Pennsylvania Representative Seeks Drug Reclassification Of Marijuana

[Jacob Redmond]

State Rep. Mark Cohen has introduced a resolution petitioning the Pennsylvania secretary of Health and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration to reschedule cannabis from a Schedule I to a Schedule II controlled substance within their respective jurisdictions.

The resolution (H.R. 373) also urges the Pennsylvania Drug, Device and Cosmetic Board to hold hearings on the rescheduling of cannabis.

"If cannabis were reclassified as a Schedule II controlled substance, it could be prescribed and dispensed safely and legally to patients in need, many of whom suffer from debilitating illnesses," said Cohen, D-Phila. "It is clear, and studies support, the long-standing classification of medical use of cannabis as an illegal Schedule I controlled substance is fundamentally flawed and should be changed at both the federal and state level."

Cannabis, more commonly referred to as marijuana, was legal in the United States until 1937 when Congress passed the Marijuana Tax Act. The United States Pharmacopeia had cannabis on its list of pharmaceuticals from 1850 until 1942 for the treatment of pain, nausea and rheumatism. At the same time, hemp was being cultivated and used for clothing, rope, oils and paper.

In 1972, the Shafer Commission, chaired by former Pennsylvania Gov. Raymond P. Shafer, established by President Richard Nixon at the direction of Congress, studied laws regarding cannabis and determined that personal use of cannabis should be decriminalized. Nixon rejected the recommendation, but throughout the 1970s, states began to decriminalize cannabis and reduce penalties.

Cohen said 23 states and the District of Columbia have legalized cannabis in some form.

There is currently no regulated and safe system to supply patients in need with medical cannabis in Pennsylvania.

"It is relatively simple to determine the beneficial compounds contained in cannabis with modern DNA analysis," Cohen said. "A compounding pharmacist could quantify the appropriate level of cannabinoids and use an appropriate cannabis blend to create a customized medication for a patient."

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[Betageek52]

Compound THIS! In Many, Many cases the whole plant aside from the stalk, is needed to provide the best source for the needed treatment and substances for healing. This IS patient specific, and needs more of the data that, through use and result tracking in real-time (using social media and smart device apps) and with experimentation and self-titration, the patients themselves, can provide. Doctors have the means to track these data, today with technology. (Indeed, it is happening RIGHT NOW.) Experimentation by patients is NOT a scary prospect, as there is NO fatal dosage of cannabis that can be reached by the home users and self-medicating patients. Doctors who use copious amounts of DEA approved fabricated compounds, create a far more mortally dangerous, and hazardous situation, in respect to the overall health and wellness of the aforementioned patient. Prescribing 1, 2, or 3 or more drugs, then adding drugs to counter the side-effects of the drugs intended to treat the patient, is not a harmless and/or productive scenario. Of course, there are the people whose bodies cannot tolerate cannabis, and like every other type and category of health, they must be advised not to use, it. Much like drugs the doctors question you about, as to ascertain allergic (or anaphylactic shock , and even lethal reactions, by the body systems of these individuals.
I am sick to death of hearing doctors PUNT, when it comes to changing their ways of thinking about this plant, especially when they themselves have had little or no training about the endocannabinoid system in the human body. They are simply refusing to do their job, in view of the prejudicial treatment by the DEA and the Justice Department.