Pubdate: Mon, 28 Apr 2014
Source: Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, FL)
Copyright: 2014 Sun-Sentinel Company
Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/mVLAxQfA
Website: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/159
Author: Rhonda Swan
Page: 11A

IF SCOTT HAS COMPASSION, HERE'S CHANCE TO SHOW IT

Rick Scott needs a lesson on compassion.

Seeking a second term as Florida's governor, Scott has portrayed
himself a champion of the people, using the gimmicky slogans, "Florida
Families First" and "It's Your Money."

He wants us to believe, despite evidence to the contrary, that he
cares about the working class, those less fortunate.

That would be a lot easier to buy if Scott weren't insisting that
children suffering from severe epilepsy participate in clinical trials
before they can access a strain of marijuana proven to alleviate their
lifethreatening seizures. "Charlotte's Web" is high in cannabidiol but
low in tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the ingredient that gets
marijuana users high. Parents whose children have taken the drug,
which isn't approved by the Food and Drug Administration, say it
dramatically reduces seizures.

The Senate is expected to vote today on a bill that would
decriminalize Charlotte's Web and allow doctors to prescribe the drug
but it doesn't require that patients participate in clinical trials as
Scott wants.

"We want to make sure those suffering get access to treatments in the
fastest possible way," Scott said in an email to the News Service of
Florida. "And that is why we have proposed language to ensure the
safety of our children."

Scott wants to create an "Office of Compassionate Use" in the
Department of Health that would "enhance access to investigational new
drugs for Florida patients through approved clinical treatment plans
or studies."

So forcing sick children to wade through government red tape is his
definition of compassion?

The FDA has approved only one multicenter clinical trial on the
effects of purified cannabinoid on intractable epilepsy, which hasn't
responded to other treatments. Trials are taking place at the
University of California San Francisco and at New York University.
Both involve the drug Epidiolex, which comes in a liquid form
containing no THC.

The trial is limited to 150 children. Four other institutions will be
added this year, but there's no guarantee Florida residents will be
able to participate.

"In children, uncontrolled seizures may impact brain and
neurocognitive development," said Dr. Maria Roberta Cilio, the
principal investigator for the UCSF study, "which can have an
extraordinary effect on quality of life . . ."

In other words, controlling these seizures is urgent. Making children
wait for a clinical trial is not as Scott puts it the "fastest way
possible."

Compassion is defined as "a feeling of deep sympathy and sorrow for
another who is stricken by misfortune, accompanied by a strong desire
to alleviate the suffering."

If Scott had a desire to alleviate the suffering of these children, he
wouldn't insist they be put on a waiting list.

"We're really hopeful that the governor will see past any politics and
really do his research and search his heart and see that these parents
need relief now," said Ryan Wiggins, a spokesman for Holley and Peyton
Moseley, a Panhandle couple whose daughter RayAnn has intractable
epilepsy. "These children are living day to day, one seizure away from
death. They can't afford to wait for FDA trials."

Perhaps Scott, who opposes medical marijuana, which Floridians will
get a chance to approve in November's election, is afraid that signing
the Senate version of the cannabis bill will make it look like he's
flip-flopped on the issue.

And at least people would actually get help, unlike last year when he
stopped opposing Medicaid expansion but has done nothing to prod
lawmakers to provide coverage to the uninsured who would be eligible.

"I cannot, in good conscience," Scott said, "deny the uninsured access
to care."

He conscious doesn't seem to be bothering him.

If it were, he could not deny ill children access to Charlotte's
Web.

How Scott handles this will demonstrate whether he understands the
real meaning of compassion.

Rhonda Swan is a former editorial writer for The Palm Beach Post
and author of "Dancing to the Rhythm of My Soul: A Sister's Guide
for Transforming Madness into Gladness."
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