Pubdate: Mon, 14 Jan 2008
Source: Billings Gazette, The (MT)
Copyright: 2008 The Billings Gazette
Contact:  http://www.billingsgazette.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/515
Author: Edwin L. Stickney
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Marijuana - Medicinal)

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. 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake