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After failing to bring medical marijuana to Pennsylvania three legislative sessions in a row, state Sen. Daylin Leach has decided to take another approach: Legalize a type of marijuana that won't get users high. On Monday, Leach announced Senate Bill 1182, called the Compassionate Use of Medical Cannabis Act. Unlike the outspoken liberal's previous attempts, SB 1182 would only permit doctors to prescribe a non-psychoactive type of marijuana commonly taken in a liquid form to treat epilepsy. "This bill is a very limited bill designed to get help to as many people as we can, and then we can fight the other battles another day," Leach, D-17, Upper Merion, said. "Unlike (previous bills) there is no potential of intoxication or incentive for abuse at all."
Sen. Mike Folmer, R-48, of Lebanon County, joined Leach in co-authoring the new legislation, making it the first time a medical marijuana push has won the support of a Republican in the state Senate. "Who are we to deny a better quality of life to children suffering from hundreds of seizures a day?" Folmer said in a statement. "There are other highly addictive drugs prescribed to help with pain and suffering, and I believe the use of medical cannabis is another option, a good option." But Gov. Tom Corbett is still opposed to legalizing any type of marijuana even for narrow medicinal purposes, governor spokesman Jay Pagni said Monday afternoon. As federal regulations stand, Corbett would veto Leach's bill if it reaches his desk, Pagni said.
"While the governor empathizes with patients and the family members of individuals that are suffering from certain medical conditions or dealing with the effects of certain kinds of medical treatment, he is opposed to the legalization of marijuana at this point," Pagni said. SB 1182 would enable pharmacies to dispense doctor-approved prescriptions of marijuana-based substances with a high concentration of cannabidiol, or CBD, a non-psychoactive compound in cannabis. The substance, often taken in extract form as a drop in the mouth, has been the subject of newly approved clinical trials and disbursed by a Colorado nonprofit, the Realm of Caring Foundation.
"This is not marijuana that you thought about in the '70s," said Mark Myers, of Harrisburg, who hopes his 6-year-old daughter could benefit from the CBD drug. "This has nothing to do with hippies. This is not a bunch of kids sitting around smoking a joint it's nothing like that. This product has no psychoactive results." Myers' 6-year-old daughter, Anna, has 60 to 90 seizures a day, or several an hour. Some may appear mild to an onlooker her head dropping suddenly while others are more obvious, such as her legs and arms giving out. She wakes from each seizure disoriented, and lately she's become increasingly overwhelmed and scared about her condition, which also prevents her from learning at school. Myers said the prescription drugs Anna has tried so far have been ineffective and caused severe side effects.
"We're out here trying to make (CBD) legal so Anna and other people don't have to suffer," Myers said. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently awarded GW Pharmaceuticals, a British pharmaceutical company, an orphan drug designation for the CBD-based drug Epidiolex, which aims to prevent seizures in children with Dravet syndrome, a rare form of epilepsy. Final approval of the drug could take a year or more. Corbett won't consider revisiting the medical marijuana issue until the FDA signals federal approval first, Pagni said. SB 1182 has not yet been introduced formally, with legislative staffers continuing to work out the final language.
News Moderator - The General @ 420 MAGAZINE ®
Source: Buckscountycouriertimes.com
Author: Natasha Lindstrom
Contact: Contact Us - Bucks County Courier Times: Site
Website: Corbett would veto latest medical pot proposal - Bucks County Courier Times: Bucks County | Local news | Breaking News
Sen. Mike Folmer, R-48, of Lebanon County, joined Leach in co-authoring the new legislation, making it the first time a medical marijuana push has won the support of a Republican in the state Senate. "Who are we to deny a better quality of life to children suffering from hundreds of seizures a day?" Folmer said in a statement. "There are other highly addictive drugs prescribed to help with pain and suffering, and I believe the use of medical cannabis is another option, a good option." But Gov. Tom Corbett is still opposed to legalizing any type of marijuana even for narrow medicinal purposes, governor spokesman Jay Pagni said Monday afternoon. As federal regulations stand, Corbett would veto Leach's bill if it reaches his desk, Pagni said.
"While the governor empathizes with patients and the family members of individuals that are suffering from certain medical conditions or dealing with the effects of certain kinds of medical treatment, he is opposed to the legalization of marijuana at this point," Pagni said. SB 1182 would enable pharmacies to dispense doctor-approved prescriptions of marijuana-based substances with a high concentration of cannabidiol, or CBD, a non-psychoactive compound in cannabis. The substance, often taken in extract form as a drop in the mouth, has been the subject of newly approved clinical trials and disbursed by a Colorado nonprofit, the Realm of Caring Foundation.
"This is not marijuana that you thought about in the '70s," said Mark Myers, of Harrisburg, who hopes his 6-year-old daughter could benefit from the CBD drug. "This has nothing to do with hippies. This is not a bunch of kids sitting around smoking a joint it's nothing like that. This product has no psychoactive results." Myers' 6-year-old daughter, Anna, has 60 to 90 seizures a day, or several an hour. Some may appear mild to an onlooker her head dropping suddenly while others are more obvious, such as her legs and arms giving out. She wakes from each seizure disoriented, and lately she's become increasingly overwhelmed and scared about her condition, which also prevents her from learning at school. Myers said the prescription drugs Anna has tried so far have been ineffective and caused severe side effects.
"We're out here trying to make (CBD) legal so Anna and other people don't have to suffer," Myers said. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently awarded GW Pharmaceuticals, a British pharmaceutical company, an orphan drug designation for the CBD-based drug Epidiolex, which aims to prevent seizures in children with Dravet syndrome, a rare form of epilepsy. Final approval of the drug could take a year or more. Corbett won't consider revisiting the medical marijuana issue until the FDA signals federal approval first, Pagni said. SB 1182 has not yet been introduced formally, with legislative staffers continuing to work out the final language.
News Moderator - The General @ 420 MAGAZINE ®
Source: Buckscountycouriertimes.com
Author: Natasha Lindstrom
Contact: Contact Us - Bucks County Courier Times: Site
Website: Corbett would veto latest medical pot proposal - Bucks County Courier Times: Bucks County | Local news | Breaking News
