With liberty and "medical marijuana" for all...
I'm wading through Oregon Ballot Measure 33, which amends the Medical Marijuana Act of 1998. The measure would "allow the creation of licensed non-profit dispensaries regulated by the Oregon Dept. of Human Services to produce, possess, and sell marijuana to registered patients and/or caregivers." The measure requires a program for indigent patients to receive free medical marijuana from licensed dispensaries (the program would be funded by proceeds from the sale of medical MJ). There would be penalties for distributing inferior product, too...no "seeds, stalks, and roots of the plant or any contaminated marijuana or any male marijuana plants or any marijuana clearly intended to be discarded..."
The amount of allowable MJ would be increased to "10 plants and one pound" per registered patient and/or caregiver per year, unless it's harvest time (one crop per year!). Doctors may approve a larger quantity. The accompanying arguments state that "the 10 plants plus 1 pound allowable...equate to a total of 12,936 marijuana cigarettes...(this) would be equivalent to smoking 1 1/2 joints every hour of every day in the year." (Is that so?) Naturopaths and nurse practitioners would be empowered to authorize medical MJ. And the list of approved conditions is expanded to...well, to anything, if your prescriber approves.
Between the menacing wolf TV ads, we're seeing ads that feature disabled patients, explaining how they can't grow their own marijuana, and how the measure would help them. Most everyone I know shrugs and says, "What do we care if chronically or terminally ill patients are high on pot?" But free, state-mandated pot to registered, approved, indigent patients...
For what it's worth (and who knows what it's worth anymore), here's the National Institute on Drug Abuse, on marijuana. The Oregon Medical Association opposes the measure, noting lung damage and carcinogens in marijuana smoke. There's always ingestion...wait, here they say that the British Medical Journal reports that "medical literature has shown an association between marijuana smoking and illnesses such as depression, schizophrenia, and suicidal ideation." And what's this..."Libertarians say vote no on Measure 33." The measure "puts government where it doesn't belong, between the health care professional and their patients."
I once saw a patient who was taking legally prescribed amphetamines, tranquilizers, opiates, and medical marijuana. Why was the patient seeing me? Because the patient did not feel good. Anyone who thinks that medical marijuana is a panacea, will likely be disappointed. And what do we know about interactions between marijuana and other meds? Answer: not much. The measure requires research into the efficacy and safety of medical marijuana. I usually prefer that the research precedes the prescribing....
If, as the OMA suspects, this is simply drug legalization in disguise, there will be plenty who don't care. How will Oregon voters (myself included) decide this one? To be continued....
The amount of allowable MJ would be increased to "10 plants and one pound" per registered patient and/or caregiver per year, unless it's harvest time (one crop per year!). Doctors may approve a larger quantity. The accompanying arguments state that "the 10 plants plus 1 pound allowable...equate to a total of 12,936 marijuana cigarettes...(this) would be equivalent to smoking 1 1/2 joints every hour of every day in the year." (Is that so?) Naturopaths and nurse practitioners would be empowered to authorize medical MJ. And the list of approved conditions is expanded to...well, to anything, if your prescriber approves.
Between the menacing wolf TV ads, we're seeing ads that feature disabled patients, explaining how they can't grow their own marijuana, and how the measure would help them. Most everyone I know shrugs and says, "What do we care if chronically or terminally ill patients are high on pot?" But free, state-mandated pot to registered, approved, indigent patients...
For what it's worth (and who knows what it's worth anymore), here's the National Institute on Drug Abuse, on marijuana. The Oregon Medical Association opposes the measure, noting lung damage and carcinogens in marijuana smoke. There's always ingestion...wait, here they say that the British Medical Journal reports that "medical literature has shown an association between marijuana smoking and illnesses such as depression, schizophrenia, and suicidal ideation." And what's this..."Libertarians say vote no on Measure 33." The measure "puts government where it doesn't belong, between the health care professional and their patients."
I once saw a patient who was taking legally prescribed amphetamines, tranquilizers, opiates, and medical marijuana. Why was the patient seeing me? Because the patient did not feel good. Anyone who thinks that medical marijuana is a panacea, will likely be disappointed. And what do we know about interactions between marijuana and other meds? Answer: not much. The measure requires research into the efficacy and safety of medical marijuana. I usually prefer that the research precedes the prescribing....
If, as the OMA suspects, this is simply drug legalization in disguise, there will be plenty who don't care. How will Oregon voters (myself included) decide this one? To be continued....
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