Katelyn Baker
Well-Known Member
The news is gloomy for Connecticut's head-in-the-sand conservatives who scoffed at the 2012 legalization of marijuana for the treatment of debilitating ailments.
That conjured image of a stoner paradise, with nodding-and-winking proprietors of state medical-cannabis dispensaries happily handing out bags of weed to anyone, has not panned out, to say the least.
And the presumed proliferation of people qualifying under the catch-all Post Traumatic Stress Disorder claim has also failed to materialize.
Yep, if you were a member of the General Assembly back in 2012 who voted against medical cannabis, well, let's say you weren't a visionary. But that was the year that people who didn't know anything about the medical benefits could no longer meddle with people's lives.
That is not entirely true, since last spring, a bipartisan group of conservatives on the legislative Regulation Review Committee, without a medical degree among them and in apparent violation of their own rules, decided to ax a new ailment from the list only because they couldn't kill the whole program.
At this point, nearly two years into its availability, 70 percent of the state's medical cannabis isn't even being sold in the traditional dried-flower form. The chemicals are being extracted and sold for edibles, vaporizers and other non-smokables.
Oh yeah, and even the PTSD patients are getting forms of the medicine with lower amounts of the psycho-active THC and higher percentages of other compounds.
"With PTSD you want a mood stabilizer," said Jonathan Harris, commissioner of the state Department of Consumer Protection, which runs the medical cannabis program.
And despite the Connecticut Medical Society's opposition, more and more doctors are signing on for participation.
When the first medical marijuana came on the market in September 2014, there were 81 doctors registered to recommend the treatment. Now, there are 502 physicians.
There are 11,832 patients, up from the original 1,681.
And maybe the really good news is that, come Oct. 1, a new state law takes effect that will promote research into the properties of the weed. And research means jobs in science, at a time when that single syllable is the default mantra of all political types.
It's really going to repudiate the head-in-the-sand types when hundreds of new employment opportunities spring up, nearly 80 years after the federal clamp down on the ubiquitous weed, including its laughably lingering status as a federal Schedule I drug, defined as dangerously addictive with no medical uses.
The current ailments for eligibility include cancer, glaucoma, HIV/AIDS, Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, cachexia, wasting syndrome, Crohn's disease, PTSD, sickle cell disease, muscle spasticity, severe psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, ulcerative colitis and complex regional pain syndrome.
On Oct. 1, cerebral palsy, cystic fibrosis, terminal illness and uncontrolled seizures will be added.
"Less than two years in, and the stigmas are getting lowered," Harris said in a Friday interview. "We continue to make progress in providing for more patients suffering from serious conditions. We are getting more physicians on board."
Harris said he welcomes the so-called double-blind studies typical of scientific research. "I think it's going to play out incredibly and research will allow Connecticut to be a national leader."
In 2015 the General Assembly failed to approve the legislation that finally passed this year, allowing children to use oral medication, allowing for research and letting medical cannabis be administered in hospitals and hospices.
Harris said the pharmaceutical model - in which the dispensaries, including two new ones in Milford - has allowed a uniform product to be sold. The standardization of strains of marijuana and its combinations of THC and the other, associated chemicals, should make it easier to study the drug's benefits, taking information beyond the "anecdotal" that scientists demean.
"We're going to be the place to do this kind of research," Harris said. "It's going to create some good jobs, medium- to-higher-paying jobs that we lost in the Great Recession. I really think it is going to be a good win."
The state regulates how the plant is grown by the four producers. The Department of Consumer Protection's food division licenses three of them that produce edibles.
Come Oct. 1, Harris anticipates the initial research forays to begin, by the growers, those labs now testing cannabis profiles, or totally new entities such as universities or existing bio-tech companies.
"More people understand this is about good health care," Harris said. "It's medicine to help those suffering from various diseases, who are your parents, grandparents, your next-door neighbors, friends. It's not a not a special class of people out there trying to get high. This is real."
