DOC POLICY WOULD VIOLATE MEDICAL MARIJUANA LAW

The Montana Department of Corrections is trying to ban the use of
medical marijuana by anyone on parole or probation. This proposal is
almost certainly illegal for numerous reasons. Among these is the
fact that Montana's medical marijuana law clearly allows anyone
suffering from certain medical conditions, with a doctor's
recommendation, to use medical marijuana.

The law specifies only one exception, and that is people who are "in"
a corrections facility. That means that every other qualified
patient, even those on probation or parole (who are not in prison or
jail), can use medical marijuana as needed. As a state agency, the
department's highest obligation is to honor the state's laws.

But as a lifelong physician and past president of the Montana Medical
Association, I see important medical and scientific reasons to be
alarmed by what the Department of Corrections is trying to do. In my
view, it represents a grave and unacceptable intrusion on the
physician-patient relationship. Although it would affect an extremely
small number of people, probably fewer than a dozen, it could affect
them grievously.

Most offensive is the fact that the proposal would apply a
"one-size-fits-all" policy of medical treatment to all patients,
putting the department in the position of practicing medicine without
a license - while not knowing or caring about the details of any
patient's specific condition. No physician would make medical
judgments without a thorough understanding of a patient's condition.
But the Montana Department of Corrections wants a pat bureaucratic
policy to override the specific judgments of the trained and licensed
physicians who have a history of knowing, diagnosing and working with
the individual patients involved.

Under the Montana law, medical marijuana is absolutely no different
medically - or legally - from insulin for a diabetic, hydrodiuril
prescribed for a patient with high blood pressure, or Percodan
prescribed for a patient suffering from certain kinds of pain. The
Department of Corrections doesn't have the authority to deny patients
any of these medicines, much less to deny one and not the others. The
thinking behind this proposed rule is both incorrect and arbitrary.

Having reviewed the literature reporting on the medicinal benefits of
marijuana, I can only assume that the department is largely ignorant
of the facts and is prey to generations of misinformation about
marijuana. Suffice it to say that a wealth of research published in
peer-reviewed, professional journals over the past several decades
thoroughly documents marijuana's remarkable values with respect to
treating all the conditions approved in Montana's law (as well as others).

In addition, marijuana's side effects have been proven to be mild and
benign, particularly when compared to those of the alternative drugs
for these conditions. Indeed, for some patients, marijuana is the
only medicine that provides true relief. Marijuana is one of the
safest medicines in the world.

Under Montana law, the use of marijuana as medicine is a question we
assign to physicians and patients - not the government. We made that
decision four years ago, with 62 percent of the vote, the largest
margin achieved in any of the 12 states that now recognize marijuana
as an invaluable medicine for some people. We made the right
decision, both medically and morally.