Robert Celt
New Member
The Kansas Statehouse isn't known as a place sympathetic to liberalizing drug laws, but then came the stories of Kansas families with hurting children.
Tiffanie and Kevin Krentz of Topeka, for example. At 6 months old, their son J.J. suffered his first seizure. It lasted 45 terrifying minutes. At the hospital, J.J. was unresponsive.
"He was pale and gray, and I really didn't know if we would walk out of the hospital with him that day," Tiffanie Krentz recalled.
J.J. recovered, but his seizures continued. He eventually received a diagnosis: Dravet syndrome, a type of epilepsy.
J.J. is 11 now, cognitively delayed and medically fragile, Krentz said. He has a nerve stimulator to help control seizures and has sought relief from the devastating condition with 16 different medications.
But Dravet syndrome is notoriously resistant to treatment. The family hasn't tried an alternative therapy, a cannabidiol (CBD) product that comes from the marijuana plant and is not intoxicating because it's low in THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol. Some call it hemp oil.
The Krentzes and others want lawmakers to approve a bill, passed last year by the House but not the Senate, to allow the regulated production and use of CBD, taken orally, for treatment of seizures.
"It is not a cure," Krentz told a Kansas Senate committee last week. "I don't know if it will help J.J., but I know I don't have the opportunity to try it."
The bill includes a separate section that has drawn supporters from some who work in criminal justice. That section would reduce the penalties for first and second convictions for possessing marijuana, shifting the second offense from a felony to a misdemeanor.
A third provision would create a program to research industrial hemp.
The bill is one of the biggest moves in years to ease marijuana laws in Kansas.
The Senate Corrections and Juvenile Justice Committee is scheduled to take up the legislation Tuesday. Sen. Greg Smith, an Overland Park Republican and the committee's chairman, said the hemp proposals in the bill might be more appropriately considered by health and agriculture committees.
Since 2014, Rep. John Wilson, a Lawrence Democrat, has been a driving force behind "Otis' law," the CBD treatment bill that passed last spring in the House.
Otis, who was diagnosed with a catastrophic type of infantile epilepsy, is the young son of former Lawrence residents Ryan and Kathy Reed.
The Reeds moved to Colorado two years ago for access to CBD. They have reported that Otis is now more physically active and mentally alert and that they now can reduce his anti-epilepsy medication.
"If people want to move to Colorado to hike and to be in the mountains, that's one thing, but they shouldn't have to move there to gain access to something that could help their kids live a better life," Wilson said.
"I think this bill represents a Kansas solution," he said. "There are hundreds and hundreds of families around Kansas that are experiencing this."
According to one estimate, there are 3,600 people in Kansas with epilepsy and thousands more with other seizure disorders.
Kiley and Gavin Klug came from Odin in central Kansas to the Capitol for a hearing last week. With them was their 8-year-old son, Owen, who uses a wheelchair. When Owen was 6 months old, he began having seizures, sometimes as many as 200 a day. He also was diagnosed with Dravet syndrome.
Despite nerve-stimulator surgery, a special diet and a long list of medications, Owen still suffers five to 20 seizures a day, Kiley Klug said.
What else have traditional treatments gotten him? she asked. Multiple hospital stays, constant testing of organ function, vomiting, lethargy and loss of skills. As a toddler, he could hold a cup and use a baby walker, she said, but not anymore.
"Epilepsy is simply a prison Owen cannot escape," she said. "It's time to move on to more non-traditional therapies," she said.
Wilson acknowledged that CBD treatment isn't FDA-approved and that marijuana is illegal under federal law. But he said the bill is narrowly crafted to allow a potential medical benefit without affecting public safety.
Under the bill, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment would regulate private producers of the CBD medication. Adults would be required to obtain a doctor-issued certificate as caregivers of a seizure patient, and they would have to register with the health department.
"And this bill is about a form of marijuana that is not intoxicating," Wilson said of the high-CBD, low-THC product. Most of marijuana's intoxicating effects come from THC.
"You can't get high on it, so no one is going to wheel and deal hemp oil," he said.
But the CBD section of the bill has drawn firm opposition – from those who say it's a gateway to full legalization of medical marijuana and from those who say the opposite, that the bill would unfairly restrict medical marijuana treatment to those with seizure disorders when others could be helped.
Opponents say the purported benefits of CBD are anecdotal, that there is no medical information about proper dosage or safety risks and that lawmakers should wait until clinical trials clearly show efficacy.
Ed Klumpp, who represents the Kansas Association of Chiefs of Police and the Kansas Sheriffs' Association, said there is growing evidence that legalized recreational and medical marijuana create public safety problems. Although the bill would set limits on THC, it still should be considered a medical marijuana bill, he said.
The THC limit in the bill is more than what is allowed in some states where it is legal, and the Kansas bill wouldn't require a minimum amount of CBD, Klumpp said. More than a dozen states allow high-CBD, low-THC formulas for treatment.
"These bills tend to be a precursor to broader legalization of marijuana," Klumpp said.
Groups dedicated to substance-abuse prevention also oppose the bill. Michelle Voth, the executive director of the Kansas Family Partnership, said her organization questioned the restrictiveness of the registration rules and the supply limits in the bill.
Voth said the proposal lacks consumer protection because without established research and FDA approval, there is no reliable information on dosage, risks or side effects. It would be best to wait for answers from clinical trials, she said.
"Medical marijuana in general is not thoroughly researched," Voth said. "I have grave concerns this is just opening the door."
Less controversial, at least so far, is a section of the bill that would reduce maximum penalties for first and second convictions for possessing marijuana.
The proposal has the backing of the Kansas Sentencing Commission, and Smith, the chairman of the Senate Corrections and Juvenile Justice Committee, said he intends to consider the change.
A first offense would be classified as a lesser misdemeanor than in current law, and a second offense would switch from a felony to a misdemeanor.
The latter provision would save prison beds and money, said Scott Schultz of the Kansas Sentencing Commission. Smith said the change would free around 57 prison beds in fiscal year 2017 and more than 100 beds by 2026. The change also would remove about 450 felony cases from the court system, he said.
That should be attractive to lawmakers who are dealing with a crowded prison system and budget shortfalls.
Robert Eye, a board member of the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas, said that while crime rates have fallen in the state, the prison population has quadrupled since the 1970s. Drug crimes are a major contributor to prison crowding, he said.
The bill takes a modest step, Eye said, and is part of a trend to "de-felonize" some drug offenses.
"We ought to take note of that and join it," Eye said. "The benefits are tremendous."
Smith said he was interested in hearing more about the trend to downgrade simple marijuana possession from a felony to a misdemeanor.
"It's rare I agree with the ACLU," he said, laughing. "I think we can take a look at that while keeping public safety in mind."
No doubt there are public safety concerns about marijuana in Kansas. Attorney General Derek Schmidt has begun a project to collect information from law enforcement agencies about marijuana entering the state from Colorado, where possessing small amounts was legalized for adults a few years ago.
Schmidt said in a news release announcing the survey that anecdotal reports of problems include driving under the influence, the distribution of marijuana in food products and bundling marijuana from Colorado into larger amounts and transporting it to Kansas.
"We need data that show what is actually happening in Kansas as the result of Colorado's experiment," Schmidt said.
News Moderator: Robert Celt 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Kansas Families Want To Legalize Hemp Products To Treat Seizure Disorders
Author: Edward M. Eveld
Contact: The Kansas City Star
Photo Credit: Courtesy of the Krentz family
Website: The Kansas City Star
Tiffanie and Kevin Krentz of Topeka, for example. At 6 months old, their son J.J. suffered his first seizure. It lasted 45 terrifying minutes. At the hospital, J.J. was unresponsive.
"He was pale and gray, and I really didn't know if we would walk out of the hospital with him that day," Tiffanie Krentz recalled.
J.J. recovered, but his seizures continued. He eventually received a diagnosis: Dravet syndrome, a type of epilepsy.
J.J. is 11 now, cognitively delayed and medically fragile, Krentz said. He has a nerve stimulator to help control seizures and has sought relief from the devastating condition with 16 different medications.
But Dravet syndrome is notoriously resistant to treatment. The family hasn't tried an alternative therapy, a cannabidiol (CBD) product that comes from the marijuana plant and is not intoxicating because it's low in THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol. Some call it hemp oil.
The Krentzes and others want lawmakers to approve a bill, passed last year by the House but not the Senate, to allow the regulated production and use of CBD, taken orally, for treatment of seizures.
"It is not a cure," Krentz told a Kansas Senate committee last week. "I don't know if it will help J.J., but I know I don't have the opportunity to try it."
The bill includes a separate section that has drawn supporters from some who work in criminal justice. That section would reduce the penalties for first and second convictions for possessing marijuana, shifting the second offense from a felony to a misdemeanor.
A third provision would create a program to research industrial hemp.
The bill is one of the biggest moves in years to ease marijuana laws in Kansas.
The Senate Corrections and Juvenile Justice Committee is scheduled to take up the legislation Tuesday. Sen. Greg Smith, an Overland Park Republican and the committee's chairman, said the hemp proposals in the bill might be more appropriately considered by health and agriculture committees.
Since 2014, Rep. John Wilson, a Lawrence Democrat, has been a driving force behind "Otis' law," the CBD treatment bill that passed last spring in the House.
Otis, who was diagnosed with a catastrophic type of infantile epilepsy, is the young son of former Lawrence residents Ryan and Kathy Reed.
The Reeds moved to Colorado two years ago for access to CBD. They have reported that Otis is now more physically active and mentally alert and that they now can reduce his anti-epilepsy medication.
"If people want to move to Colorado to hike and to be in the mountains, that's one thing, but they shouldn't have to move there to gain access to something that could help their kids live a better life," Wilson said.
"I think this bill represents a Kansas solution," he said. "There are hundreds and hundreds of families around Kansas that are experiencing this."
