cannabisnews.com: Proposal Would Let Doctors Recommend Marijuana 





Proposal Would Let Doctors Recommend Marijuana 
Posted by CN Staff on February 07, 2003 at 08:37:15 PT
By Georgina Gustin, Day Staff Writer
Source: The Day.com
Hartford -- In front of dozens of pro-legalization advocates, a state legislator presented a bill at the Capitol Thursday that would allow the state's doctors to recommend marijuana to chronically ill patients while avoiding the threat of arrest.Rep. Jim Abrams, D-Wallingford, has sponsored legislation, now taken up by the Judiciary Committee, that would change current laws in Connecticut so that physicians can issue certificates for marijuana for medicinal use.
“In '81 the General Assembly passed a bill allowing doctors to prescribe marijuana for medicinal reasons,” said Abrams. “But unfortunately not a single Connecticut doctor in 22 years has prescribed marijuana in the state for fear of federal prosecution.”Abrams' bill puts forward a medicinal marijuana law that would allow a doctor to write a certificate, or recommendation, rather than a prescription. The certificate would document a patient's legitimate qualification for marijuana use and cultivation. The bill would also expand the list of legitimate illnesses to include Crohn's disease, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy and others.Marijuana's efficacy for treating certain illnesses and ailments has long been cited by advocates, doctors and patients as a reason for legalization. In 1999, the national Institute of Medicine's report on marijuana concluded that marijuana and other “cannabinoid drugs” can be useful in treating pain, controlling nausea and stimulating appetite. “Marijuana is well documented in scientific literature for treating patients with illnesses such as AIDS, glaucoma, cancer, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy and chronic pain,” said Alvin Novick, a physician, Yale professor and supporter of amending Connecticut's existing marijuana laws who attended Thursday's meeting.For Mark Braunstein, an art librarian at Connecticut College who lives in Waterford, marijuana has been an essential part of living a productive life since he became paralyzed after an accident in 1990, on his 39th birthday.After diving off a bridge into a river in upstate New York, Braunstein suffered a back and spinal cord injury that paralyzed him just below the waist. While seeking a way to alleviate the involuntary spasms and pain that come with spinal cord injury, he was told by doctors about tranquilizers and narcotics, but he didn't want to take them, wary of the fate that meets many paraplegics and quadriplegics who rely on painkillers — addiction and constant sedation.After learning through the testimony of doctors and patients that marijuana eases spinal cord injury-related spasms and pain, Braunstein began to smoke marijuana once a day. The spasms and pain have since subsided, and since 2000 he has reduced his smoking to less than one-half gram once every two to three days. “Nobody's said anything about it,” Braunstein said at Thursday's meeting. “My colleagues have only congratulated me.”Braunstein says smoking marijuana has been the only thing that has worked for him. The only problem is, his marijuana possession isn't legal because it hasn't been prescribed, and even if it was, the federal government wouldn't recognize the prescription. (Braunstein has a prescription from a doctor in the Netherlands, where medicinal marijuana is legal, and he says, under U.N. rules, a prescription from a doctor in one country should be legal in another.)There are nine states with laws that allow patients, with permission from doctors, to use marijuana for medicinal purposes. There are 35 states, including Connecticut, that have passed legislation that recognizes marijuana's medicinal value.Federal law, however, prohibits a doctor from prescribing marijuana and can send a doctor to prison and revoke his or her license.“If a state says ‘prescribe,' then the law is dead out of the blocks,” said Robert Rooks, executive director of a Better Way Foundation, a group seeking to change the state's drug policy. “So you have to use the word ‘recommend.' Connecticut's law says ‘prescribe,' that's the problem.”Abrams' bill, he said, would allow doctors to avoid arrest under federal law, thereby alleviating any fear they might have about recommending it to a patient. “This bill shifts the onus from the doctor to the patient,” he said.Under Abrams' legislation, a doctor could recommend marijuana, and if a patient were questioned by police, he or she could produce a letter from the doctor attesting to the recommendation. The letter would not be a prescription, which is a reportable document.“The certificate on the doctor's letterhead should right away take care of the problem,” said Kevin Zeese, an attorney and president of the group Common Sense for Drug Policy.Some doctors see their legal inability to recommend what they believe is the best solution for their patients as an infringement on their medical rights.“This is a freedom of speech issue,” said Marcus Conant, a physician who filed a lawsuit in California that gave physicians the right to recommend marijuana. “Certainly you can give your patient your best medical advice, and that's freedom of speech. That's why we sued.”Rep. Michael Lawlor, co-chairman of the Judiciary Committee, say he believes the bill has a good chance of passing. Gov. John G. Rowland does not support the legislation. Note: Judiciary Committee Studying Bill Presented By Rep. Abrams.Complete Title: Proposal Would Let Doctors Recommend Marijuana Without Legal ConsequencesSource: Day, The (CT)Author: Georgina Gustin, Day Staff WriterPublished: February 7, 2003Copyright: 2003 The Day Publishing Co.Contact: editor theday.comWebsite: http://www.theday.com/Related Articles & Web Sites:CSDPhttp://www.csdp.org/Conant vs. Walters & Judge Kozinskihttp://freedomtoexhale.com//cw.htmLawmaker Pushes Medical Marijuana Bill http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread15397.shtmlMarijuana Bill Ready for Sessionhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread15077.shtmlVote Needed Change To Medicinal Pot Law http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread12315.shtml
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