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DON'T LET ANYONE KID YOU
OKLAHOMA'S MARY FALLIN FULLY SUPPORTS OBAMA CARE *
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OKLAHOMA'S GOVERNOR, MARY FALLIN – LOVES OBAMA CARE *
Need proof, just look at the issue of Medicinal Cannabis (aka Medical Marihuana), --- a good example of Obama Care in action.
First, let’s look at what a pound of (high quality) Medicinal Marihuana would cost – IF LEGAL. And here the emphasis is on the words, “ IF LEGAL .” There are numerous websites out there that have made the unpardonable mistake of comparing the costs of a Legal substance (albeit a very expensive legal substance), verses an Illegal substance that one must buy on the black-market . And needless to say their conclusions reached are somewhat erroneous.
And so the QUESTION: If legal, how much will a pound of Cannabis (Marihuana) cost $$?
ANSWER: About $100 (a little over that now) at the wholesale level.
However, this answer assumes that Medical Cannabis (Marihuana) will be unhindered by a lot of special taxes, regulations etc. And note that this is at the wholesale NOT the retail level.
Next QUESTION: How did we obtain this answer?
ANSWER: As follows --- Remembering that before the Reefer Madness campaign, Cannabis was being openly sold in drugstores throughout the nation. Thus we simply looked at various pharmaceutical trade magazines (era 1930’s) and noted what it was being sold for back then (which was between $1.80 to $2.00 per pound). HOWEVER , those are depression era dollars and I for one can assure you, those dollars were worth a lot more back then. Thus we must ask yet another question; what (adjusted for inflation) is that in today’s dollars?
Because Cannabis (the plant) is a commodity; one subject to the whims of consumer demand, weather conditions, type of harvest that year etc., -- adjusting for inflation is a bit hard to do. BUT a friend of mine (with a PHD in mathematics) came up with a simple solution.
We began by making note of the price, not just of Cannabis, but also of various other medical bulk herbs that sold openly in 1931 AND are still legally sold today . Herbs such as Parsley, Passion flowers, Peppermint, Rhubarb, Cascara Saqrada, etc. Next, we looked up the same herbs and noted what they were selling for then and now. [Note roots were compared with roots, leafs with leafs etc.] Next, doing a little math, [dividing the present day price, by the 1931 price], I came up with a cost increase ratio of between X-18 [low end] all the way up to X-50 at the top end. As one pound of Cannabis was selling [wholesale price] for $2, we figure that using the worst case scenario the present day price would [at most] be $100, but it could be much less. [But warning (remember we are talking about a commodity), the price could rise if a drought or something like that were to occur in a major growing area.]
MARINOL VERSES NATURAL CANNABIS
– IT’S ABOUT THE MONEY MS. FALLIN:
According to various medical studies, Marinol is now prescribed in doses of 5 mil-gram pills to be taken twice a day on average -- or 10 mil-grams per day – or 305 mil-grams per month. [Note – this figure comes from major peer review studies, but is considered by many to be on the low side. HOWEVER, we are going to use it here anyway for cost comparison purposes as the median usage.]
Next, according to -- http://medicalmarijuana.procon.org/view.answers.php?questionID=000091 – a widely quoted website (BUT ONE WHICH), seems to contain numerous errors. The cost of a mil-gram of Marinol is $1.81 (one dollar and eighty-one cents), thus a days supply of Marinol would be $18.10 – and a months supply being $552.oo US dollars. [A] HOWEVER , it is possible to obtain Dronabinol (the generic name for Marinol), and it can run as little as $9.30 per day or around $282 dollars for a one-month supply. Although in almost all cases you will have to pay more than that (in some cases almost twice as much). [A2]
Now according to that same website (procon.org) the average patient only uses 1 gram (100 mil-grams) of Cannabis (the plant) per day or 30.5 grams per month. PROBLEM – I don’t know where they got that statistic, but it seems to many of us to be a bit on the low side.
I believe their problem is the methodology : According to them one Medicated Cigarette contains 0.5 grams (500 mil-grams) of Medical Cannabis. Which will mean that one can obtain 907 medicated Cigarettes from a pound of Marihuana. AND they assume that the average patient will only require 2 (0.5 gram) cigarettes per day. THIS IS DEBATABLE.
Thus anyone can see the disparity. According to the Federal Government, a patient needs 7.8 grams per day or 234 grams per month, while according to the quoted website the figure is only 1 gram per day, or 30 grams per month. As I see it the problem is with the potency of the Cannabis in question, the stronger the Cannabis the less one needs, etc.
HERE FOR our purposes we will ignore both of these figures and use some common horse sense. (Well actually that’s the responses we got back from some out of state Cannabis Health co-ops)
First, a tobacco cigarette weighs about 1 gram -- NOT 0.5 gram. Assuming we can equate the two, this will more than double the weight or lower the number of medicated cigarettes to a total of 453.5. Next, while two complete cigarettes per day could indeed suffice for many patients --- Still it would be best here to do a worst case analyses and up the ante to 4 [high quality] cigarettes per day . [NOTE: This is a worst case usage scenario, based on actual medical patients and responses from Cannabis Health Care co-ops]
Thus each patient will require 3.3 pounds of medical Cannabis per year or 4 grams per day or 122 grams per month.
YES, granted, our own figures are subject to DEBATE , BUT here the idea is to financially compare the WORST CASE possible for natural Cannabis (Medical Marihuana) verses the AVERAGE CASE Marinol user. As can be seen below the figures are shocking. And prove that Governor Mary Fallin supports the principals of the Obama health Care program.
THE COSTS:
IF legal Medical Cannabis (Medical Marihuana) would cost the patient around $1.36 per day or $41 dollars per month. As compared to Marinol’s $18 per day or $552 per month. [Or Dronabinol’s $9.30 per day or $282 per month]
Hey Governor Fallin, Hey Obama Health Care Supporter, --Do the math.
[ WARNING: The above comparisons are based on the concept that governmental agencies (whether State, Local, or Federal) are NOT going to gum up the works with (ah, how shall we call them) extra special regulations and taxes, etc. ] -- And you just know that is going to happen. But even so, we can make the logical assumption that the price will still be less than double what the free-market price would have been.
* The part about Governor Mary Fallin supporting Obama care medicine should be seen as a facetious joke. One that (given her record on the use of Medical Cannabis), we hope will get her blood pressure up real high. However, THE MATHEMATICAL / COSTS COMPARISONS BETWEEN MARINOL AND NATURAL CANNABIS WERE ALL TOO REAL.
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FOOTNOTES:
[A]- A figure that in terms of costs we have independently confirmed.
[A2]- As per http://www.goodrx.com/price/dronabinol/capsule ‘s price listing at Walgreens (with a coupon)
[B]- This statement is here-say, but I believe it to be true.
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