Pubdate: Wed, 13 Jul 2016
Source: Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette (Fayetteville, AR)
Copyright: 2016 Northwest Arkansas Newspapers LLC.
Contact: http://www.nwaonline.com/submit/letter/
Website: http://www.nwaonline.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/828
Author: Brian Fanney

HEALTH DEPARTMENT: NO TO LEGAL 'POT'

The Arkansas Department of Health said Tuesday it will not support 
ballot measures intended to legalize medical marijuana in the state, 
saying in a statement that the drug is not approved by the Federal 
Drug Administration.

The news came after Melissa Fults, campaign manager for Arkansans for 
Compassionate Care, appeared on the Dave Elswick Show on radio 
station KHTE-FM, 96.5.

"There was a statement by one of the proponents of medical marijuana 
that she had spoken to the Department of Health and that we were 
gearing up, expecting this ballot initiative to pass," said Nathaniel 
Smith, director of the Department of Health, in an interview. "That's 
not correct."

The news release was not a response but "an opportunity to reiterate 
and clarify our position," Smith said.

"We're discussing implications with our staff," he said. "The 
Department of Health, as any state agency, will comply with any legal 
requirements that become law, but no, we're not taking any specific 
actions to prepare for this. We don't know if what of any of these 
are going to be approved."

In an interview, Fults said Arkansans for Compassionate Care had 
spoken with the department back in 2012. Her group is sponsoring the 
Arkansas Medical Cannabis Act.

She could have been clearer on the timing, she said.

"[Elswick] asked how the Health Department was going to get it 
started," she said. "I said, well, that's really up to the Health 
Department, but we've spoken to them in the past - we haven't spoken 
to them recently - but that they had been in contact, I believe, with 
Maine, New Mexico."

Smith said the department's strong stance against the measure is 
based on science.

"This so-called medical marijuana doesn't meet either standards of 
safety or effectiveness and for all of these conditions, there are 
FDA-approved alternatives," he said. "That's why I can't - either as 
a physician or director of the Health Department - support it. That's 
been our consistent position, even under the previous administration."

Of the scientific literature, Fults said medical marijuana has been 
studied all over the world, except in the United States. It has 
proven benefits, she said.

"Anyone else can come up with a new medicine, a new opioid that can 
kill people ... it's not a problem, but because cannabis is a 
Schedule 1 drug, they can't study it," she said. "When [Gov. Asa] 
Hutchinson came out against it, the department really didn't have a 
choice. But, as I've said many times before, it's not Hutchinson's 
choice and it's not the Department of Health's choice, it's the 
people of Arkansas' choice."

David Couch, a Little Rock-based lawyer sponsoring the rival Arkansas 
Medical Cannabis Amendment, echoed that sentiment.

"For decades, big pharma has stifled all research on medical 
marijuana," he said. "Eight veterans die each day as a result of 
post-traumatic stress disorder. Medical marijuana is one of the 
recognized treatments for that. We shouldn't let any more veterans die."

Smith said there is "a study here or a study there, but not the kind 
of controlled trials for something to be marketed or classified for a 
medical treatment."

"In the U.S., THC has been produced synthetically ... and that's 
marketed as Marinol," he said. "That's approved

specifically for management of loss of appetite related to AIDS and 
for nausea, particularly associated with chemotherapy," he said.

THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol, is found in cannabis.

"As an HIV physician, I did prescribe that medication, used it years 
ago, during the time we were treating AIDS patients before we had 
really effective treatments for the HIV," Smith said.

It "kind of worked," but not as well more modern medicines, he said.

Other components of marijuana have been tested and show some promise, 
Smith said, but that doesn't mean people should grow and smoke marijuana.

"It's much different to use a component, where you've purified the 
compound and you know how much you're giving, the dosage, the 
frequency and you can evaluate its effects," he said.

Arkansas Surgeon General Greg Bledsoe said there are instances where 
compounds found in marijuana plants show promise, but cognitive 
deficits - especially in young adults - from marijuana are a worry 
for physicians.

Using marijuana to develop better pharmaceuticals is good science, 
but he said the medical marijuana ballot measures "open the 
floodgates." While the FDA process isn't perfect, it ensures drugs 
are safe and effective, he said.

Bledsoe said he believes part of the reason for the measures is the 
public's distrust of the traditional health care system.

"There's a significant number of people in this country who feel 
they've been dealt a wrong hand by their government and by their 
political leaders and I've begun to think that part of this medical 
marijuana popularity is not so much the people are in favor of 
medical marijuana," Bledsoe said. "It's almost they want to push back 
against whatever this is that they feel like is causing some of their 
problems."

A better solution would be decreased regulation and other changes of 
the traditional system, he said.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom