 It sounds like a Mexican street drug where cannabis is a legitimate medicine. Medical marijuana or cannabis, whatever you call it, it's now legal in the state of Massachusetts. But it's a long legal process to making this drug accessible to patients, starting with a series of community listening sessions. One of the things that we're really focusing on with these listening sessions is to allow us to hear from the different perspectives. Over 100 attendees heard testimony from business plans to concerns of the cautious to the emotional stories of patients. What we have to do as a department is listen to the stories but continue to understand that we are responsible for the health and well-being of the six and a half million people on the Commonwealth in addition to the people who come to present our stories. Businesses, advocates and patients alike are hopeful that the Department of Public Health will be able to set the regulations by May 1st. I don't think this is rocket science. I think this is easy to do. I bet they either get that deadline or within a couple weeks of that. Along with the pressure of a tight deadline, the department is dealing with conflicting opinions, especially around the issues of dispensary regulation and patient eligibility. If we're going to call on medicine, it should go through pharmacies and at the very minimum, if they're going to allow it, then these dispensaries have to use the prescription monitoring program so that making sure the right patients can the right amount. 18 states have legalized medical marijuana but there is still no perfect model to follow. Dispensaries in Rhode Island have taken over three years to open since getting the green light back in 2009. I don't see that any state has gotten it done right yet. One thing Rhode Island has done right, collectives, a non-profit alternative to dispensaries. The founders of Rhode Island caregivers grow nine strains of cannabis in facilities up to 60,000 square feet. They have over 60 regular patients and require less paperwork and less formality than dispensaries. Collectives like this one are a convenient and secure way for patients to fill their prescriptions but cities in Boston and Massachusetts aren't ready to see them just yet. 35 part shops in the state that, you know, there may be some patients that benefit but there will be a lot of collateral damage. Meanwhile, others are promoting the practice of grow your own to help patients get the medicine they need. The Boston Gardener has been attracting a lot of attention with its weekly grow your own classes. Owner John Napoli asks, Why shouldn't anyone be able to grow something in their own house? If you are a patient right now who is going to benefit from medicine, cannabis based medicine, you have no other way to get it legally. It's only a matter of time before dispensaries open and Napoli plans to open one himself right next to his shop in Dudley Square. The next push for many now, legalization of medical marijuana at the federal level. Do dispensaries need to be careful? Do they have to be worried about the federal government now? Definitely. For BUTV 10, I'm Tiana Bonner.