STATE OKs MEDICAL MARIJUANA FOR CHRONIC KIDNEY FAILURE

The state has added chronic kidney failure to the list of conditions
for which medical marijuana is permitted under state law but has
rejected petitions to add Alzheimer's and neuropathic pain.

In approving chronic kidney failure, the state Medical Quality
Assurance Commission said it was convinced that nausea caused by
dialysis could be helped by marijuana. But it noted that using
marijuana could also jeopardize a renal-failure patient's eligibility
for transplant or have other adverse effects and that patients need
to be informed of that when a provider authorizes them to use
marijuana legally.

That petition was brought by Kenneth Lachman, a dialysis patient.

For neuropathic pain, the commission concluded that the term is so
broad it might include some disorders that would already qualify, and
others that don't. The request to include it was made by Dr. Sunil
Aggarwal on behalf of the Cannabis Defense Coalition.

For Alzheimer's disease, the commission said there was insufficient
scientific or anecdotal evidence to support the contention of Kemp
LaMunyon Sr., an Eastern Washington medical-marijuana advocate, that
it could help prevent the disease in humans.

For more information: www.doh.wa.gov/hsqa/medical-marijuana/default.htm