Medical marijuana:
It’s not about recreation; it’s about compassion.
Four people sat across from me Wednesday afternoon to talk about why medical marijuana should be allowed in Tennessee.
One represented a public relations company, another was an associate professor in the department of psychology at Rhodes College and another was director of government and public affairs for MiNDFUL, a Colorado company whose website describes it as a full-service cannabis consultation company.
The fourth person was Memphian Elizabeth Lea, whose 3-year-old daughter, Chloe, died Dec. 10. Lea said eight days after her daughter’s birth, the infant began having seizures, which increased in frequency — up to some 300 per day. The seizures, as you can imagine, severely impacted Chloe’s physical and mental development.
Legislation allowing the limited use of medical marijuana is moving through the state Legislature. HB1284, sponsored by Rep. Ryan Williams, R-Cookeville, is scheduled to be considered in the House Health Committee Wednesday. SB1248, sponsored by Steven Dickerson, R-Nashville, an anesthesiologist, is scheduled to be considered in the Senate Health and Welfare Committee on the same day.
Various treatments and medicines did not help Chloe. While Lea stopped short of saying medical marijuana would have helped Chloe, she wishes state law would have allowed doctors to see if it could have helped. The lament is reasonable and justified.
Twenty-three states and the District of Columbia have enacted laws to legalize medical marijuana.
In Washington, U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen is part of a bipartisan coalition of representatives and senators, including U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., cosponsoring the Compassionate Access, Research Expansion and Respect States Act, which would let states set their own medical marijuana policies and recognize a legitimate medical use for marijuana at the federal level.
The act also would allow Veterans Affairs doctors to recommend “safe and effective” marijuanarelated treatments.
The arguments back and forth about the use of medical marijuana, unfortunately, get twisted in moral and legal concerns about recreational use of the drug.
I understand the legal concerns. I am not against the legalization of marijuana, but I am also not gung-ho about it. And folks who possess marijuana for personal enjoyment or small-time sellers should not be put behind bars if caught in the possession of the drug.
But this issue is not about recreational use. It is about compassion. It is about easing pain and nausea from chemotherapy; easing spasms, nerve pain, seizure disorders and Crohn’s disease pain; and helping those suffering from glaucoma. For medicinal purposes, it can be smoked; eaten, usually in the form of cookies or candy; taken as a liquid extract; and absorbed through a patch.
The bill moving through the Tennessee General Assembly is pretty restrictive. It would not allow marijuana to be smoked, only used through vaporization, in a patch or extract. Its use would be limited to terminal cancer patients, and those suffering from Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, intractable seizures from epilepsy, Crohn’s disease, Huntington’s disease and “any terminal health condition in which a palliative use is recommended for end-of-life care.” My visitors said some 32,000 Tennesseans are in this kind of care.
The proposed legislation also is loaded with the same kinds of rules, regulations and record-keeping guidelines to ensure that legalizing medicinal marijuana cannot be abused by those who would try to find ways to obtain the drug for recreational use. Many of those guidelines mirror stipulations in state statutes designed to keep people from illegally obtaining prescription drugs.
The official from MiNDFUL did not shy away from the fact that his company plans to do business in Tennessee if the medical marijuana bill passes. Maybe that is not a bad thing since his company has plenty of experience in the legalized marijuana industry, including medical marijuana.
If medicinal marijuana can ease someone’s pain or help a person live their last days in comfort, why not allow it in Tennessee, especially if it could only be used in forms that do not include smoking? Procedures would be in place to prevent doctor shopping and prescription abuse by those trying to obtain the drug for nonmedical purposes.
Chloe’s mother was cradling a photo album as she and the others talked about why this is good legislation. She spoke a passionately about not being able to see whether medical marijuana could have eased Chloe’s seizures.
I asked if I could look through the album. Inside were pages of photographs of a beautiful little darkeyed girl lovingly cradled by different people, including her mother. She was being cradled because she was unable to hold her head up.
As the medical marijuana bill moves through the legislative process, lawmakers should consider what the bill could mean for so many people. Jerome Wright is editorial page editor of The Commercial Appeal. Contact him at jerome. wright@commercialappeal.com