cannabisnews.com: Medicinal Marijuana Debate Opens in Legislature





Medicinal Marijuana Debate Opens in Legislature
Posted by FoM on April 11, 2001 at 10:16:33 PT
By Steven Walters of the Journal Sentinel Staff
Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
The Capitol fight over whether to let critically ill people smoke marijuana to fight pain and discomfort began Tuesday with physicians saying "not yet," nurses saying "yes," and a wheelchair-bound Mondovi woman saying smoking the illegal substance helps maintain her "quality of life."The exchanges came as a state Assembly committee heard testimony from five invited speakers who discussed smoking marijuana. Eight other states have legalized marijuana for medical purposes, but Wisconsin would be the first Midwest state to do so.
"I don't sit down and (smoke marijuana) to get high," insisted Jacki Rickert, 49, of Mondovi, testifying in a whisper from her wheelchair. "I can cut my medication in half if I'm able to use medicinal-strength cannabis."With federal officials refusing to allow research on the medicinal smoking of marijuana and not allowing pharmacists to fill prescriptions for the substance, "I think it has to be a state issue," Rickert told members of the state Assembly's State Affairs Committee."I'm looking to you people for help," Rickert added. She said she has two critical illnesses affecting her tissue and bone marrow, and she tried taking a legal prescription pill of THC, the active agent in marijuana, but it made her very sick.Rep. Rick Skindrud (R-Mount Horeb), committee chairman, said he agreed to hold a by-invitation-only hearing Tuesday and doesn't know whether the move to legalize the smoking of marijuana will ever be seriously considered in the Legislature.If there is no real support in the Legislature to legalize medicinal marijuana, "What's the use of having a bill?" Skindrud added. Other legislators questioned why Skindrud held a mini-hearing on an issue instead of a formal bill, but Skindrud said the controversy deserved debate.Rep. Frank Boyle (D-Superior) said Canada only days ago agreed to let that nation's physicians prescribe marijuana for 20 specific diseases. Boyle said he and Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Madison) will sponsor a bill patterned after Hawaii's law to let Wisconsin physicians prescribe smoking the substance.Limited to prescriptions:Boyle insisted that he is not trying to legalize the recreational use of marijuana. Instead, he said his bill would make it legal to smoke marijuana only if a physician prescribes it.A lung cancer survivor, Boyle said smoking marijuana to ease the pain and discomfort of cancer or other critical illness should not be compared to smoking cigarettes. "You're not going to smoke three packs of marijuana per day," Boyle insisted.Besides Hawaii, Boyle said Alaska, California, Colorado, Maine, Nevada, Oregon and Washington have legalized the medical use and cultivation of marijuana. In those states, and many foreign countries, the critically ill often grow marijuana for their use or buy it from cooperative-like organizations."It's a serious issue," Boyle added. He said marijuana was used to treat illnesses like epilepsy, migraine headaches and other illnesses for centuries until the United States banned it in the 1930s.Two groups of medical professionals - physicians and nurses - disagreed on whether the seriously ill should be allowed to smoke marijuana to help control the effects of chemotherapy used to fight cancer, powerful anti-AIDS drugs and other diseases."Marijuana is not a benign drug," said Michael M. Miller, a physician who spoke on behalf of the State Medical Society of Wisconsin."Addiction to marijuana can and does occur," said Miller, an addiction specialist for 18 years. "Dysfunction and disability do occur. Families can be destroyed by cannabis addiction."Increased addiction feared:Miller said "loosening controls" over smoking marijuana would result in more of that activity and more marijuana addiction."Smoking marijuana is not medicine," said Miller, who said it would be "foolish" and "dangerous" to let the seriously ill smoke marijuana before more medical research on its medicinal value is completed."Wait until the science catches up," Miller asked the legislators.But Gina Dennik-Champion, executive director of the Wisconsin Nurses Association, said "there is medical research" to prove that smoking marijuana helps the seriously ill, so the Legislature should let physicians prescribe that substance.Smoking marijuana can help "when other forms of treatment fail," Dennik-Champion said. She said it can be used for patients struggling with glaucoma, nausea and vomiting resulting from cancer chemotherapy. It can also be used to manage pain and to restore the appetite of critically ill AIDS patients, she said.Also, when someone who is ill smokes marijuana "the dosage can be controlled," she added. "It is used therapeutically all throughout the world."Dane County Sheriff Gary Hamblin, invited by Skindrud to give a law enforcement perspective, said he personally thinks it is time for a "intelligent discussion of the issue." Police officers are sympathetic to ill patients fighting pain or the side effects of treatments for their diseases, added Hamblin, who was recently treated for prostate cancer.However, Hamblin said law enforcement professionals statewide probably would not support the move to let Wisconsin physicians prescribe marijuana smoking.Note: Doctors, nurses groups disagree over drug's therapeutic benefits.Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (WI)Author: Steven Walters of the Journal Sentinel StaffPublished: April 11, 2001Copyright: 2001 Milwaukee Journal SentinelContact: jsedit onwis.comWebsite: http://www.jsonline.com/ Is My Medicine Legal Yethttp://www.immly.org The State Medical Societyhttp://www.wismed.org Wisconsin Nurses Associationhttp://www.wisconsinnurses.com/Committee Holds Hearing on Benefits of Marijuana http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread9326.shtmlBoyle Wants To Legalize Medical Marijuana Use http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread9294.shtml
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Comment #4 posted by Gary Storck on April 11, 2001 at 12:29:26 PT
A choice quote 
Thanks FoM. I have been in newshawk frenzy, as well as transcribing the tape of Dr. Miller's testimony.Dr. Miller, an addiction specialist, stated this in his testimony, per my tape:"So my final comments are a shot of brandy at bedtime comes a lot closer to being grandma's good medicine than a hit of marijuana comes to being good medicine for any condition."
Is My Medicine Legal Yet?
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Comment #3 posted by Ethan Russo, MD on April 11, 2001 at 11:32:04 PT:
Only Partially Correct
"Families can be destroyed by cannabis"when one member is incarcerated, or shot by police.
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Comment #2 posted by FoM on April 11, 2001 at 11:26:47 PT
Just a Note
Hi Gary, I sent this article into Map and named IMMY as the Newshawk and then I saw it was submitted by you I assume but my heart was in the right place. Keep up the good work you are doing!
Is My Medicine Legal Yet?
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Comment #1 posted by Gary Storck on April 11, 2001 at 11:02:58 PT
Decent but...
The Journal-Sentinel seems to have picked up on Dr. Mengele, err Miller's obsession with the term "smoked marijuana". They refer to smoking 13 times in the article. I taped Dr. Mengele, err Miller's testimony, and have been trying to transcribe it to expose what a monster he truly is, so we can address his lies word by word, line by line. In 586 words transcribed so far, (and I got a waaaays to go), he used the term "smoked marijuana" 6 times, spitting it out like an expletive.No mention of vaporizing, or eating, tinctures, salves. He is one rabid prohibitionist with zero compassion, and I can't believe the State Medical Society would trot out such an uncompassionate poor excuse of a doctor to address this issue.
Is My Medicine Legal Yet?
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