Pubdate: Tue, 05 May 2015
Source: Chicago Tribune (IL)
Copyright: 2015 Chicago Tribune Company
Contact:  http://www.chicagotribune.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/82
Authors: Meredith Rodriguez and Robert McCoppin

POT FOR MIGRAINE, PTSD?

State Advisory Panel Recommends That Drug Be Available for 11 New Conditions

An Illinois panel Monday recommended allowing medical marijuana to 
treat post-traumatic stress disorder, anorexia and migraine 
headaches, but rejected its use for anxiety and diabetes.

The Illinois Medical Cannabis Advisory Board supported the drug's 
availability for 11 new medical conditions in all, including chronic 
post-surgical pain, osteoarthritis and irritable bowel syndrome.

The recommendations, if approved by the Illinois Department of Public 
Health, would significantly increase the list of conditions for which 
medical pot can be accessed. As it stands, about three dozen 
disorders and diseases, including AIDS, cancer and lupus, can be 
eligible for medical marijuana - though a series of delays have so 
far rendered medicinal pot unavailable in the marketplace.

Industry advocates said the expansion would be a great relief for 
suffering patients and could make the difference between success and 
failure for the program.

"That could greatly change the potential market," said Chris Walsh, 
editor of Marijuana Business Daily. "Any move to expand it would be 
huge for the business community."

Lawmakers approved the use of medical marijuana starting last year, 
but the product is not expected to be available until this summer. In 
part because Illinois has one of the most restrictive lists of 
qualifying medical conditions in the country, only about 2,000 people 
have been approved so far to get medical weed.

The advisory board, made up of medical professionals, patients and a 
caregiver, appeared to want to avoid situations like those in 
Colorado or California, where broad qualifying conditions like 
chronic pain open up the potential for medical marijuana to be 
exploited by healthy people.

Along those lines, the board rejected anxiety as a qualifying 
condition because members said it was too broad a category. Diabetes 
was also rejected, as the panel said there was no evidence that 
marijuana lowed blood sugar.

But the board did recommend that those diagnosed with PTSD be allowed 
to use pot after hearing from two military veterans and a young woman 
who said she suffered from the stress disorder after being in abusive 
relationships as a teen.

"This one is very straightforward in my mind," said Dr. Eric 
Christoff, a general internist and HIV specialist at Northwestern 
Medicine who sits on the advisory board. "The risk of not correctly, 
in a patient-centered way, addressing PTSD is death or suicide, so 
the stakes are high."

The Department of Veterans Affairs estimates that 11 to 20 percent of 
veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, and 15 percent of 
Vietnam vets, suffer from PTSD. Twelve other states and Washington, 
D.C., have authorized the use of medical marijuana for PTSD, 
according to the Marijuana Policy Project.

Anecdotal evidence suggests low to moderate doses of marijuana are 
useful for relieving the symptoms of PTSD, according to the advocacy 
group Veterans for Medical Cannabis Access.

However, the VA has stated online that controlled studies have not 
been conducted to evaluate the safety or effectiveness of medical pot for PTSD.

Some research does show that marijuana use may reduce PTSD symptoms 
in the short term.

However, data suggest that continued use of marijuana among 
individuals with PTSD may lead to marijuana tolerance, addiction and 
psychiatric problems, the VA reported.

Cannabis is the most commonly abused drug among veterans treated at 
the VA with PTSD, with more than 40,000 vets having both problems as 
of fiscal year 2014, the agency stated.

Marijuana remains illegal under federal law with no acknowledged 
medical use, and the VA prohibits its doctors and other providers 
from recommending the substance for patients.

PTSD affects not only vets, but millions of Americans who've suffered 
trauma, according to the VA.

Antipsychotic and antidepressant drugs are used to treat PTSD, along 
with various psychiatric therapies, with varying success.

The board also voted in favor of adding two nerve pain conditions, 
periphery polyneuropathy and diabetic neuropathy, to the list.

Those conditions are difficult to treat, said board member James 
Champion, who suffers from multiple sclerosis and has been approved 
to use medical pot.

"The feeling that your feet are frozen in a block of ice or like 
they're on fire is not a pleasant feeling at all," he said. "I know 
neuropathy is very painful."

While some on the panel expressed concern that osteoarthritis was 
also too broad a category, supporters said there needs to be trust in 
the medical professionals who would recommend medical marijuana.

"I don't think we need to be overly concerned about opening the 
floodgates," Christoff said.

A new analysis projects that revenue from the first year of marijuana 
sales in Illinois will come in at $15 million to $30 million but said 
the program's future remains uncertain because it's only a four-year pilot.

The Marijuana Business Factbook 2015, published by Marijuana Business 
Daily, estimated that Illinois will have 10,000 to 20,000 patients by 
the end of the first year of the program, anticipating a spike in 
patients once the product becomes available.

"If they get a lot of new conditions and everything works, this 
program will be healthy and will likely be renewed," said Walsh.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom