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Patients talk about the importance of passing a medical marijuana law
06-22-07|Legislative Gazette|By JOHN GRYBOS

Two men who say medical marijuana helps them deal with chronic medical conditions came to the capital to advocate for the passage of a bill, sponsored by Assembly health committee Chairman Richard Gottfried, to legalize its use for certain patients.

The bill (A.4867) passed the Assembly on June 13 and was immediately delivered to the Senate and referred to its rules committee.

At a press conference hosted in the Legislative Office Building by Gottfried, D,WF-Manhattan, Bruce Dunn, who suffers chronic pain from a 1988 automobile accident, said, “I resent the hell out of being a criminal just because I use this herb.”

Marijuana has fewer side effects than many of the drugs Dunn said he has tried, “It helps me to have a normal, productive life.” Traditional narcotics and antidepressants have a constipating effect, he said. Marijuana has no serious side effects, said Dunn, “the only side effect I’m aware of is a feeling of well-being.”

Fred McLaughlin donated blood in August 2003, and later that same day, collapsed in the shower, experiencing numbness in his extremities, a loss of bladder control and distorted vision in his left eye. Two weeks later, he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.

McLaughlin said other drugs caused serious side effects. When he used Avonex, a multiple sclerosis medication, his weight dropped from a full-framed 200 pounds to 150 pounds, and bruises appeared all over his body. He developed anxiety, paranoia and depression on the drug.

“Never, ever again will I take any pharmaceutical drugs,” said McLaughlin. He said cannabis helped him regain perfect vision in his left eye, and it is the only treatment he currently uses for his condition.

The only issue for McLaughlin, he said, is that “there’s a little paranoia actually having to go somewhere and get it,” as he could be caught by law enforcement and fined.

Despite current law making it illegal to carry and consume cannabis, said Gottfried, many ill people regularly use the substance, “making their lives tolerable.”

Gottfried said that Dunn’s OxyContin prescription carries a long list of side effects. According to label information available on the Web site of Perdue Pharma, the producer of OxyContin, the drug can cause mild to severe kidney failure, constipation and respiratory suppression.

Dunn said he was very concerned about becoming addicted to OxyContin. Perdue Pharma’s label information suggests doctors slowly reduce their patients’ dosage of the drug to prevent withdrawal symptoms.

The documentation also warns nursing mothers not to take the drug, as their babies can experience withdrawal symptoms when their mothers cease taking the medication.

“The current prohibition is political correctness run amok,” said Gottfried. People undergoing chemotherapy for cancer or who have HIV/AIDS suffer from decreased appetite, exacerbating their condition. Marijuana stimulates hunger, helping the very ill stay well nourished, he said.

There is currently a bill in the Senate sponsored by Velmanette Montgomery, D-Brooklyn, regarding the legalization and distribution of marijuana for medical purposes. Similar bills died in committee in the 2003-2004 and 2005-2006 legislative sessions.

Under the bill (S.4768), patients with life-threatening, degenerative or permanently disabling conditions could be prescribed medicinal marijuana. Marijuana would be prescribed and distributed by a not-for-profit organization that has registered with the state, the state’s Department of Health or local health departments.

Montgomery’s bill would also forbid practitioners from prescribing cannabis to themselves, as does Gottfried’s. The bill would forbid the use of medicinal marijuana in public places and limit the weight of cannabis distributed to eight ounces or less.

Her bill would also stipulate that no more than a 30-day supply be given to a patient, and the prescription could not be refilled until the patient has no more than a seven-day supply left.

Also, the legislation would require marijuana be packaged in an orange container, or have an orange label reading, “Controlled substance, dangerous unless used as directed.”

Gottfried was skeptical of a system where medicinal marijuana is only available through well-documented, centralized distribution, because “the federal authorities would shut them down as quickly as we could license them.”

The 12 states that have passed legislation allowing for medical marijuana don’t have a dispensary clause, said Gottfried. Even though California has many dispensaries, it is not required that patients go through those channels.

Gottfried’s bill calls for the issuance of identification cards for licensed practitioners and their patients, which verify that they are legally allowed to handle cannabis. The bill would also honor similar cards issued in other states.

The Assembly bill does not create a state-sanctioned program to help patients or caregivers acquire the allowed two-and-a-half ounces of cannabis, or the seeds to grow the 12 plants approved patients could grow for personal use, but specifies that the manufacture, acquisition and administration of the drug by registered card holders would be legal.