GIVE MEDICAL MARIJUANA ACT THE LATITUDE PATIENTS DESERVE

New Jersey lawmakers will soon consider whether to pass into law the
New Jersey Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act (S-88 and A-933).
The act would remove the statewide criminal penalties for the use,
possession and cultivation of a small amount of marijuana for
qualified patients under a program administered by the New Jersey
Department of Health and Senior Services (NJDHSS). The Coalition for
Medical Marijuana--New Jersey (CMM-NJ) urges lawmakers to support the
bill as it is written. Some lawmakers have said that the bill is too
broad--that too many patients will qualify for medical marijuana when
it passes. CMM-NJ opposes any attempt to restrict the diseases or
conditions that would qualify a New Jersey patient for medical
marijuana. This is a question that is properly left only to the
treating physician. There are, moreover, a number of rare conditions
that respond well to medical marijuana.

The federal government, in its only existing investigational new drug
(IND) trial of marijuana, recognizes nail-patella syndrome as well as
multiple congenital cartilaginous exostosis as conditions that
qualify for medical marijuana. These two conditions respond well to
marijuana therapy, as do the more common conditions included in the
IND study, glaucoma and multiple sclerosis. The federal government
has been treating patients in this study for up to 27 years by giving
them marijuana. Each month the patients in this IND study receive
from the federal government a cannister that holds 300 pre-rolled
marijuana cigarettes, that may be consumed at the rate of 10 or more
per day. All of the patients in this study are doing well--their
conditions are controlled, side effects are minimal, and marijuana is
the only medicine they are using for their conditions.

Here in New Jersey, a mother contacted CMM-NJ to beg that her son be
allowed medical marijuana for a condition called Friedreich's ataxia.
She said, "There are about 6,000 people in the country who have this
disease. There is no cure and marijuana is the only thing that works
for the pain. It's not easy watching your child suffer from pain
when a simple solution like marijuana can ease the muscle spasms,
bone and joint pain, muscle pain and involuntary eye movements that
this disease (causes)." Nothing relieves her son's symptoms as safely
and as effectively as marijuana. Who could face this mother and say,
"We will allow medical marijuana in New Jersey only for cancer and
multiple sclerosis, but not for your son's condition"?

And what about Roberta--a kindly, New Jersey grandmother who suffers
from a very painful condition called reflex sympathetic dystrophy?
Her condition is progressive (getting worse) and incurable. Roberta
plans to commit suicide when the pains get too great and the medical
intervention too oppressive. She fears that she will eventually be
turned into "a vegetable" by the opiates and other pain relievers
doctors now prescribe for her. She wants to try medical marijuana as
a last ditch measure before suicide. Who could say to Roberta, "No,
it is better that you commit suicide than have a trial of medical marijuana"?

No one can foresee all of the conditions that might respond to
medical marijuana. The language of S-88 and its identical Assembly
bill, A-933, is appropriately inclusive. In addition to cancer,
glaucoma and AIDS patients, the bill would protect any patient who
uses medical marijuana under a doctor's recommendation and who
suffers from, "a chronic or debilitating disease or medical
condition...that produces one or more of the following: cachexia or
wasting syndrome, severe or chronic pain, severe nausea; seizures;
severe and persistent muscle spasms (as from) multiple sclerosis or
Crohn's disease; or any other medical condition or its treatment that
is approved by the (NJDHSS)."

There are no medical reasons whatsoever that would support the
exclusion of marijuana therapy from any of the above diseases,
conditions or symptoms. A physician's first credo is to "Do no harm."

Marijuana is a remarkably safe drug that has never caused a fatal
overdose. It has the widest possible therapeutic index, that is, a
comparison of the amount of a drug required for a therapeutic dose to
the amount that would produce a toxic reaction. Some drugs, like
digoxin, have a very narrow therapeutic index and their dosages must
be monitored carefully with blood levels. Marijuana, with its broad
therapeutic index, is quite safe for self-dosing. It would be
arbitrary and capricious for lawmakers to restrict or limit the
conditions that would qualify a patient for medical marijuana.
Medical marijuana must be seen as part of a comprehensive plan of patient care.

Nor should lawmakers fear that medical marijuana will be recommended
irresponsibly by physicians. There are already processes in place to
correct physician irresponsibility, including license revocation and
criminal penalties. Physicians routinely prescribe controlled
substances that are far more dangerous and addicting than marijuana every day.

It is the right of every New Jersey patient to have access to the
best possible treatment available, which may include
marijuana. Lawmakers have the opportunity to ensure that right for
Roberta with her chronic pain, the son with Friedreich's ataxia, and
the tens of thousands of other New Jersey patients who are suffering
needlessly because they are denied appropriate medical
treatment. CMM-NJ urges lawmakers to adopt the New Jersey
Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act as it is written.