Pubdate: Thu, 10 Dec 2009
Source: Times-Tribune, The (Scranton PA)
Copyright: 2009 Townnews.com
Contact:  http://www.thetimes-tribune.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/4440

HOUSE STIRS MEDICINAL POT

There probably is little chance that the state  Legislature will
legalize medicinal marijuana any time  soon. A bill to do so,
introduced by Rep. Mark Cohen of  Philadelphia, has just half a dozen
cosponsors and it's  not at the top of the legislative agenda.

Yet a recent Health and Human Services Commitee hearing  on the bill
was a remarkable event in this conservative  state and a step toward a
rational policy for medicinal  marijuana use. Testimony during the
hearing did much to  dispel myths about medicinal marijuana and to
establish  a framework for legalization.

Mr. Cohen's bill would preclude the arrest of patients  who use
medicinal marijuana. Those people would have to  have a written
doctor's recommendation to use the drug  and would have to obtain an
ID card to obtain it from  state-licensed centers. Patients would be
allowed to  possess up to an ounce of marijuana at any time.

Marijuana has been used to help cancer patients deal  with pain and to
stimulate their appetite. It also has  been used to treat glaucoma. It
is far less expensive  than many of the federally approved
pharmaceuticals  that are marketed for the same purposes.

Several witnesses and some lawmakers objected that  legal marijuana
use could lead to addiction to harder  drugs. But Edward Pane, an
instructor in addiction  studies at the University of Scranton and CEO
of  Serento Gardens Alcoholism and Drug Services Inc. in  Hazleton,
testified that patients who use small amounts  of marijuana face no
threat of craving harder drugs.

"Concerns that the medical use of marijuana will spur  individuals
into the world of chemical addiction are  baseless," he said.

Howard Swidler, M.D., chief of emergency medicine at  Warren Hospital,
went further.

"Marijuana is nonaddicting," he said. "There is no  physical
dependence or physical withdrawal associated  with its use. It is,
from a practical standpoint,  nontoxic. Marijuana is safer by some
measures than any  other drug. There is simply no known quantity of
marijuana capable of killing a person."

Pennsylvania should legalize medicinal marijuana as a  simple matter
of compassion for patients who could  benefit from its use.

The recent hearing was a valuable step in that  direction because it
established a tone for debate  rooted in science and realistic
analysis of the likely  social impact, rather than on emotion and
obsolete  myths. Mr. Cohen should continue to press the issue. 
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