the Colorado Democratic Party headquarters in the city’s bustling Arts District.

“I never thought I’d see the day I’d be doing this,” said Collins, who bought one quarter ounce of marijuana and three blunts for $120 with a credit card. “I’m not going to apologize for smoking marijuana. I think it’s wonderful. I’m a good citizen. In the end, I’m legal.”

Colorado is one of 15 states, including Rhode Island, that have legalized the use of marijuana to treat certain medical conditions.

So far, just two of those states, Colorado and New Mexico, have state-regulated dispensaries that are legally selling marijuana. Maine is about to become the third — the first on the East Coast — and Rhode Island will soon join in.

On Tuesday, the Rhode Island Health Department is scheduled to select up to three applicants to open Rhode Island’s first marijuana dispensaries. The decision was delayed a week, after the department’s interim director sought additional time to review the applications. The dispensaries may open for business sometime this spring.

Rhode Island has more than 3,000 residents licensed to use medical marijuana.

Complete Article: http://drugsense.org/url/uEZkjxZf

Source: Providence Journal, The (RI)
Author: W. Zachary Malinowski, Journal Staff Writer
Published: Sunday, March 13, 2011
Copyright: 2011 The Providence Journal Company
Contact: letters@projo.com
Website: http://www.projo.com/
http://cannabisnews.com/news/list/medical.shtml