Pubdate: Sun, 03 May 2015
Source: Houston Chronicle (TX)
Copyright: 2015 Houston Chronicle Publishing Company Division, Hearst Newspaper
Contact:  http://www.chron.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/198
Page: B13

Medical marijuana

Prescription Painkillers Can Prove Deadly, but Alternatives Remain 
Illegal in Texas.

The days before Thanksgiving should be filled with turkey recipes and 
touch football, building up to the excitement of the Christmas 
season. For six people in Harris County, however, those days were 
their last. Over a period of two days in November 2013, half-a-dozen 
Houstonians died of prescription drug overdoses ("Pain pill OD data 
largely unsound," Page A1, April 26).

Drugs kill someone in Harris County almost every day. None of those 
deaths are due to marijuana. Our laws fail to reflect this public 
safety risk, and it is time for a change.

The prescription drug epidemic has grown so far out of control that 
Texas can barely measure it. While local medical examiners counted 
275 prescription drug related deaths in Harris County in 2013, state 
data recorded only 179. A lack of uniform standards leaves room for 
errant numbers, and a lack of specificity on death certificates can 
leave families wondering which drugs were actually involved.

Amid all the hazy uncertainty, one thing is clear: Texans will die 
from prescription drugs. We've made a deal with the pharmaceutical 
devil. Whether through accidents or suicide, painkillers like 
hydrocodone and anti-anxiety drugs like Xanax can and will kill 
people. Yet we still allow widespread prescription of these pills 
because the benefits outweigh the risks.

What if there was another way? Between 1999 and 2010, 13 states 
implemented a single policy that saw prescription drug deaths drop by 
25 percent: They legalized medical marijuana.

Correlation doesn't mean causation, but medical marijuana can work to 
replace risky painkillers for many patients. Even merely 
supplementing traditional prescriptions with medical marijuana can 
help keep patients away from the dangerous overdose threshold, 
allowing them to rely on fewer pills to get the relief they need. It 
can also reduce the number of prescription pills in open circulation, 
making it easier to keep the pills out of dangerous hands. Whatever 
risks marijuana poses, at least it doesn't kill.

This past week, advocates for medical marijuana lined up to testify 
in Austin in support of two bills. One, House Bill 837, would create 
a legal defense for doctors who prescribe medical marijuana and for 
patients who use it. Another bill, House Bill 3785, would create a 
statewide regulatory structure for legalizing medical marijuana.

Elected officials heard the heartwrenching experiences of cancer 
patients undergoing chemotherapy and military veterans suffering from 
post-traumatic stress disorder, all of them desperate to live a life 
free of pain ("Medical marijuana bills left in committee after 
emotional testimony," Chron.com, Wednesday).

"We risked our lives and sacrificed our health for our country," said 
David Bass, a disabled Army veteran. "We deserve access to medication 
that is safe and effective."

Parents of children suffering from epileptic seizures also testified 
for another bill, House Bill 892, which would regulate "compassionate 
use" cannabidiol oil - a marijuana-based oil that is low in THC, the 
psychoactive component that gets people high. Studies show that the 
oil can help people with intractable epilepsy, possibly by calming 
excess signals in the brain. Currently available drugs for treating 
seizures often have harmful side effects ("Panel hears parents' plea 
for marijuana oil," Page B5, Wednesday).

"These families have no other options," said state Rep. Stephanie 
Klick, R-Fort Worth, who co-authored the bill. "They've exhausted the 
FDA-approved drugs that are available to them."

After all the testimony, however, the medical marijuana bills were 
left pending in committee.

There's no doubt that medical marijuana still needs more study, but 
that scientific research remains encumbered by the federal 
government's insistence that marijuana remain a Schedule I drug, 
which relegates it as dangerous with no medical value. Tell that to 
the more than 1 million medical marijuana patients across 23 states 
and Washington, D.C. The horse is already out of the barn, and Texas 
needs to deal with this new reality.

There's plenty we don't know about medical marijuana's long term 
effects on society. But we do know that it offers an alternative to 
potentially dangerous prescription pills. People shouldn't have to 
risk their lives to cure their pain, or risk breaking the law to find 
the help they need.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom