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Medical Marijuana For LA Councilmans Pain

Today's short post from openworldconference.com (see link below) follows on from yesterday's video and is a post that's doing the rounds on the internet at the moment. It concerns an LA Councilman, Bill Rosendahl, who has had the courage to come out and admit that he is a long time user of medical marijuana. Now, for many people in many lands, this is a non-story because medical marijuana is perfectly legal in those lands but for the US it has great symbolic value. An upstanding citizen has openly shown the need for common sense laws regarding using marijuana for chronic pain. How the authorities will react remains to be seen.

LA councilman takes medical marijuana for nerve disorder
August 3, 2012

Los Angeles City Councilman Bill Rosendahl, a longtime proponent of legalizing pot nationwide, told The Times that he has had his own medical marijuana prescription for a decade, relying on the drug to cope with neuropathy, a nerve disorder that can make his feet red hot with pain
.
That makes the councilman, whose district stretches from Westchester to Pacific Palisades, the first politician at City Hall to acknowledge being a consumer of medical marijuana. Rosendahl would not divulge where he obtains his marijuana but said he does so legally.

Pot dispensaries, said Rosendahl, are no different than any other group seeking to weigh in at City Hall. They wanted to do something for me, and its been clear for 20 to 30 years where I stand on this issue. I think the war on drugs is destroying this great nation.

Medical marijuana advocates suffered a bruising political setback last week, watching helplessly as the Los Angeles City Council moved to shut down hundreds of pot shops.

But pot dispensaries have quietly made headway on another City Hall front: mobilizing campaign cash for their key allies. Over the last year, dispensaries and their supporters have given more than $16,000 to the re-election campaigns of two Westside councilmen who opposed the pot shop ban, according to a Times review.

http://www.openworldconference.com/?p=5005

A Medical Marijuana Pain Reduction Success Story

Today's post from lohud.com (see link below) reveals personal accounts of people with chronic illnesses being helped by medical marijuana. So far, nothing new, you might say but the article throws the spotlight on the whole issue of patients' rights to treatment that will help and man-made laws which prevent them from doing this. Even when the law grows up and legalises something that patently helps, then costs can throw a spanner in the works. The point is that for any other drug with a proven track record like medical cannabis, (especially for nerve pain issues) it would be welcomed with open arms but because of the tenuous links with recreational use and abuse and the whole opioid abuse publicity, the law will insist that black is white to prove its moral point. Not good enough. Not in 2016.

Medical marijuana patient's 'life-changing' results
David Robinson,  April 13, 2016

Story Highlights
Andrew Greenspan of Nyack started medical marijuana in February, and reports life-changing results
The Journal News/lohud.com obtained exclusive access behind the closely guarded doors of a marijuana dispensary
State and federal reform efforts seek to close legal and insurance problems in medical marijuana program
500 N.Y. doctors, out of 90,000 have registered to participate; 2,500 patients are certified out of 200,000

Some of New York’s top doctors spent countless hours last year examining Andrew Greenspan.

His constant pain and dangerously high fevers had them baffled. At one point, they quarantined him in fear of tropical diseases.

A team of neurologists finally cracked the medical mystery: Greenspan, then 23, had a rare mix of autism, spinal injuries and other illnesses with bleak treatment options.

When a risky spinal surgery failed last year, he launched an uncertain regimen of painkillers and other drugs, while dreading his next emergency room trip.

As the breaking point loomed, Greenspan qualified to buy medical marijuana at a White Plains dispensary earlier this year. His health dramatically improved just a couple of months after starting the drugs. His pain has become manageable, and his appetite has returned.

“It’s just been life-changing, and it was like a second chance after going through all these doctors and hospitals and them saying, ‘We’re going to fix you,’ and a lot of promises that weren’t actually met,” he said.

What follows is Greenspan’s medical odyssey from ineffective drug cocktails and failed surgeries to hope after taking controversial marijuana-based drugs. His dramatic turnaround, and those of many of the 2,500 other critically ill New Yorkers using the drugs, underscores why efforts mount to improve access to the program.

Part of his story involved The Journal News/lohud.com obtaining exclusive access behind the closely guarded doors of a marijuana dispensary in downtown White Plains. During visits to the Vireo Health of New York business, officials discussed new details about the drugs for the first time.

Dr. Stephen Dahmer, chief medical officer at Vireo, sat beside Greenspan as they discussed concerns about affordability and expanding the short list of 10 illnesses eligible for marijuana. Dahmer described the program as fundamentally flawed because marijuana remains illegal under federal law, even amid growing examples of its potentially life-saving benefits.

“Any other medicine that has this positive of an effect would be seen in a different light,” he said.

Greenspan also spoke at his family’s South Nyack home overlooking the Hudson River. He has started looking for a job. His mother, Wendy, described that as unthinkable before he joined the exclusive ranks of patients certified to buy marijuana-based drugs in New York.

“I cannot even express how ill he has been and just how awful a road that he’s been on, but, since he started marijuana, he is in such better health that it’s like a miracle,” she said, her voice quivering.

Still, some doctors remain skeptical of medical marijuana's legal and health risks. Their concerns, and others aired during hearings after New York's law was enacted in 2014, influenced the state Department of Health's regulations that limit access to a short list of eligible diseases, including cancer, epilepsy and neuropathy, a form of nerve-damage that is among Greenspan’s illnesses.

Lawmakers nationally are debating the expansion of marijuana-eligible illnesses, but New York is considered among the most restrictive. Alzheimer's disease, post-traumatic stress disorder and autism are some of the conditions not currently on the list that are being debated by politicians, doctors and patient advocacy groups.

“I’ve had parents knock on our (dispensary) door asking about autism and the potential for treatment for that, and some of the heads of support groups for autism, and I had to turn them away,” Dahmer said. "It’s not one of the 10 disorders, and that is the line I have to go back to because that is the way the law is written."

Cost still a barrier

Affordability has emerged as another crucial hurdle because health insurance doesn’t cover the drugs, which cost up to $1,000 per month as sold in non-smokeable oils, tinctures (a solution) and pills under state law, The Journal News/lohud.com has found.

Wendy Greenspan, a nursing professor at Rockland Community College, said her son’s marijuana costs about $500 per month, and is likely to increase based on usage. Meanwhile, the family is thousands of dollars in medical debt.

“Everything is coming out of our retirement, and it's tough, but it has to be done because your child is sick.”Wendy Greenspan, patient's mother

“If you’re going to legalize it, do right by people because you’re legalizing it to help people and not making it hard to get for people who are already paying for other health care,” she said. “I really hope when the dust settles that everyone realizes this medicine is really working.”

Many of the access problems stem from the fact that marijuana remains illegal under federal law, even though 23 states, including New York, allow its sale for medicinal use. National debate over reforms often overlaps with the push to legalize recreational marijuana use, which is allowed in four of the states.

In New York, enrollment has grown slow and steady since its medical marijuana program launched in January. By early April, 500 doctors, out of 90,000, have registered, and 2,500 patients have been certified, or about 1 percent of 200,000 eligible.

Meanwhile, health care workers have accessed a private state Health Department database of marijuana doctors to refer potential patients, though the list remains hidden from the public.

After consulting with Andrew Greenspan on the marijuana-based drugs, Dahmer talked about his frustrations with the program, especially the lack of health insurance coverage.

“That’s one of the hardest things for me is seeing patients come through every day that this is benefiting their condition and then stopping at the ATM and opening up their wallet already on top of the high medical costs,” he said.

Officials at several of New York's five marijuana companies, which have spent millions of dollars to open manufacturing plants and dispensary sites, have vowed to reduce prices as enrollment grows, regardless of insurance reforms. Meanwhile, medical marijuana costs hundreds of dollars more in New York than many other states with less restrictive programs, depending on the type of drugs and patient.

Even though medical marijuana is showing promising early signs, Wendy Greenspan described the stigma and cost barriers hindering access to the drug as another example of a fundamentally unfair and broken medical system, especially for those touched by autism.

“How do you go from oxycodone (painkillers) that cost $2 per pill because of insurance, and go to marijuana, which is legalized and not covered and you have to pay cash?” she asked. “Something is just not right.”

