Pubdate: Thu, 19 May 2016
Source: Boston Herald (MA)
Copyright: 2016 The Boston Herald, Inc
Contact:  http://www.bostonherald.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/53
Note: Prints only very short LTEs.
Author: Lindsay Kalter

HUB DOCS CALL FOR MORE RESEARCH, OVERSIGHT ON MEDICINAL MARIJUANA

Some local doctors are calling for more scientific evidence to back 
marijuana's medicinal value, and say close oversight is needed for 
pot dispensaries and prescribers to ensure that it does not get into 
the wrong hands.

"I think there's a good place and time for use of marijuana," said 
Dr. Katherine Gergen Barnett, a doctor at Boston Medical Center who 
specializes in integrative medicine. "But we haven't as a society and 
as a medical institution done enough to oversee how people are 
getting prescribed marijuana."

New details uncovered yesterday from a March crash that left a state 
police trooper dead showed that a 30-year-old Webster man driving the 
vehicle had just purchased marijuana at a dispensary, and was under 
the influence when the crash occurred.

Gergen Barnett said she could not comment on the specific case, but 
added, "we need to be very carefully overseeing diagnoses to get 
medical marijuana, and overseeing dispensaries to make sure they're 
giving it to the right people.

"I think we're not finding enough good evidence yet around medical 
marijuana to just open dispensaries willynilly," she said.

But, she added, there are many patients who benefit from it, 
including cancer sufferers.

"It's wrong to look at a single case and throw the baby out with the 
bathwater," she said.

Dr. James S. Gessner, president of the Massachusetts Medical Society, 
echoed Gergen Barnett's statements, saying that there is 
"insufficient scientific information about the safety of marijuana 
when used for medical purposes."

"No guidelines exist for dosage, administering the drug, or other 
basic elements that would be contained in a prescription for another 
medication that has gone through rigorous clinical trials," he said 
in a statement. "Marijuana use also raises questions and concerns 
about safety in occupational settings and motor vehicle operations."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom