Pubdate: Tue, 12 Mar 2013
Source: Baltimore Sun (MD)
Copyright: 2013 The Baltimore Sun Company
Contact:  http://www.baltimoresun.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/37
Page: 12

DUE CAUTION

The O'malley Administration Is Right to Favor a Controlled, Academic 
Approach to Legalizing Medical Use of Marijuana

For years, patients in Maryland with intractable pain, chronic 
diseases or terminal diseases have lobbied lawmakers to legalize the 
medical use of marijuana to ease their symptoms. And for years the 
state has been torn between compassion and caution about whether the 
purported benefits of medical marijuana outweigh the potential 
dangers of a drug that has not been subjected to rigorous scientific 
testing to determine its safety and effectiveness.

As a result, Maryland law on the issue has remained an inconsistent 
jumble. In 2003, the legislature approved a law allowing people 
charged with possession of small amounts of marijuana to claim 
"medical necessity" as a defense and, if they convince a judge their 
case has merit, to pay a $100 fine rather than go to jail. But even 
under that law, a conviction still leaves patients with a criminal 
record, and, paradoxically, despite having proven their claim in 
court, it is still illegal for them to buy the drug.

Last week, Maryland moved a step closer to resolving that dilemma 
when Gov. Martin O'Malley withdrew his opposition to a bill that 
would allow doctors and nurses to dispense marijuana for medical use 
through academic medical research centers such as John Hopkins 
Hospital and the University of Maryland Medical Center. Mr. O'Malley 
refused to support medical marijuana legislation last year after 
Maryland Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler expressed concerns about 
possible liability for those who dispense the drug under federal law.

The governor reversed his previous stand this year after seeing that 
the U.S. Department of Justice, while prosecuting some medical 
marijuana cases in other states, had not been going after state 
government workers who were involved in the programs. Now the 
O'Malley administration is backing a bill that would give Maryland 
the strictest medical marijuana law in the nation, and it is 
insisting that the bill must give the governor the flexibility to 
suspend the program if the federal government threatened legal action.

The approach was shaped in large part by state health secretary 
Joshua M. Sharfstein, who last year suggested the idea of a 
research-based medical marijuana system to allow the state to gather 
more clinical data on the drug's usefulness. Dr. Sharfstein has 
opposed broader legalization efforts on the grounds that marijuana's 
medical efficacy remained unproven.

We think the go-slow approach endorsed by Dr. Sharfstein is a 
reasonable compromise between those who oppose any legalization of 
marijuana for medical use and those who want to see a total 
decriminalization of the drug.

Maryland certainly has learned from the experience of California, 
which legalized marijuana for medical use in 1996 and immediately saw 
a proliferation of lightly regulated head shops spring up to sell the 
drug, along with cadres of physicians willing to prescribe it on the 
flimsiest of pretexts. The state later amended the law in 2003 by 
issuing more restrictive guidelines regarding the kinds of illnesses 
for which medical marijuana could legally be sold and used after it 
became clear that many people were abusing the drug for purely 
recreational purposes. Given the controls built into the Maryland 
bill, however, that is unlikely to be a concern here.

Indeed, the legislation, sponsored by Baltimore County Democratic 
Del. Dan K. Morhaim, who is also a physician, has come under fire not 
just from law-enforcement groups that oppose any legalization of 
marijuana but also from advocates who claim that it doesn't go far 
enough or fast enough to help people suffering from severe chronic 
pain. Delegate Morhaim, who has been a driving force behind the push 
for medical marijuana in this state, was also a sponsor of a bill 
that would have created a much more wide-ranging program.

But he has wisely recognized the value of the administration's 
support and is withdrawing his other bill. Other advocates in the 
legislature should follow suit. The governor's backing greatly 
increases the chances that those who are legitimately suffering and 
can benefit from the drug will finally be able to get it without 
risking jail time. And if Maryland's program provides rigorous, 
scientific data on the drug's effectiveness, this cautious step could 
set the stage for greater acceptance nationwide.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom