Please e-mail your Reps TODAY!

[Stoney Girl]

Please e-mail your Reps Today!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

We need a sponsor for LC3427, the name given to I-28 by Legislative Coucil for now. I need everyone to e-mail their Rep. and their Sen. and ask them to sponsor LC3427 as a bill this session. you can send them ths:

As you consider LC3427 sponsoring as a bill, please remember that a great deal of community input went into this as well as over a year of vetting.


Please also consider that Grove Insite polled voters statewide on LC3427 and found that 59-60% of voters favor it.


Many people put a great deal of thought into LC3427.

Please review the financial projections of the revenues that LC3427 at:

Home

Some aspects to consider:


1. Medical Marijuana reduces Healthcare costs. OMMP patients reduce prescription drug intake, doctor visits, ER visits, adverse drug reactions/ allergies and all of these reductions contribute to an overall healthcare cost reduction.

2. Over 200,000 Oregonians qualify for the OMMP (I can provide references if you'd like). 10% of Oregonians generate 69% of Oregon's Healthcare costs: getting more people who qualify for OMMP into the program could reduce the amount of spending the State does on that population by 50-80%, leaving over 35% of the current budget for other programs.

3. Reduce Painkiller addiction. Medical marijuana can reduce fatalities from painkillers, reduce addictions from painkillers, and does not destroy kidneys and liver like traditional painkillers do. It also addresses neuropathic pain, which traditional painkillers do not. According to NIDA marijuana is less addictive than nicotine, caffeine and alcohol.

4. Reduce deaths and catastrophic drug reactions. The FDA has issued numerous black box warnings in the last 10 years, and warnings about stroke and heart attack and liver or kidney failure as a possible side effect are commonplace. These risks can be avoided by using medical marijuana instead of dangerous pharmaceutical drugs. A recent study found that 103,000 Americans die every year from properly prescribed and administered drugs. Marijuana does not cause any of these side effects.

5. Medical marijuana dispensaries we would have if LC3427 was passed would provide safe legal access to medical cannabis products and provide jobs for thousands of people.

6. All healthcare programs should be evaluated on an equal basis, including OMMP. The Oregon Health Fund Board's Quality Institute has a responsibility to do a cost/benefit as well as a risk/benefit analysis of the OMMP to determine if joining results in more negative or more positive healthcare outcomes. LC3427 makes it possible for OMMP to fund the analysis we need.

7. Both opponents and proponents alike need transparency. Both sides need real data. This legislation will allow data collection and research that both sides require for evidence based policy.

8. The OMMP is a very successful program that generates hundreds of thousands of dollars in surplus funds every year. Those funds cannot be used, because they are not allocated. The OMMP is a Healthcare program, and its surplus funds should be allocated to healthcare and medical research.

9. All patients in the OMMP should be included in the Pain Survey that the Oregon Pain Management Commission is mandated to collect. OMMP should pay for the survey and have input into some of the questions as part of bringing transparency to the program. LC3427 would make the changes necessary to make that possible.

10. Safe legal access to dispensaries will encourage non-smoked methods of ingestion. Vaporizers, medicated edibles, lotions, tinctures, all of these will reduce smoking among patients.

11. Studies show that medical marijuana slows Alzheimer's better than 80% of pharmaceutical drugs, including Aricept. A study out of the University of Bonn indicates that certain cannabinoids can diminish bone loss. Another study shows that marijuana can help lower blood pressure. With our senior community about to inundate the Healthcare system, LC3427 can provide tools for doctors to treat these at risk populations and control or slow the progression of their diseases.

12. As an adjunct to opiate regimens, medical marijuana works very well to allow patients to use far less opiates for longer periods and slows resistance. We need research into the interaction of marijuana and opiate pain-killers.

13. Studies show that marijuana fights the more invasive and harder to treat cancers like breast, brain, lung, and lymphoma tumors. It has been shown to reduce the spread of breast cancer cells, and to reduce lung cancer tumors by as much as 50%. Doctors in Germany recently announced that marijuana should be considered a cancer fighting agent, not just a palliative.

14. The licensure fees are allocated to fund Healthcare programs. Because it does not rely on ANY taxpayer funding LC3427 will not adversely affect our current budget.

15. Under the current system, there are 22,000 kitchen pharmacists preparing their own medicine at home. Dispensaries will allow for more standardized and consistent products and standardized dosages.


Thank you so much for your time and consideration,