MEDICAL MARIJUANA WILL EASE SUFFERING

The Pharmacists Society of the State of New York has become the
latest professional health organization to endorse the medical
marijuana bill under consideration in Albany.

As medical professionals who believe in palliative care, responsible
oversight, and -- most important -- relieving the suffering of ill
patients whenever possible, we strongly support this legislation. It
will establish a controlled and orderly system, based on established
medical practice, for providing seriously ill patients with access to
a medicine that has been demonstrated to relieve intractable pain and
suffering.

Since 1996, 14 other states and Washington, D.C., have passed laws to
allow doctors to recommend marijuana to qualified patients suffering
from ailments such as AIDS, cancer and multiple sclerosis. New York's
bill is designed to include the best practices from those states,
while at the same time learning from their mistakes.

Compared to other state laws, New York's bill would create a much
stricter patient eligibility criteria, and more tightly regulate
where the drug can be purchased.

A primary reason why pharmacists support this bill is the active
oversight role it grants to the Department of Health. Patients would
not be able to grow their own medicine, but rather gain access
through a network of licensed pharmacies and nonprofit dispensaries
approved and regulated by the Department of Health.

The bill's inclusion of pharmacists -- New York would become the only
state to do so -- would for the first time place medical marijuana in
the mainstream medical system. Pharmacists are ideally suited to
dispense medical marijuana because they have secure facilities and
are experienced in the handling of dangerous narcotics. And because
pharmacists are aware of all the drugs their patients are taking,
they can guard against potentially dangerous drug interactions that
could easily occur in other delivery systems.

New York's proposed bill would create the most responsible,
professionally managed, and tightly regulated medical marijuana
delivery system in the nation.

But perhaps the most compelling reason why New York should enact this
bill is the thousands of New Yorkers living with severe and
debilitating illnesses that could benefit from it.

A wealth of peer-reviewed research has confirmed marijuana's efficacy
in helping treat a range of ailments. For many patients, existing
therapies do not work, and medical marijuana could be their best hope
of effective relief. Denying such patients this relief -- when we
know how to safely and effectively deliver it to them -- would be
immoral.

Gov. David Paterson and the Legislature have considered this bill for
years. The Assembly has already passed it twice. It takes a
responsible approach to medical marijuana -- one that will set a new
standard for the rest of the country.

New York's medical marijuana bill should be enacted without
delay.

Craig M. Burridge is executive director of The Pharmacists Society
of the State of New York.