Pubdate: Thu, 21 Apr 2016
Source: Tucson Weekly (AZ)
Copyright: 2016 Tucson Weekly
Contact:  http://www.tucsonweekly.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/462
Author: Aari Ruben

TREATING PARKINSON'S

MMJ is one treatment that can help, but our state needs some convincing

April is Parkinson's Awareness Month and so now is a good time to 
have some discussion about cannabis treatments for these conditions 
and the state of Medical Marijuana in Arizona.

There are now 90,000 Arizonans enjoying safe legal access to cannabis 
thanks to the 2010 passage of the AMMA. Many of these patients report 
substantial improvements in their symptoms, their pain levels are 
more manageable, many have reduced or eliminated narcotic pain 
medications, their sleep is better, also with less pills, their blood 
sugars and blood pressures also respond favorably, and this all comes 
from a natural non toxic herb.

Parkinson's disease causes tremors, insomnia, and painful stiffness 
in joints and limbs, these symptoms can cause severe emotional 
discomfort in the form of anxiety as well. Huntington's has similar 
associated symptoms affecting movement but also has a high incidence 
of even more severe mental illness like OCD, bipolar or suicidal 
ideation, all of this can be well controlled with cannabis.

Old times die hard however and our state is still a conservative one. 
Expansions to the AMMA have been few and efforts to expand the 
program have been fought vigorously by the Department of Health. In a 
petition filed last July, the Arizona Cannabis Nurses Association 
(AZCNA) sought to add Parkinson's, Huntington's and 6 other 
seriosixsly debilitating medical conditions to our program.

All eight were denied, 6 with no reason given.

Huntington's and Parkinson's were denied due to lack of research that 
meets FDA standards, this type of research has been systematically 
denied study drug from the only federally approved cultivation site 
run by the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

The problem for the Department of Health is that the AMMA provides us 
with a process to add conditions thru a public hearing, similar to 
the one that resulted in a denial and subsequent victory on appeal 
for PTSD the only condition to successfully have been added to the 
program. The other problem they have is that Ken Sobel the attorney 
for the AZCNA is a freedom fighter, who will go to extreme lengths to 
fight injustice and oppression, and a few of us in the cannabis 
Industry believe in him, the AZCNA, and in this just cause enough to 
see this thru. We have public hearings for the petitions on 
Parkinson's disease and Huntington's disease in Phoenix in early May. 
The department takes the position that our scientific evidence is 
inadequate. Sobel has presented two observational studies that show 
significant results in favor of these treatments. The former director 
of the AZDHS Will Humble allowed a hearing regarding PTSD on the 
basis of a single observational study.

So why aren't two similar studies good enough for the department now. 
Sobel is confidant that he can prove that these two debilitating 
conditions deserve a place in their own right as approved conditions 
qualifying a suffering patient for the AMMA. He also plans to appeal 
the denial of the other six petitions so stay tuned.

The law is clear, Proposition 203, created processes to enact, 
administer, and modify the AMMA, but for more than five years the 
state has fought us at every turn. Implementation was delayed for 
more than a year. No new licensure has been issued to allow for more 
dispensaries. Petitions for new conditions are routinely denied.

The AZDHS blatantly ignores these and other procedures established by 
law, in favor of its "because I said so rulemaking." Meanwhile 
patients in need languish without the safe legal access they need to 
the safest least toxic treatment for their conditions. They suffer 
unnecessarily and their families are forced to watch them live a less 
fulfilling life than they deserve.

We can do better than this. We should do better than this. If you or 
someone you love suffers from one of these conditions your story 
could be useful at the upcoming hearings. If these issues are 
important to you then you can help raise awareness, help raise money 
to cover legal fees, or make a donation to the AZCNA yourself..
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom