consumers. In general, manufacturers are required to take available and reasonable steps to lessen or eliminate the danger of products, and to give proper warning of dangers that cannot be eliminated. If they fail to meet those obligations, they can be sued for compensatory damages. Why shouldn’t this apply to medical marijuana? Yet again, this is where marijuana
producers differ greatly from the pharmaceutical industry. Marijuana producers do not have the financial resources of the pharmaceutical industry and, again because the sale of marijuana is illegal under federal law, most marijuana money is in cash. Further, because marijuana cannot be transported over state lines, producers are confined to one state and operate as highly profitable
small businesses. California regulators are considering capping the size of marijuana farms; the current size of an average grower in California is two to three greenhouses. All of which means that medical marijuana producers are disparate and, compared to the pharmaceutical industry, small. Lawsuits against one particular grower may not yield adequate compensation to a victim of toxic marijuana, and may not have the deterrent effect that a $33 million Tylenol setlement has. While the push for medical marijuana
has focused on the suffering of patients; patients suffering the most ravaging diseases are most at-risk when using marijuana for treatment. Medical marijuana patients are under-protected, and the public is woefully unaware of the dangers being placed in the
marketplace without adequate regulation or a means of remedy for dangerous product and poor standards. Legalized marijuana will make money for the growers. It will make money for the distributors and the producers. It will make money for the states in tax revenue. But it will cost the rest of us. Certainly in money, but also in lives. ❚
Yvette Farnsworth Baker is a graduate of Georgetown University Law School and Brigham Young University. Yvette is a licensed attorney in the state of Florida as well
as a member of the Florida bar. She is a for- mer public defender in Palm Beach County and works with the Current Consulting Group and our clients on legal issues and contracts.
www.datia.org
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