Pubdate: Sun, 28 Sep 2014
Source: Tampa Tribune (FL)
Copyright: 2014 The Tribune Co.
Contact: http://tbo.com/list/news-opinion-letters/submit/
Website: http://tbo.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/446
Page: Views, p.2

REJECT MEDICAL POT AMENDMENT

It's human nature to want to relieve the pain and suffering of 
another human being. And there's no denying the testimony of 
thousands of patients who say marijuana has helped them endure the 
nausea, the loss of appetite and other symptoms associated with the 
treatments for cancer, AIDS and other debilitating diseases.

That explains the polls showing public support for Amendment 2, which 
would allow the use of marijuana in Florida by patients suffering 
from debilitating medical conditions.

If the proposed amendment were that simple, we would favor its 
passage. But it's not.

Amendment 2 is a broadly written blueprint for allowing the 
manufacture and distribution of an illegal substance the federal 
government classifies as a Schedule 1 drug with a high potential for 
abuse and no acceptable medical use.

The proposal allows doctors to certify patients as eligible for 
marijuana to treat any 'debilitating' ailment a doctor thinks will 
relieve suffering. For unscrupulous doctors, that could include back 
pain and anxiety and other ailments that they determine to be 
debilitating conditions.

Amendment 2 asks voters to make medical marijuana legal today on the 
promise that the state will later enact the rules and regulations 
necessary to prevent its abuse by doctors and distributors and by 
patients and the caregivers who can be certified to obtain the drug 
for others. It offers civil liability immunity to physicians, 
patients and dispensaries associated with medical marijuana use. It 
could allow for the smoking of marijuana plants that vary in 
intensity and ingredients and can cause many of the same ailments 
associated with cigarette smoking. And it legitimizes a drug that, 
according to studies, can impair brain development in minors.

In short, the amendment poses too many risks.

Amendment 2 supporters gathered the signatures needed to place the 
proposal on the Nov. 4 ballot by telling the heart-wrenching stories 
of patients who find marijuana provides relief when no other drugs 
have helped. The proposed amendment lists cancer, glaucoma, multiple 
sclerosis, HIV, AIDS, hepatitis C, ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease), 
Crohn's disease and Parkinson's disease as debilitating diseases that 
would qualify for medical marijuana treatment. But the list ends with 
the phrase, 'or other conditions for which a physician believes that 
the medical use of marijuana would likely outweigh the potential 
health risks for a patient.' That could make it available for almost 
any patient who can find a willing physician. How the marijuana would 
be produced and distributed remains to be determined by state 
officials who are now struggling with the rules related to the more 
acceptable Charlotte's Web strain of marijuana that lawmakers voted 
to legalize this year. That strain is used to treat seizures and is 
non-euphoric and ingested through oils and other means rather than 
smoked. Because it doesn't get its users high, it won't be subject to 
the abuses that can be expected with the smokable marijuana permitted 
under Amendment 2.

An alternative to smokable marijuana, the synthetic drug Marinol, has 
Federal Drug Administration approval and can be taken by pill form. 
Although its cost may be greater, and the effects not always as 
immediate or lasting as smoking the drug, Marinol is proven to be 
safe and is available through a doctor's prescription to treat weight 
loss and nausea associated with treatments for disease.

Marijuana can't be prescribed by doctors and dispensed through 
pharmacies because it's illegal under federal law. Amendment 2 would 
create state-sanctioned dispensaries to distribute marijuana to 
patients certified by a doctor for its use.

State estimates put the number of medical marijuana patients in 
Florida at less than 450,000. But with the broad language in 
Amendment 2, that number might prove to be a joke. And whether the 
state will allow 'pot shops' in our communities to serve those 
patients, or require parental consent for minors before certifying 
their marijuana use, are questions to be addressed in regulations 
that remain to be written.

Twenty-three other states have legalized medical marijuana, with 
varying results. The first, California, turned the law into a farce 
that stains the reputation of that state. Florida's reputation risks 
a similar stain if Amendment 2 passes and abuses occur.

The amendment's chief supporter, trial lawyer John Morgan, insists 
the law is about helping thousands of suffering patients and nothing 
more. But his buffoonish performance before a group of Lakeland bar 
patrons betrayed that insistence by revealing a cavalier attitude 
about casual marijuana use. It bolstered suspicions that the 
amendment is really about opening the door to full legalization of 
marijuana for recreational use, as Washington state and Colorado have done.

Supporter Ben Pollara, who is leading the campaign for passage, says 
the state Supreme Court has affirmed that the ballot language for 
Amendment 2 is not vague or too broad. But the legal opinion about 
ballot language doesn't address the alarming loopholes in the amendment.

We are not without compassion for the sufferers of chronic pain. But 
the wording of this amendment opens the door to abuse. It's based on 
blind faith that the state adopts the right rules and has the 
capacity to enforce them.

On Amendment 2, the Tribune recommends a 'no' vote.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom