Pubdate: Wed, 20 Feb 2013 Source: Boston Herald (MA) Copyright: 2013 The Boston Herald, Inc Contact: http://news.bostonherald.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/53 Note: Prints only very short LTEs. PUBLIC HEALTH DISASTER Doctors - real doctors, the ones who actually are concerned about the welfare of their patients - have now raised some equally real concerns about the state's soonto-be implemented law on so-called "medical" marijuana. The head of the Massachusetts Medical Society, Richard Aghababian, raised all the right issues as he pleaded with state officials to think about the consequences of the ballot-approved measure which put Massachusetts on that slippery slope to de facto legalization with the approval of 35 pot shops. It's Aghababian's 24,000 members who will be caught in the middle. Meanwhile out-of-state pot purveyors are already planning to expand their operations here, presumably bringing some of their own, shall we say, like-minded physicians ready to write a "recommendation" for the weed - that is, for a price. The medical society wants those docs at the very least to be board licensed and to undergo substance abuse training. But Aghababian notes, there are no clinical studies on how pot interacts with other drugs. "If we're going to call this a medical form of therapy," Aghababian told the Herald, "we have to apply the same rigorous criteria used for new seizure medicine, something for HIV, something for a heart attack. We could inadvertently do harm." There are no dosage limits or information, he adds. Is the "therapeutic" dose for a 115-pound woman with glaucoma the same as for a 170-pound man with HIV? Similarly the Massachusetts Public Health Association has raised a host of other issues, including the minimum age of patients and whether the weed could be sold in teas or in cookies, cakes - which would make it that much more attractive to teens. "Without clear and strict guidelines, there's the risk that these medicines could reach minors and illegal users," said Toby Fisher, executive director of the Massachusetts Public Health Association. Gosh, you think? So a law that was always destined to become a law enforcement nightmare now threatens to become a public health nightmare as well. But hey, the voters must know best. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom