Let compassion be the guide
Medical marijuana is a growth industry in Santa Fe County, with the number of cardholders increasing nearly 43 percent from January 2017 to January 2018. Some 1 in 10 of the state’s nearly 48,000 medical marijuana cardholders live in Santa Fe County.
That’s around 5,245 people who are in pain or otherwise suffering and use marijuana to treat their conditions. Already, seven dispensaries that distribute medical marijuana are open, with more on the way, according to a report by Daniel J. Chacón in the Sunday New Mexican (“The green rush,” Feb. 11).
Yet, to receive a card, sufferers have to try to match up their particular symptoms with certain qualifying conditions — more than 20 are approved under the state’s Medical Cannabis Program. That might seem like an adequate number, but try telling that to people with severe anxiety or depression whose doctor believes marijuana would help alleviate their symptoms.
Even patients with qualifying conditions have to find a doctor who prescribes medical marijuana, apply for a state-authorized card and otherwise endure more intervention in private medical matters than is normally the case. For people with conditions that don’t qualify — but who might benefit from medical marijuana — there is the need to fit symptoms to a qualifying condition. That is hardly honest, but many patients are desperate.
This legislative session, State Sen. Jeff Steinborn and Rep. Joanne Ferrary, Democrats from Las Cruces, sponsored memorials asking Health Secretary Lynn Gallagher to add opioid dependence as a condition under which a person could obtain medical marijuana.
Research shows pot can help relieve the symptoms of opioid withdrawal and help addicts kick their habit. The Medical Cannabis Program advisory board agrees, twice recommending that medical marijuana be allowed as a treatment for opioid addiction. Gallagher rejected the first recommendation and is in the process of considering the second one. We trust she will read the research and listen to her own advisory board this time around. It would be a compassionate decision that could save lives.
Truth is, what drug is best for a particular condition should be something for a doctor to decide in consultation with a patient. With marijuana still illegal, it is understandable that the state needs to regulate growers and sellers who are distributing marijuana as medicine. However, patients should not be at the mercy of bureaucrats.
The memorials in support of medical marijuana as a treatment for opioid addiction, whatever their fate, help underscore the need for patient-centered decisions, ones made by doctors who want the best treatment for patients.