PA ponders medical marijuana
Thursday, January 14th, 2010
By: Taunya English
tenglish@whyy.org
New Jersey is poised to become the next state to allow marijuana use for medical purposes. It took advocates years to push the bill through the General Assembly — and the result is a compromise that would create the most restrictive medical marijuana law yet. Meanwhile, Pennsylvania lawmakers just kicked off their debate last month. For the Health and Science Desk, Taunya English reports on worries from opponents and one patient's story.
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Walter: I have this little spiky cylinder thing, here, called an herb grinder. You put it in, and then just twist it a couple times, nice and fine and scoop it into the pipe.
Bradley Walter starts his day by breaking the law.
Walter: Once you get a little bit in there, I take my lighter and hold it in. And then I blow it into my air freshener. Then I get up and I do what I gotta do.
Bradley Walter
Walter: There are side effects to the medications, and that's the real problem. Diarrhea, constipation in the same day, in the same hour sometimes.
The prescription drugs that keep Walter alive keep him feeling sick. He uses smoked and vaporized marijuana to settle his stomach and says those notorious marijuana munchies combat weight loss from HIV. But most of all, weed relieves his pain.
Walter: I wouldn't even be able to get out of bed if I didn't know that this was waiting, because as soon as I wake up the pain starts, and it's, it's pretty intense.
Cumberland County District Attorney David Freed says he has compassion for patients like Bradley Walter, but he's not convinced that the push for medical marijuana is really about patients.
Freed: I'm very concerned that representatives of legalization groups, specifically NORML, the National Organization for Reform of Marijuana Laws, are somewhat using these patients as an initial front in a larger legalization war.
Legalization advocates argue that marijuana is less dangerous than other mood altering drugs, such as oxycontin and morphine, which are available with a prescription. Nonetheless, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration classifies cannabis as a drug with a high potential for abuse.
District Attorney Freed says the Pennsylvania proposal may not prevent recreational users from posing as patients. He and other law enforcement professionals say relaxed marijuana laws will lead to more drug-related crime.
Freed: In the county that I prosecute cases in, we've had recently a murder directly related to marijuana dealing. We see the forgeries and the thefts and the burglaries that are a direct result of addiction. And we also see – and I know this is a matter of some of debate — but we also see the real gateway nature of marijuana.
Federal regulators say there isn't enough science to back smoked marijuana as a medicine. The FDA has approved a medicine made from a synthetic form of a chemical in cannabis. This drug, called Marinol, comes in pill form, with none of the carcinogens that come with smoking.
Bradley Walter says the prescription pills help with nausea, but do little to relieve his pain. Besides he says Marinol can cost more than $1,000 a month; Walter spends about $500 on marijuana each month.
Walter: I would smoke more if it weren't for the cost, and that would be alleviated by growing it in my basement because the cost would be nothing, dirt.
The Pennsylvania legislation would allow patients to grow six cannabis plants at home or buy the drug from a marijuana dispensary.
For now, Walter buys his weed from someone he found online. He risks arrest each time he meets up with his dealer, but says it's a better option that trying to buy weed on the streets of his hometown, Larksville in northeast Pennsylvania.
Walter: It's not that easy for a guy like me to drive up in a new Prius and just ask somebody on the corner.
The drug-abuse prevention group MomsTell is fighting the bill. Camp Hill resident Sharon Smith leads the group and says the marijuana dispensaries would be run by people with no medical license, and no requirement to regulate the safety or potency of the drug. She's baffled that state lawmakers have decided they can determine what is medicine and what's isn't.
Smith: We have the FDA to do that and this should go before the FDA.
Even advocates call Pennsylvania's medical marijuana bill — long-shot legislation. Still, a recent Quinnipiac University poll suggests strong support among Commonwealth residents. Fifty-nine percent of surveyed Pennsylvanians said allowing adults to use marijuana as medicine, with a doctor's prescription, is a “good idea.”
Marijuana is NOT A DRUG…it is a herb. I smoked it several years and never did it lead to try anything stronger. After leaving the armed forces I quit cold turkey…I just didn't want it anymore….However, I will remain vulnerable and if its leagelized I just might be another midnight toker.
Maarijuana to me, is not habit forming and I never tried to fly out the window or walk on water.
Now, I want to purchase shared of stock in the medicine/marijuana. Can you help me find an american pharmaceuital company to buy from??
Thanks,
Bill J. Lowe
I think that all of the sick and dying potential medical marijuana patients in Pennsylvania should not be waiting for any kind of law that allows them to grow marijuana for medical purposes… Just do it. Anyone with common sense and an all but glass house can grow marijuana without getting caught by the police. All one would need would just be one plant. And if you do feel like growing your marijuana, just go buy some. This is not meant to be taken in offense, it is meant to be taken as a call to action. You know that you are not a criminal for smoking marijuana, and you know that you have a legitimate reason for doing so, so do it. That should be good enough for you. Learn to think for yourself, and don't let an oppressive government get you down.
There is a FALSE belief that the 'Big Pharmaceutical Manufacturing conglomerate is against selling Marijuana because they would be unable to sell their manufactured drugs'. THEY WOULD LOVE TO SELL IT! Think of all of the profit!!
Several pharmaceutical companies have active programs figuring how to sell it – or some form of it, with, or as a drug. They face a serious problem. M.D.'s are used to writing a prescription of a known strength, taken so many mg/dose/day. With marijuana (or any plant), the metabolites vary from plant to plant. It makes it difficult for an M.D. to write for a patient. In speaking to several physicians, they have problems prescribing marijuana because they don't know enough about it. There is not a large body of knowledge about marijuana, It is a no brain-er to write for patients who otherwise have nothing, or have very little. Otherwise they face an additional problem. Law Suits. Anyone could sue them, and they have no defense in court. The same is true for any hospital where that doctor may have privileges. Generally, they are not able to write for this drug. There are some physicians who are willing to prescribe. Federal laws keep doctors in a bad situation. The Federal government can challenge a doctors license, and put him in jail.
This will change.
Once pharmaceutical companies find out how to market medical marijuana, laws will change.
It has changed in Canada. The pharmaceutical giant A.G. Bayer is marketing 6 drugs which contain marijuana, or parts of marijuana, in the drug.
Personally, I am in favor of some sort of regulation. Currently, most – street source – marijuana is UNSAFE, because it is grown using pesticides, and perhaps other adulterants.
I do not want poison with my medication.
I am a candidate for medical marijuana. I am waiting for legalization. There are several medical indications for medical marijuana where THC is not required. There is one that I am aware of – epilepsy where THC triggers seizures. A low THC strain of the plant, and a low dose are/would be required. When I had tried marijuana as a medicine I did not like the euphoria. It was fun for about the first 60 days, but not after that. I do not want to go around constantly 'stoned'. I do not want the fact that is screws up my senses, changes the space-time coordination, makes it difficult for me to think/remember, makes be clumbsy, feel and act goofy. I want a medication that works – treats me to as best as is possible, give me health – normal health. Being stoned is not normal. I had spoken to several other people on blogs, including a mother of 3 children. She had said that does not want to be stoned, she has 3 children to raise. I pose a question to everyone: If you want marijuana as medicine, do you want to be constantly high? It may pose a medical problem for you if you wanted to be high and also wanted marijuana as a medicine:
In epilepsy, THC causes seizures. Because it also makes you high, when you use it, you are going to smoke/heat more than would be a therapeutic level. As a result you will have more seizures, and so smoke more marijuana. I am not saying that everyone who uses marijuna as medicine will have seizures, rather there may be some medical indicationns where too much will no longer be thereapeutic. For example, (this is a question) are there medical conditions which require fine motor skills, balance, or other conditions in which a dose that causes euphoria also causes problems? Has anyone tested the non-THC hemp to see if it may be therapeutic?
I understand it takes very little for a therapedic dose. Since fibromyalgia is happening in the brain, I assume a tiny bit of thc is needed for the pain receptors to stop firing.
Sandi, hello. From what I hd read, pain relief requires THC. I don't know about fibromyalgia, thou, as there may be more than pain involved. At any rate please use as low a dose of any med. as possible.
I don't overuse anything! lol But I don't have anybody to get mj from to try it. Regular pain meds like vicadin don't even touch the pain.
I have fibromyalgia, and the pain is intense. Narcotics don't help at all. I'd like to try marijuana, to see if it helps. I agree that it's cruel to keep something that helps with pain be against the law. I'd rathyher not smoke due to a lung issue. Can a tincture be made from marijuna???? It's so expensive to use, since it's not covered by medicaid. Many with chronic pain couldn't grow it themselves. Bummer.
They do make tinctures of marijuana.
They make both tincture of marijuana for external use, and for internal use. People make it themselves. Marijuana tincture used for internal consumption requires baking the marijuana first. People also make marijuana tea. Tincture are high in alcohol, about 50 percent. Not everyone wants alcohol. Alcohol tinctures are fast acting. Another route is marijuana butter (Canibutter) The TCH will dissolve in butter. Marijuana butter is slow release. They also have used marijuana suppositories (used to treat nausea). You can find recepies online. In Canada there is an Rx drug called Savitex. It is an alcohol tinture of marijuana used to treat M.S.. Savitex is not available in the U.S.. From what I had read, oral cannabis can cause some stomach pain.
When Medical Marijuana is legal in all 50 States and the scientists have an opportunity to really observe its highly beneficial effect on the wide variety of medical conditions, we will be incredulous that it took so long to admit the obvious, that the resistance to the Truth was so fierce…
Oh, well, the resistance to a discovery that the Earth was not flat was fierce too, but it had to end at some point. To even say that marijuana does not have medicinal value is the same as to say that the Earth is flat… Think about it!
We do the best we can to spread the benefits of Medical Marijuana for many mental and health issues. Unfortunately there is so much misinformation out there that the ignorant general public buys into anti-marijuana propaganda. We hope laws will change and countries stop lying to their people. Will this happen? Probably not.
The only reason that cannabis is illegal is that it would take away profiting Drug Companies who supply many prescription drugs that would not be needed if use of cannabis was allowed. Cannabis is one of the safest things around and for people who say the smoke is harmful, there are other ways to take the active component of cannabis which is THC or Tetrahydrocannabinol. You can vaporize which takes away many of the so called toxins of the smoke. Tobacco has many more toxins and is yet still legal. Also you can eat or drink substances with THC in it. And for those who say it's a gateway drug, let me see scientific evidence that proves this. The national Science Association disapproved this and supports the medicinal use of cannabis. They asked the FDA and Dea to drop Cannabis as a schedule I drug and they were denied. What does that say about our government? The fact that people still to this day think that Cannabis is a Drug stills baffles me.
the crim rate would go down if they legalize pot
I just moved here from California. I have a brain tumor and other problems. I had a a 215 card, that was issued by the state. I went thru our local county agenicies and summitted all medical records to them, as it should be. I paid the county $150.00 for processing. Then each year a $50.00 renewal. Which each time medical records reviewed by both doctor and agency, would be done. This is a medicine to me. Since I have been in PA without it. I have suffered from not eating, getting sick from all the medicines I have to take. I lost the protection that I had from the sheriff's dept. To have this medicine. I am very concerned about this. You have no idea, what it is like to be sick and in pain. I now, wake up in so much pain that I have to take more pain medicine then I ever had. To me this is crule to those who truly need it. Let me ask you a question. If your mother had cancer and these things happened to her. Would you let her suffer?..Yes, there are those who abuse this law. But, if done the correct way. The state and counties, would not only have this income. They would know who is legal or not. The ones who take advantage of this law, should be hit harder then they are now. Do the right thing, don't take away something that is helping us. You don't have to have pot stores to do this. Let us take care of ourselfs. I use to have a person who delivered to my home that was a legal grower. It was done by the law and protection of the state. I hope your family members never have to suffer like this, when there is a natural way to make them feel better. Thank you for your time.
i agree with walter my grampa has the same isusse with the pain. it looks like it herts so i feel for you.
"We have the FDA to do that and this should go before the FDA."
Yes, that is exactly what medical cannabis activists say SHOULD happen, but the truth is that the DEA and NIDA control access to all legal cannabis, and do not release the substance for any research that is meant to show the benefits (medical or otherwise) of cannabis.
When the DEA, NIDA end their ongoing obstruction to medical research, you will find out:
a.) that cannabis is (as the DEA's own administrative judge said) is one of the safest and most beneficial substances known to man.
b.) the decades long prohibition of this substance collapses.
c.) the real reason for the ban on (and therefore lack of) research was only to maintain prohibition, in the face of evidence that cannabis is safe, non-toxic and can be easily regulated as we do with the our most deadly (and favorite) drugs: alcohol and tobacco.
We pulled it off in New Jersey and i was there for the emotional vote.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FW0mBJpQSWM
i enjoyed this bit a great deal. I hope our neighbors in PA will soon follow suit and allow marijuana for sick people.
JAY
We've reached a tipping point, fellow citizens and prisoners of "war".
Compassion, freedom, agriculture, free enterprise, free choice, sustainability, alternative energy, alternative fabrics, alternative (safer) medicines, and alternative (safer) forms of recreation are coming to America! No more will these things be reason to be jailed.
Bit by bit, block by block, change is coming to America.
Get more educated; teach more children.
Be safe and sound.
Oh, safer streets and neighborhood are on the horizon too.
Ask any cop what they truly care about.
i ask a cop and they said that they would raither just legaliz it and get over it.
I have had several conversations with the police. They generally agree that it should be legal, except for children.
(Same as alcohol). They also say that they will be doing more DUI arrests, and will see an increase in some crimes so that people who want it will be able to pay for it. The major problem is still impurity. The stuff on the streets has insectacide on it, as well as perhaps other adulterants.
i agree with you its time to rise up and let these people know that this is the real obstruction justice to humankind, marijuana is the most useful plant on the planet and they punish you for wanting to utilize its power. f**k the oppressers there so worried about keeping the rich rich they dont want the underdog to to succeed but we will someday! thats for sure. there are people dying all over the place because of greed. marijuana does not cause crime the unjust laws do. FACT!! live your life dont let anyone tell you otherwise! you know here in pa its always been here, kinda unfair that only "real live criminals get to enjoy it" pun intended.
Look up US Patent #6630507 if you're curious about the benefits of the cannabinoids.
Keeping Cannabis illegal while tobacco and alcohol are dispensed freely is *MURDEROUSLY STUPID*.
[It has controlled this glaucoma patient's asthma for over forty years.]
-Richard Steeb, San Jose California
ANY questions?
http://tinyurl.com/Tashkin
http://tinyurl.com/Henningfield-Benowitz
http://www.breakthematrix.com/Alternatives/Top-10-Cannabis-Studies-the-Government-Wished-it-Had-Never-Funded
It's not a war on (some) drugs it's a war on minorities to replace outlawed slave labor with prison labor. We tried outlawing alcohol, and we saw what happened. Why does anyone think outlawing anything else, especially *naturally growing* drugs, would be any different?
The truth is, alcohol is the most dangerous drug known to man, because no other drug turns its user into a stumbling, belligerent moron the way alcohol does. Uncle Sam also needed a constitutional amendment to outlaw alcohol, and another to repeal it; but the way they outlawed naturally growing drug was far sneakier. They decided to tax it into prohibition, by requiring those who possessed it to purchase outrageously priced tax stamps; since no one in their right mind would pay $100 so they could possess $5 worth of cocaine/cannabis/psychedelic mushrooms, anyone caught carrying was arrested… by the Dept of the Treasury, for tax evasion.
Read tinyurl.com/1mn
The American Nurses Association, the American College of Physicians, the American Academy of Family Physicians, the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, the American Public Health Association, the American Academy of HIV Medicine and many other professional health care organizations have endorsed medical marijuana.
D.A. Freed is concerned about NORML supporting medical marijuana because of other goals NORML might have. But NORML was one of the first organizations in the U.S. to recognize and fight for medical access to marijuana, since it was banned in 1937. In 1972, NORML petitioned the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs (BNDD) to reschedule marijuana to a Schedule II drug, to make it available for doctors to prescribe. The BNDD, which was the precursor to the DEA, and later the DEA stonewalled the rescheduling effort for 14 years. They had to be taken to court three times before they would hold the hearings and finally in 1986, hearings were held. The DEA testified why marijuana should remain unavailable. Physicians, nurses, researchers and others testified that marijuana should be available to patients.
The decision was given by the US Department of Justice DEA Administrative Law Judge Francis L. Young on September 6, 1988:
“Based upon the foregoing facts…the provisions of the (Controlled Substances) Act permit and require the transfer of marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule II…The evidence in this record clearly shows that marijuana has been accepted as capable of relieving the distress of great numbers of very ill people, and during so with safety under medical supervision. It would be unreasoning, arbitrary and capricious for the DEA to continue to stand between these suffers and the benefit of this substance in light of the evidence in this record. Marijuana, in its natural form, is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man.”
The Administrator of the DEA overturned the judge's decision, acting in an arbitrary, capricious and unreasoning manner. This is why states are now passing compassionate use medical marijuana laws. Efforts to go through the federal government's due process on this issue were unfairly frustrated at every turn.
One need not travel to China to find indigenous cultures lacking human rights. America leads the world in percentile behind bars, thanks to ongoing persecution of hippies, communists, and non-whites under prosecution of the war on drugs. If we’re all about spreading liberty abroad, then why mix the message at home? Peace on the home front would enhance global credibility.
The drug czar’s Rx for prison fodder costs dearly, as lives are flushed down expensive tubes. My shaman’s second opinion is that psychoactive plants are God’s gift. Behold, it’s all good. When Eve ate the apple, she knew a good apple, and an evil prohibition. Canadian Marc Emery is being extradited to prison for selling seeds that American farmers use to reduce U. S. demand for Mexican pot.
The CSA (Controlled Substances Act of 1970) reincarnates Al Capone, endangers homeland security, and throws good money after bad. Fiscal policy burns tax dollars to root out the number-one cash crop in the land, instead of taxing sales. Society rejected the plague of prohibition, but it mutated. Apparently, SWAT teams don’t need no stinking amendment.
Nixon passed the CSA on the false assurance that the Schafer Commission would later justify criminalizing his enemies, but he underestimated Schafer’s integrity. No amendments can assure due process under an anti-science law without due process itself. Psychology hailed the breakthrough potential of LSD, until the CSA shut down research, and pronounced that marijuana has no medical use. Former U.K. chief drugs advisor Prof. Nutt was sacked for revealing that non-smoked cannabis intake is scientifically healthy.
The RFRA (Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993) allows Native American Church members to eat peyote, which functions like LSD. Americans shouldn’t need a specific church membership or an act of Congress to obtain their birthright freedom of religion. God’s children’s free exercise of religious liberty may include entheogen sacraments to mediate communion with their maker.
Freedom of speech presupposes freedom of thought. The Constitution doesn’t enumerate any governmental power to embargo diverse states of mind. How and when did government usurp this power to coerce conformity? The Mayflower sailed to escape coerced conformity. Legislators who would limit cognitive liberty lack jurisdiction.
Common-law holds that adults are the legal owners of their own bodies. The Founding Fathers undersigned that the right to the pursuit of happiness is inalienable. Socrates said to know your self. Mortal lawmakers should not presume to thwart the intelligent design that molecular keys unlock spiritual doors. Persons who appreciate their own free choice of path in life should tolerate seekers’ self-exploration. Liberty is prerequisite for tracking drug-use intentions and outcomes.
It's time PA follows the lead of the other states. Moreover, it's time to legalize it completely.
Let's stop wasting our time trying to enforce an unenforceable law. Take the product out of the black market, regulate like alcohol, and reap in the revenues from taxes and money saved trying to put potheads in jail.
Not to mention all the empty prison cells we'll be able to use for real criminals!
I agree they wast there time on tring to stop it they should just legaliz it
There is not one ligitimate reason to send someone to prison (cage a human like an animal) because they posess or consume marijuana. Neither the user nor the authority come out a hero.
i think they should legallis pot because it is not as bad as smoking
Hats off to the courageous Brad Walter for sharing his story!
To: DA Freed
NORML has worked hard for almost 30 years to win legal protections for medical marijuana patients. This has been a success in 14 states now and the District of Columbia. PA could be next.
The whole point of medical marijuana legislation is to keep legitimate patients out of the ubiquitous gray market for marijuana.
At the 12/2/09 hearings on HB1393 we heard from doctors as well as those suffering serious medical conditions. Even a Conservative Rabbi testified in favor of medical marijuana.
Where are the cancer patients and AIDS patients with the PA opposition? You will not find them.
Instead there are prosecutors like you Mr. Freed, who know little to nothing about medicine, and hope to continue the horrendous policy of cannabis prohibition – even for the severely ill and dying.
Police and Prosecutors should not be standing in the way of doctors and patients seeking effective treatments.
I would suggest DA Freed you focus on real criminals instead of trying to put the ill and dying into prison for choosing a scientifically proven therapy.
Sincerely,
Chris Goldstein
PhillyNORML
PA4MMJ