According to one estimate, there are 3,600 people in Kansas with epilepsy and thousands more with other seizure disorders.
Kiley and Gavin Klug came from Odin in central Kansas to the Capitol for a hearing last week. With them was their 8-year-old son, Owen, who uses a wheelchair. When Owen was 6 months old, he began having seizures, sometimes as many as 200 a day. He also was diagnosed with Dravet syndrome.
Despite nerve-stimulator surgery, a special diet and a long list of medications, Owen still suffers five to 20 seizures a day, Kiley Klug said.
What else have traditional treatments gotten him? she asked. Multiple hospital stays, constant testing of organ function, vomiting, lethargy and loss of skills. As a toddler, he could hold a cup and use a baby walker, she said, but not anymore.
"Epilepsy is simply a prison Owen cannot escape," she said. "It's time to move on to more non-traditional therapies," she said.
Wilson acknowledged that CBD treatment isn't FDA-approved and that marijuana is illegal under federal law. But he said the bill is narrowly crafted to allow a potential medical benefit without affecting public safety.
Under the bill, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment would regulate private producers of the CBD medication. Adults would be required to obtain a doctor-issued certificate as caregivers of a seizure patient, and they would have to register with the health department.
"And this bill is about a form of marijuana that is not intoxicating," Wilson said of the high-CBD, low-THC product. Most of marijuana's intoxicating effects come from THC.
"You can't get high on it, so no one is going to wheel and deal hemp oil," he said.
But the CBD section of the bill has drawn firm opposition – from those who say it's a gateway to full legalization of medical marijuana and from those who say the opposite, that the bill would unfairly restrict medical marijuana treatment to those with seizure disorders when others could be helped.
Opponents say the purported benefits of CBD are anecdotal, that there is no medical information about proper dosage or safety risks and that lawmakers should wait until clinical trials clearly show efficacy.
Ed Klumpp, who represents the Kansas Association of Chiefs of Police and the Kansas Sheriffs' Association, said there is growing evidence that legalized recreational and medical marijuana create public safety problems. Although the bill would set limits on THC, it still should be considered a medical marijuana bill, he said.
The THC limit in the bill is more than what is allowed in some states where it is legal, and the Kansas bill wouldn't require a minimum amount of CBD, Klumpp said. More than a dozen states allow high-CBD, low-THC formulas for treatment.
"These bills tend to be a precursor to broader legalization of marijuana," Klumpp said.
Groups dedicated to substance-abuse prevention also oppose the bill. Michelle Voth, the executive director of the Kansas Family Partnership, said her organization questioned the restrictiveness of the registration rules and the supply limits in the bill.
Voth said the proposal lacks consumer protection because without established research and FDA approval, there is no reliable information on dosage, risks or side effects. It would be best to wait for answers from clinical trials, she said.
"Medical marijuana in general is not thoroughly researched," Voth said. "I have grave concerns this is just opening the door."
Less controversial, at least so far, is a section of the bill that would reduce maximum penalties for first and second convictions for possessing marijuana.
The proposal has the backing of the Kansas Sentencing Commission, and Smith, the chairman of the Senate Corrections and Juvenile Justice Committee, said he intends to consider the change.
A first offense would be classified as a lesser misdemeanor than in current law, and a second offense would switch from a felony to a misdemeanor.
The latter provision would save prison beds and money, said Scott Schultz of the Kansas Sentencing Commission. Smith said the change would free around 57 prison beds in fiscal year 2017 and more than 100 beds by 2026. The change also would remove about 450 felony cases from the court system, he said.
That should be attractive to lawmakers who are dealing with a crowded prison system and budget shortfalls.
Robert Eye, a board member of the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas, said that while crime rates have fallen in the state, the prison population has quadrupled since the 1970s. Drug crimes are a major contributor to prison crowding, he said.
The bill takes a modest step, Eye said, and is part of a trend to "de-felonize" some drug offenses.
"We ought to take note of that and join it," Eye said. "The benefits are tremendous."
Smith said he was interested in hearing more about the trend to downgrade simple marijuana possession from a felony to a misdemeanor.
"It's rare I agree with the ACLU," he said, laughing. "I think we can take a look at that while keeping public safety in mind."
No doubt there are public safety concerns about marijuana in Kansas. Attorney General Derek Schmidt has begun a project to collect information from law enforcement agencies about marijuana entering the state from Colorado, where possessing small amounts was legalized for adults a few years ago.
Schmidt said in a news release announcing the survey that anecdotal reports of problems include driving under the influence, the distribution of marijuana in food products and bundling marijuana from Colorado into larger amounts and transporting it to Kansas.
"We need data that show what is actually happening in Kansas as the result of Colorado's experiment," Schmidt said.
News Moderator: Robert Celt 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Kansas Families Want To Legalize Hemp Products To Treat Seizure Disorders
Author: Edward M. Eveld
Contact: The Kansas City Star
Photo Credit: Courtesy of the Krentz family
Website: The Kansas City Star
