Whether through the commission setup to hash out the details of how to implement an effective program or through new legislation proposed this session, changes are needed to make medical marijuana available to those who would benefit from it.
The legislature passed a law allowing for the use of medical marijuana in 2013, but because of the way the law was written, no one has been able to take advantage of it.
Under that legislation, dispensaries have to be set up by academic medical centers. But only four institutions in the state qualify for that distinction, and none of the four are in any hurry to implement a program. A commission tasked with writing regulations released its preliminary recommendations last week. It defines an academic medical center as one operating a medical residency program and conducting research overseen by the federal Department of Health and Human Services.
An alternative proposal that would make it easier for patients - some of whom testified at a Senate committee hearing last week - to get medical marijuana, failed in the legislature originally but is back on the table this legislative session. Bills in the House of Delegates and the Senate would allow certified physicians to prescribe medical marijuana to patients.
There is conflicting evidence on whether medical marijuana is helpful to patients. For those who testified last week, there is no question that the use of medical marijuana has helped them. But state Department of Health and Mental Hygiene Secretary Joshua Sharfstein said others have seen adverse side effects, including memory problems, severe anxiety, panic attacks and psychosis. Additionally, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has not determined the use of medical marijuana to be effective.
Clearly any patient prescribed medical marijuana should be under the close supervision of a physician who has determined that use of the drug is effective for that patient. But enacting a law to allow the use of medical marijuana, and then putting in place restrictions that result in no one being able to take advantage of the law, is pointless.
Bills in the legislature would improve upon the current law, expand opportunities for people to take advantage of it and help it fulfill the law's original intent.
For those reasons, lawmakers should give the these proposals serious consideration this legislative session.