News Moderator: Katelyn Baker 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: An Industry Creating Jobs - Yes, It's Medical Cannabis
Author: Ken Dixon
Contact: CTPost
Photo Credit: Brian A. Pounds
Website: CTPost
That conjured image of a stoner paradise, with nodding-and-winking proprietors of state medical-cannabis dispensaries happily handing out bags of weed to anyone, has not panned out, to say the least.
And the presumed proliferation of people qualifying under the catch-all Post Traumatic Stress Disorder claim has also failed to materialize.
Yep, if you were a member of the General Assembly back in 2012 who voted against medical cannabis, well, let's say you weren't a visionary. But that was the year that people who didn't know anything about the medical benefits could no longer meddle with people's lives.
That is not entirely true, since last spring, a bipartisan group of conservatives on the legislative Regulation Review Committee, without a medical degree among them and in apparent violation of their own rules, decided to ax a new ailment from the list only because they couldn't kill the whole program.
At this point, nearly two years into its availability, 70 percent of the state's medical cannabis isn't even being sold in the traditional dried-flower form. The chemicals are being extracted and sold for edibles, vaporizers and other non-smokables.
Oh yeah, and even the PTSD patients are getting forms of the medicine with lower amounts of the psycho-active THC and higher percentages of other compounds.
"With PTSD you want a mood stabilizer," said Jonathan Harris, commissioner of the state Department of Consumer Protection, which runs the medical cannabis program.
And despite the Connecticut Medical Society's opposition, more and more doctors are signing on for participation.
When the first medical marijuana came on the market in September 2014, there were 81 doctors registered to recommend the treatment. Now, there are 502 physicians.
There are 11,832 patients, up from the original 1,681.
And maybe the really good news is that, come Oct. 1, a new state law takes effect that will promote research into the properties of the weed. And research means jobs in science, at a time when that single syllable is the default mantra of all political types.
It's really going to repudiate the head-in-the-sand types when hundreds of new employment opportunities spring up, nearly 80 years after the federal clamp down on the ubiquitous weed, including its laughably lingering status as a federal Schedule I drug, defined as dangerously addictive with no medical uses.
The current ailments for eligibility include cancer, glaucoma, HIV/AIDS, Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, cachexia, wasting syndrome, Crohn's disease, PTSD, sickle cell disease, muscle spasticity, severe psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, ulcerative colitis and complex regional pain syndrome.
On Oct. 1, cerebral palsy, cystic fibrosis, terminal illness and uncontrolled seizures will be added.
"Less than two years in, and the stigmas are getting lowered," Harris said in a Friday interview. "We continue to make progress in providing for more patients suffering from serious conditions. We are getting more physicians on board."
Harris said he welcomes the so-called double-blind studies typical of scientific research. "I think it's going to play out incredibly and research will allow Connecticut to be a national leader."
In 2015 the General Assembly failed to approve the legislation that finally passed this year, allowing children to use oral medication, allowing for research and letting medical cannabis be administered in hospitals and hospices.
Harris said the pharmaceutical model - in which the dispensaries, including two new ones in Milford - has allowed a uniform product to be sold. The standardization of strains of marijuana and its combinations of THC and the other, associated chemicals, should make it easier to study the drug's benefits, taking information beyond the "anecdotal" that scientists demean.
"We're going to be the place to do this kind of research," Harris said. "It's going to create some good jobs, medium- to-higher-paying jobs that we lost in the Great Recession. I really think it is going to be a good win."
The state regulates how the plant is grown by the four producers. The Department of Consumer Protection's food division licenses three of them that produce edibles.
Come Oct. 1, Harris anticipates the initial research forays to begin, by the growers, those labs now testing cannabis profiles, or totally new entities such as universities or existing bio-tech companies.
"More people understand this is about good health care," Harris said. "It's medicine to help those suffering from various diseases, who are your parents, grandparents, your next-door neighbors, friends. It's not a not a special class of people out there trying to get high. This is real."
News Moderator: Katelyn Baker 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: An Industry Creating Jobs - Yes, It's Medical Cannabis
Author: Ken Dixon
Contact: CTPost
Photo Credit: Brian A. Pounds
Website: CTPost
