Ailing Await Medicinal Marijuana

[Jim Finnel]

Donna Doak anxiously awaits the day when she can get a prescription for marijuana.

The Swedesboro nurse, who suffers from multiple sclerosis and spinal stenosis and is wheelchair-bound, said marijuana can ease her pain without the nasty side effects of her current medications.

"Now that it's been legalized, I want to pursue it," said Doak, who was among the roughly dozen people who attended a town hall meeting at the Collingswood Library sponsored by the Coalition for Medical Marijuana New Jersey. "I just think it's going to really enable me to have a better quality of life."

In January, New Jersey became the fourth state on the East Coast to legalize medicinal marijuana when then-Gov. Jon S. Corzine signed the Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act into law.

The legislation legalized marijuana use in the treatment of certain conditions, including glaucoma, seizures, cancer, AIDS, inflammatory bowel syndrome and neurological diseases like multiple sclerosis.

While many of the details of New Jersey's law are still to be determined, patients should be able to obtain a prescription that would allow them to purchase marijuana from a state-licensed alternative treatment center as soon as July.

"Marijuana is a safe, effective and inexpensive treatment for a host of diseases," said the coalition's executive director, Ken Wolski, a registered nurse.

Fourteen states have legalized medical marijuana.

"Another dozen states are considering similar laws," Wolski said.

Among the states considering medical marijuana bills this year are Alabama, Delaware, New York, North Carolina and Pennsylvania.

"We do have the most restrictive bill in the country," said Wolski, adding that New Jersey is the only state that doesn't allow home cultivation.

Coalition officials estimate that roughly 4,000 people in New Jersey will obtain a prescription for marijuana.

"One of the more common questions we get is if insurance companies will pay for medical marijuana," coalition board member Chris Goldstein said. "I think medical marijuana is equal to an over-the-counter medication. They don't cover Tylenol, they don't cover ibuprofen, so I don't think they'll cover medical marijuana."

Coalition members also discussed the case of a Franklin Township man with multiple sclerosis who was sentenced to five years in prison for growing marijuana in the backyard of his rental property.

A sign that read "Pardon John Ray Wilson" and "medical marijuana patient, not a criminal" sat on a table at the library.

"To me, it was a travesty of justice," Wolski said.

"It's the most lenient sentence that the judge could give under the law," Goldstein said. "The question is whether he'll be able to use medical marijuana when he goes on parole."

James Wayne, of Bellmawr, uses marijuana to lessen the pain for a head injury and severe back problems but will not be able to obtain a prescription under the new law because chronic pain is not one of the approved uses.

"The Percocet makes me nauseous and I can't think right," Wayne said. "I smoke two or three hits and I'm good for a couple of hours. I would much rather have the person who is driving my children to be taking marijuana for their pain than taking 10 milliliters of Percocet."

Goldstein said the coalition will host town hall meetings throughout the state to educate people about the law and discuss its implementation.

"This is legal now," Goldstein said. "You don't have to be afraid to talk about this. It's a private decision to use medical marijuana just like it's a private decision to use any medication."


NewsHawk: User: 420 MAGAZINE ® - Medical Marijuana Publication & Social Networking
Source: courierpostonline.com
Author: LAVINIA DeCASTRO
Copyright: 2010 CourierPostOnline.com/Courier-Post
Contact: courierpostonline.com | Burlington, Camden and Gloucester Counties Newsroom Staff | Courier-Post
Website: Ailing await medicinal marijuana | courierpostonline.com | Courier-Post

• Thanks to MedicalNeed for submitting this article

 

[TorturedSoul]

While I applaud any progress in the fight to legalize cannabis for medical use, I see the potential for worry here.

The legislation legalized marijuana use in the treatment of certain conditions, including glaucoma, seizures, cancer, AIDS, inflammatory bowel syndrome and neurological diseases like multiple sclerosis.

As always, the issue that no government is a qualified medical practitioner or researcher. It is not for them to say what may or may not be treatable with cannabis. That should be the realm of the medical profession and the patient.

to obtain a prescription that would allow them to purchase marijuana from a state-licensed alternative treatment center as soon as July.

"One of the more common questions we get is if insurance companies will pay for medical marijuana," coalition board member Chris Goldstein said. "I think medical marijuana is equal to an over-the-counter medication. They don't cover Tylenol, they don't cover ibuprofen, so I don't think they'll cover medical marijuana."

I would strongly suggest that under their new laws, that this is completely incorrect. Last time I checked I didn't need to pre-qualify under a draconian set of rules to purchase Tylenol or ibuprofen. I did not need to pay any fee to the government just to be allowed to purchase either of them. There was also no governing body stating how much of either I could purchase or possess at any one time. Which I find especially ironic considering that cannabis has not been shown to cause either liver problems or stomach bleeding.

They are creating a de facto monopoly in their state (which will of course keep the prices higher than many of the very people they are professing to be doing this for in the first place can realistically afford!) for a substance that requires a "prescription" for a narrowly-defined set of ailments.

Why, then, should it not be covered by health insurance?

Additionally:

New Jersey is the only state that doesn't allow home cultivation.

I cannot believe that the "state-licensed alternative treatment centers" would be able to carry all of the hundreds of strains of cannabis that are currently available world-wide. And it has been shown that just as some strains are better for a given condition/ailment than others, some people respond better to certain strains than others even if each of the strains in question are generally used to treat the same problem.

So while I do appreciate the fact that there is hope in that state, I wonder how much of these new laws were approved simply as a means to shut people up.

I also wonder who is supposed to be growing for these "treatment centers." The centers themselves? A small number of growers chosen by lottery? Or...?

 

[trekie]

So is the federal government going to allow a state to license Marijuana sales ? Federal ban on medical marijuana should be lifted. State license centers are going to have to charge for the marijuana just like a co-op does in California so their go's the myth of not allowing cash to pass hands for medical marijuana. Even states are waking up to the fact that it is a cash crop or medicine for profit ... So are the counties going to tell the state government that you cannot break federal law and do moratoriums on them for a year at a time or ban them saying it's against federal laws. This all happening 14 years later after the law was passed to allow medical marijuana in California...I would like to see a bigger push at the federal level for legalization and reclassification of marijuana... it would stop a lot of the bullsh*t in relation to draconian politicians who are trying to stop the will of the people...