Pubdate: Sat, 01 Mar 2014
Source: Baltimore Sun (MD)
Copyright: 2014 The Baltimore Sun Company
Contact:  http://www.baltimoresun.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/37
Author: Michael Dresser

LAWMAKERS VOW MEDICAL MARIJUANA PROGRAM THIS YEAR

Bills Would Cover Children As Well As Adults; Mothers Speak in Favor of Passage

A bipartisan group of state lawmakers vowed Friday to pass 
legislation this year to create a workable medical marijuana program 
that would cover children with debilitating conditions as well as 
adults. Dels. Cheryl D. Glenn and Dan K. Morhaim, sponsors of two 
bills that would replace legislation passed last year that is widely 
regarded as a failure, said they would meld their two versions into a 
single measure. One change they expect to make in the original bills 
next week is to remove provisions restricting the therapeutic use of 
cannabis to adults.

"It would be immoral not to allow our children to get medicine that 
could in many cases be lifesaving," said Glenn, a Baltimore Democrat.

The news conference came as the House opened hearings on the two 
bills, each of which could remove roadblocks to patient access to 
therapeutic forms of cannabis.

Last year, the General Assembly passed, and Gov. Martin O'Malley 
signed, a watered-down version of a medical marijuana bill that 
restricts its distribution to academic medical centers. None of the 
state's medical centers has stepped forward to operate such a program.

Pain experts have told a legislative work group that marijuana is 
safe and effective in relieving symptoms of epilepsy, multiple 
sclerosis, fibromyalgia, side effects of cancer treatment and other conditions.

The Glenn and Morhaim bills would allow a physician with a bona fide 
treatment relationship with a patient who has a serious condition 
that might be eased by marijuana to write a prescription for the 
drug. Morhaim's bill would require that the physician be associated 
with a hospital or hospice; Glenn's would not.

Both bills would license marijuana growers. Morhaim's bill would let 
patients buy directly from those growers. Glenn's would establish 
treatment centers that would buy marijuana and distribute it to 
qualifying patients.

Morhaim, a Baltimore County Democrat and the legislature's only 
physician, said a medical marijuana program can be safe.

"Physicians prescribe drugs that are more dangerous than medical 
marijuana every single day," he said.

In past years, adult cancer patients have often been the most 
persuasive advocates. This year, mothers of children with severe 
forms of epilepsy took center stage.

Paige Figi of Colorado Springs said her 7-year-old daughter found 
relief from her epilepsy by using Charlotte's Web, a cannabis 
derivative designed for use in children but illegal under Maryland 
and federal law. She said her daughter went from having 2,000 
potentially lethal seizures a month to two or three.

"She's walking, talking, eating. She has a life now," Figi told 
lawmakers. She said Charlotte's Web, an oil put under the tongue, 
does not make patients high.

Cheryl Meyer of Baltimore said she wishes her son Gavin had had 
access to cannabis before he died in November at age 2 years and 5 
months of complications from epilepsy. She said her son's 
pediatrician believed that medical marijuana might have helped but 
could not write a prescription under Maryland law.

Shannon Moore of Frederick hopes her 3-year-old twin sons' story has 
a different ending. The boys, Nicolas and Byron DeLiyannis, have a 
condition called Miller-Dieker syndrome that gives them severe seizures daily.

Moore said the prescription drugs they take are ineffective and have 
life-threatening side effects. She is encouraged about what she's 
heard about the use of cannabis to control seizures in children.

"There's no reason in my mind why children in some states have access 
to medical marijuana but not in Maryland," she said. "I don't know if 
this medicine will help my children, but I know that it will help 
many children."
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