She estimated her son's medical bills at nearly $1 million, though a majority was covered by health insurance despite thousands of dollars in specialty care coming out of pocket.

"Everything is coming out of our retirement, and it's tough, but it has to be done because your child is sick," she said.

Behind the doors

Vireo’s dispensary feels like a mix of pharmacy and doctor’s office. Frosted glass prevents passersby from looking inside the corner storefront on East Post Road. A small Vireo Health decal on the front door is the only sign.

The nondescript design is no mistake, however, and stems from some New York lawmakers' focus on preventing abuse of the marijuana industry.

State law prohibits marijuana signage and requires strict security measures. Vireo has a locked entrance checkpoint staffed by a guard who photocopies visitors’ marijuana ID cards or driver’s licenses. Cameras hang from ceilings throughout the building.

The rules focus on keeping drugs away from non-patients, a top priority of many New York politicians, including Gov. Andrew Cuomo, and apply to all 20 dispensary sites. Besides White Plains, the only other site in the Lower Hudson Valley is in downtown Yonkers.

Greenspan cleared security at Vireo on a recent afternoon and walked into a patient consultation room. The sparsely decorated space uses calming green and white tones with a simple round table, four chairs and a framed leafy plant picture on the wall.

He sat with a Vireo pharmacist and chatted about buying marijuana-oil refills at the sleek computer kiosks at the dispensary's entrance, where two other patients waited for cashiers and pharmacists.

As Greenspan talked of how marijuana's pain-relieving benefits led to his first bike ride in more than a year, the shadows of people outside on the sidewalk darkened the consulting room's frosted window.

Dahmer smiled at hearing of Greenspan's improved health, but he noted the treatment remained in the early stages.

"How long can this continue, and that’s an even more important question of why we need specific dosing to continue these results, and for me it’s really the long haul that’s important," Dahmer said.

While some business owners and residents had opposed the White Plains dispensary site, patients came and went on a recent afternoon unnoticed, joining rush-hour crowds emptying out of the nearby Social Security office and other high-rise buildings.

Giving autism a voice

Doctors didn’t formally diagnose Greenspan as autistic until his late teens, but Wendy Greenspan always suspected something wasn’t quite right.

“The potential benefit from the autistic side is something that is very cool to see where this could lead, and if medical marijuana could have a positive ripple effect in the autistic community, that could be life-changing for thousands of people.”Mark Greenspan, patient's father

“He was always very successful and graduated high school with a Regents diploma, and really, after that, he just never really developed like the other kids," she said. "When he went to college he just fell through the cracks and wasn’t able to assimilate with the other kids."

A nurse for 30 years, she blames herself for missing the warning signs. She also gets angry when recalling how doctors misdiagnosed her son’s autism and separate but related illnesses, including neuropathy and spinal injuries from skateboarding.

"It makes me absolutely crazy to think about what happened to him," she said.

Her son spent three months in the hospital last year. He had an electronic pain-relief device implanted in his spine — similar to a pacemaker — but had it removed when it proved ineffective. Ultimately, doctors prescribed dozens of medications in what the family described as a trial-and-error pharmaceutical cocktail. The pill bottles fill a cardboard box in the family's closet.

Andrew has been having good results using medical marijuana for pain control. 

Since starting medical marijuana, he said the early benefits include relieving some of his autistic symptoms, such as social anxiety. Even something as seemingly small as him making eye contact brings his father, Mark, joy.

“The potential benefit from the autistic side is something that is very cool to see where this could lead, and if medical marijuana could have a positive ripple effect in the autistic community, that could be life-changing for thousands of people,” his father said.

Dahmer expanded on the efforts to continue growing marijuana’s medicinal uses despite federal legal hurdles.

“These are the hoops and the hurdles of a young program," he said, "But you could imagine what it’s like if I can’t take a medicine that is truly helping my disease because of state-specific laws, and it’s hard for me, as a family doctor, to hear that, but we’re working within the system to do the best that we can."

State and federal lawmakers are debating a variety of reforms to the system. Cost, transparency and expanded access are among the critical issues in New York and nationally, and Dahmer said the efforts hinge on fledgling clinical studies on marijuana returning positive results.

"There is increasing amounts of science, related especially to the 10 disorders and the illnesses behind that (in New York's program), and we need more evidence and we need more science, and one of the big bottlenecks in New York are physicians that are available to recommend this," he said.

The state Department of Health is also awaiting medical research as it considers adding more eligible illnesses.

The department is reviewing several diseases, and others may be added as medical research expands, an agency official said. The current review involves Alzheimer’s disease, post-traumatic stress disorder, muscular dystrophy, rheumatoid arthritis and dystonia, a muscle disorder.

Dahmer noted that expanding doctor participation and the list of eligible illnesses hinge on continued marijuana research.

"Physicians are going to come on board when evidence increases; so we need data to create that evidence and studies to help move forward," he said.

http://www.lohud.com/story/news/investigations/2016/04/13/medical-marijuana-patient/82110856/

Support For Marijuana As Pain Killer How To Keep It Real

Today's headline-grabbing post from fool.com (see link below) may well attract yet more readers to the medical marijuana fold but we do need to ask precisely what is meant by every step forward regarding medicinal marijuana. We should know by now that just because on a certain day, something is seen as good and beneficial, it doesn't mean to say that the next day, things will be the same. That certainly applies to marijuana and the whole issue may well be drastically influenced by coming elections in the US. So having achieved so much progress towards recognising the medical qualities of marijuana, especially as an analgesic, how do we maintain that progress in a world where the media can change your mind every minute? The answer lies in maintaining factual reporting - no hints, suggestions or suppositions but cold hard indisputable facts. Only then can indisputable things about marijuana be said. It is not surprising that the first genuine breakthrough in pain treatment in decennia has been so widely welcomed but we must always be careful that the facts remain paramount and are not exaggerated by 'wishful thinking' because that's exactly what opponents of medical marijuana are waiting for.

Public Support for Marijuana Just Hit an All-Time High
 Sean Williams (TMFUltraLong) Oct 29, 2016 at 9:12AM

Though marijuana is no longer a taboo topic, and industry expansion appears likely, investors should remain cautious.

The sun is shining on the marijuana industry.

Put plainly, you'd struggle to find an industry that's growing as consistently fast as marijuana. While it's not uncommon to find an industry that has double-digit growth potential for a few years, investment bank Cowen & Co.'s estimates suggest the legal cannabis market could expand by nearly 24% per year through 2026 to about $50 billion. Those are numbers that are hard for businesses and investors to overlook.
Public support for pot soars

It's what's going on behind the scenes that's truly remarkable. In a relatively short period of two decades marijuana has been transformed from one of the most taboo topics to a substance that's now recognized as medically legal in half of all U.S. states. It's also legal to purchase certain amounts of recreational marijuana in four states -- Colorado, Washington, Oregon, and Alaska -- along with Washington, D.C., for adults ages 21 and up.

The real impetus for change in the cannabis industry has been the rapidly shifting, and improving, public opinion toward the drug. According to the many polls Gallup has conducted over a nearly five-decade period, it's only since the mid-1990s that the public's opinion of marijuana has shifted. In 1995, just 25% of Gallup's respondents wanted to see pot legalized nationally. By 2005, that figure had risen to 36%, and by 2011 it touched 50% for the first time. With the national pollster releasing its 2016 marijuana poll earlier this month one thing is clear: marijuana is no longer taboo.


Image source: Cannabis Culture via Flickr.


According to Gallup, support for legalizing marijuana nationally has now hit 60%, an all-time high (no pun intended). Growing public support could put pressure on the legislatures of the remaining states that haven't legalized marijuana -- especially those that don't have the initiative and referendum process -- to reconsider their position on medical cannabis. As a reminder, support for legalizing only medical cannabis is even higher, with a 2015 CBS News poll putting favorability for such a measure at 84%.

A recently released marijuana poll from the Pew Research Center would appear to concur with Gallup's findings. Nearly three weeks ago Pew Research pegged support for legalizing marijuana at 57%, an all-time high, with just 37% preferring it remain illegal. Comparatively, 60% of respondents wanted it to remain illegal just one decade prior.

Even with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency rejecting two petitions to reschedule marijuana in August, the industry looks as if it could continue to grow on the heels of strong support from the American public.
One thing for opportunistic investors to keep in mind

Growing support for marijuana might have opportunistic investors thinking that buying into the cannabis industry is a smart move. However, certain aspects of the industry continue to make it anything but investor-friendly.

To begin with, there aren't many investable marijuana stocks. With the exception of GW Pharmaceuticals, which has discovered more than five dozen cannabinoids and is attempting to use those cannabinoids to effect positive biologic changes in the treatment of epilepsy, cancer, and type 2 diabetes, to name a few ailments, there aren't any other pot stocks trading on reputable stock exchanges. Although we're witnessing improved reporting standards for over-the-counter stock platforms, those standards still aren't the same as if they were listed on the NYSE or Nasdaq, which makes finding accurate financial information somewhat spotty. Not to mention, nearly all marijuana companies are currently losing money.

The cannabis industry also faces a number of disadvantages that are liable to turn investors off. For example, pot companies are having a very difficult time accessing basic financial services from banks and credit unions. Though many states that have legalized medical and/or recreational marijuana have provided a workaround for banks and credit unions to legally provide a checking account or line of credit to pot businesses, the fact that banks are insured by the federal government could theoretically expose them to prosecution in the future. Remember, cannabis remains illegal at the federal level. This means most banks (about 97%) have remained on the sidelines, which is forcing cannabis businesses to deal solely in cash -- and cash creates a major security concern.

Additionally, marijuana companies are contending with a major disadvantage come tax time. The Internal Revenue Service disallows businesses that sell illicit substances, such as marijuana, from taking normal business deductions. It essentially means pot businesses are paying tax on their gross profits instead of net profits; or in other words, dramatically overpaying on their taxes compared to "normal businesses." Having to hand back a lot of would-be profit to the federal government isn't exactly ideal from a business perspective.

Thus, while the marijuana industry looks poised for continued expansion at the state level based on improving public support, the fundamental factors that are behind the scenes still indicate that investors would be better off sticking on the sidelines.

Sean Williams has no material interest in any companies mentioned in this article. You can follow him on CAPS under the screen name TMFUltraLong, and check him out on Twitter, where he goes by the handle @TMFUltraLong.

The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

http://www.fool.com/investing/2016/10/29/public-support-for-marijuana-just-hit-an-all-time.aspx

Medical Marijuana Versus Opioids A No Brainer

Today's post from blogs.jwatch.org (see link below) takes the view that it's now time to seriously consider using medical marijuana as an alternative to the opioid pain killers so many neuropathy patients (and other chronic pain sufferers) need. If there is genuinely a health crisis caused by opioid abuse among genuine subscribers (as the media insists) then we really need to start appreciating what we already have in the locker and stop attaching moral stigmas to marijuana, that are decades out of date. There is now more than enough evidence that marijuana truly works for people living with nerve damage pain, so as the article states...'legalise it already'! In that way, the health authorities can take control of the situation, control the quality and the costs and cut out the middle men dealers. Yet still people with absolutely no knowledge of the science look at marijuana as being the spawn of the devil and equal in its evil effects to opioids themselves (which are by the way, very effective if taken as prescribed and controlled by a specialist doctor or pharmacist). It's time to destroy the myths about marijuana. Well worth a read!

Medical Marijuana and Painful Neuropathy — An Opportunity to Make Us Believers 

By Paul E. Sax, M.D.

From Journal WatchJanuary 10th, 2016
 
Medical marijuana is now officially available in New York, the city with by far the largest number of people living with HIV/AIDS in the country. Reporting on the first dispensary in Manhattan, the aptly named Julie Weed (yes! her real name!) writes:

One of the most promising areas for research is the substitution of medical marijuana for opioids like OxyContin and Percocet for pain management …“68% of our patients with AIDS-related neuropathy have said that medical marijuana has allowed them to stop taking opioid prescription pain killers which can be addictive, cause a variety of harmful side-effects, and — most critically – are the cause of thousands of overdose deaths per year.”

Some thoughts based on this claim, and the long history of medical marijuana and HIV/AIDS: 

Could 68% of patients with painful peripheral neuropathy really stop opioid pain killers with marijuana? Wow. If that’s true, it’s huge — even half this rate would be a dramatic advance. Among the most frustrating conditions in all of medicine, painful peripheral neuropathy has a list of treatments as varied as the products sold in the “Cough and Cold” aisle at your pharmacy — and are, unfortunately, about equally effective. Proven strategies to help people come off chronic narcotics are badly needed. 

HIV specialists have been hearing about the medical use of marijuana even longer than we’ve had effective antiretroviral therapy. Initially touted as an appetite stimulant for HIV-related anorexia and weight loss, and as palliative therapy to ease the pain of death and dying, it gained further use in the mid-1990s when early HIV-related combination regimens caused so much nausea. This randomized clinical trial led by Donald Abrams — who has done some of the best work studying marijuana in HIV against great odds — found that 5 days of smoked cannabis was more effective than placebo in 50 patients with painful peripheral neuropathy. Of course blinding the study arms was (and remains) essentially impossible given the euphoric effects of the drug, but maybe that’s the whole point. 

Just legalize the stuff already. That’s how I’d characterize the opinion on marijuana for the vast majority of the doctors, nurses, and social workers I work with, some of whom (like me) both remember Woodstock (the original one, kids) and enjoy the music from it, or are younger, and have the same view. If marijuana is legalized, it can be more easily regulated, taxed, and studied (see below) — just like that other legal psychoactive drug, alcohol. Seems like this is hardly a minority view (the link is to the source of the graphic at the top of the page). 

Legalization would allow more rigorous studies of therapeutic use, long-term effects, and safety. Such studies are now essentially prohibited by the federal government since marijuana is considered a drug of abuse. As a result, many claims about its medical indications are based on either small, short term, or methodologically questionable studies or, even worse, strongly-held beliefs based mostly on anecdote — the weakest form of scientific evidence. That is, I’m afraid, what that “68% have stopped their opiates” claim is from the opening paragraph. Until it’s studied more rigorously, we’re stuck with the frustration of dealing with claims that marijuana is a valid treatment for practically every chronic condition under the sun. A similar claim might be made of benzodiazepines like Valium, Xanax, and Klonopin — which definitely make people feel better — but clinical research has more clearly defined both the benefits and risks of this drug class. 

The quasi-medical atmosphere of some marijuana dispensaries is a huge negative to the acceptance of legitimate medical use. Got a free 10 minutes? That plus saying you have “insomnia” gets you a weed license for the medical stuff in Venice, no medical records required. Medical marijuana exists in this bizarre parallel system to “real” FDA approved drugs, and the absence of good scientific data means that the indications for use state-by-state are literally and figuratively all over the map. Got to love this indication (and I use the word loosely) for medical use from California: “Any other chronic or persistent medical symptom that substantially limits the ability of the person to conduct one or more major life activities (as defined by the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990) or, if not alleviated, may cause serious harm to the patient’s safety or physical or mental health.” If it’s based on patient report, that covers pretty much anything, doesn’t it?

So what’s my take right now? Count me in the same camp as these authors, who published their views in a JAMA editorial last year, writing:

If the states’ initiative to legalize medical marijuana is merely a veiled step toward allowing access to recreational marijuana, then the medical community should be left out of the process, and instead marijuana should be decriminalized … Evidence justifying marijuana use for various medical conditions will require the conduct of adequately powered, double-blind, randomized, placebo/active controlled clinical trials to test its short- and long-term efficacy and safety. The federal government and states should support medical marijuana research.

Totally agree. Meanwhile, here’s a study design free for the taking:

Title: A randomized, blinded study of cannabis versus placebo to reduce opiate use in HIV-related neuropathic pain.

Entry criteria: Painful HIV-related neuropathy for ≥3 months, confirmed by a neurologist at screening, and requiring the use of opiates for control. Stable doses of opiates for at least 4 weeks prior to screening are required. HIV RNA must be < 50 copies/mL on non-neurotoxic containing ART.

Intervention: Smoked cannabis or placebo for 24 weeks; up to daily use as desired by study subjects. Adjunctive therapies (gabapentin, antiepileptics, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, acupuncture) will be administered at the discretion of the investigators.

Primary endpoint: Time to cessation of opiate use as estimated by the Kaplan-Meier method.

Secondary endpoints: Time to reduction in 25, 50, and 75% of opiate use; absolute and relative reduction in opiate dose. Proportion opiate free at study completion. And what the hell, might as well also do Numeric Pain Rating Scale, Change in Pain Inventory Score, Numeric Rating Scale Sleep Interference Score, Medical Outcomes Study Sleep Scale, Patient Global Impression of Change of Pain, and all those other neuropathy assessments. Throw in some neurocognitive testing just for fun.

Funding: National Institutes of Health

You’re welcome!

Let’s see if what you think.

What should we do with marijuana?

Legalize, regulate, and study it like alcohol.
Decriminalize and study it, and reserve for medical use only, like benzodiazepines.
Leave things as they are now.

View Results

http://blogs.jwatch.org/hiv-id-observations/index.php/medical-marijuana-and-painful-neuropathy-an-opportunity-to-make-us-believers/2016/01/10/

Legal Medical Marijuana In New York

Today's post from nyunews.com (see link below) talks about the proposal that would legislate and legalise marijuana use for medical purposes in New York State. The bill has yet to come before the state senate and that body has twice voted the bill down in the last three years, despite it being approved by the state assembly. Proponents seem to think that this time it may pass through into law but that remains to be seen. Certainly this sort of bill passing in other states will have an influence on New York state but whether that's enough to help the many chronic pain patients who have been waiting for a legal solution to their problems, is a question of politics.

Medical marijuana bill comes before New York legislature

Posted on April 9, 2013 by Andrew Karpan


A new bill has been proposed in the New York State legislature that would legalize the use of marijuana in the state for medicinal purposes.

The bill was introduced in both the New York State Assembly and State Senate late last March and has received the co-sponsorship of over thirty legislators. However, the bill already passed the State Assembly twice in the last three years but was voted down in the State Senate each time.

One of the the bill’s main sponsors, Richard Gottfried, a Democrat representing the 75th district, is optimistic about the prospect of medical marijuana legislation being passed this time around.

“Public support gets stronger every year, and we have broad support from health care professionals and patient advocates,” Gottfried said. “Several Republican state senators have said privately that they would vote for it.”

Gov. Cuomo has previously been opposed to both medical marijuana bills, but his recent stance in support of decriminalizing marijuana possession has led some, like Gottfried, to hope that the governor has changed his mind.

All the states bordering New York, with the exception of Pennsylvania, have already legalized use of marijuana for medical purposes, and the bill has received heavy support from groups like the Drug Policy Alliance.

The bill will allow patients suffering from cancer, multiple sclerosis, HIV/AIDS and other serious illnesses to purchase marijuana under the supervision of their health care provider.

“This bill needs to be passed,” said Dr. Sunil K. Aggarwal, a resident physician at the NYU Langone Medical Center and an expert on the medical use of marijuana, in an interview with The Village Voice. “Thousands of patients in New York State could benefit from medicinal use of cannabis under a doctor’s supervision … for some conditions like HIV painful neuropathy, inhaled cannabis is the treatment with the best quality of evidence with most benefit.”

Students and New York residents alike supported the legalization of medical marijuana.

“New Yorkers who suffer from debilitating conditions need this bill,” said Alec Foster, Steinhardt junior and president of NYU Students for Sensible Drug Policy. “Police resources should be spent solving real crimes such as murder and robbery, and not on harassing terminally ill New Yorkers who prefer a safer alternative to most pharmaceuticals.”

Teresa Conigliaro, an LSP freshman, said she thinks New York should go even further and move to legalize marijuana for recreational use as well.

“It would save the government so much money from not having to waste it on arresting people,” she said. “It should be legal for everybody.”

Brooklyn resident Hannah Hens-Diazza, 31, supports legalization of marijuana for medical purposes but is worried about going any further.

“I feel like marijuana can be mentally addictive, so I don’t think it should be legalized for recreational use … but if it can help people in pain, it definitely should,” she said.

Andrew Karpan is a deputy city/state editor. Email him at akarpan@nyunews.com

http://nyunews.com/2013/04/09/medical-marijuana-bill-comes-before-new-york-legislature/