Pubdate: Tue, 23 Oct 2012
Source: Braintree Forum (MA)
Copyright: 2012 Braintree Forum
Contact:  http://www2.townonline.com/braintree/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3601

QUESTION 3: SCARE TACTICS OR VALID WARNING? MEDICAL MARIJUANA DEBATED

BOSTON - Opponents of a ballot initiative to legalize medical
marijuana claimed Monday that proponents ultimately hope to legalize
the drug for all uses, but proponents accused them of using "hysteria
and fear" to keep people from necessary medicine.

The two sides met in front of the State House steps on a sunny Monday
afternoon, where doctors and lawmakers on each side made their case,
backed by those who said they suffered through the lack of proper pain
relief, on one side, and those who had experienced the perils of drug
addiction, on the other.

"There is no restriction whatsoever on these marijuana treatment
centers, where they ought to go," said Sen. John Keenan, D-Quincy,
speaking from the microphone and backed by a phalanx of recovering
drug addicts. He described the proposed legislation as "vague,
ambiguous and open to exploitation."

Proponents of Question 3 waited until the opponents' event was over to
make their case for legalizing and regulating marijuana for medicinal
use. They pointed out the proposed legislation would create a felony
for anyone who tries to fraudulently use it, and said the state
Department of Public Health would regulate where treatment centers can
locate and how long a treatment card can be used by a patient.

"There's no property of medical marijuana that causes people to die,"
said Dr. Karen Munkacy, of Newton, who said medical marijuana is a
"gateway backwards," leading people off of addictive and harmful
painkillers.

Opponents of the ballot question said that it would contribute to a
trend started by a successful 2008 ballot law, which decriminalized
possession of less than one ounce of marijuana. They said Question 3
would send a confusing message to children and would make marijuana
more available for abuse.

"I have family members that have passed away because of the use and
abuse of drugs, and people start with marijuana," said Rep. Martin
Walsh, D-Dorchester. "People start by smoking that innocent joint."

After the event, in a sidewalk debate with Munkacy and Rep. Frank
Smizik (D-Brookline) that eventually involved Keenan, Walsh said, "I'm
concerned about the kids behind me up on the stairs," gesturing to
young people in recovery who attended the rally against the ballot
question. Walsh said he assumed 70 percent of the recovering addicts
there "started their addiction by smoking weed, smoking marijuana."

"They didn't get it from a physician," Smizik responded in defense of
the ballot question. Smizik, who said he does not support full
legalization of the drug, has filed medical marijuana bills several
times over his career.

Keenan stated that lax regulation could result in marijuana being
diverted from legal medical use and that doctors may abuse the system
even if it means a potential jail term or loss of license.

"People take risks all the time. They take risks when this is
involved," Keenan said as he gestured with his hand to symbolize money
was at stake.

As the parties separated, Walsh shook Smizik's hand and told him,
"You're wrong about this one, Frank."

Keenan said he saw nothing "of value" in the proposed legislation and
told reporters that if voters pass it, the Legislature should look to
change it.

"At this stage, I think we have to get beyond the ballot question,
look at that. If it fails, then I think we take a step back. If it
passes, I think we have to take a look at it, look at ways to improve
it, to see what the Legislature can do to put the safeguards in place:
the prescription monitoring program to make sure it's not being used
as a front, to make sure the drugs aren't making their ways to the
streets illegally," Keenan said.

The issue has been raised before on Beacon Hill.

Karen Hawkes, a retired State Police officer from Rowley who started
vaporizing marijuana after a stroke debilitated her, said she had
testified at the State House, as have other proponents.

Frustrated by the lack of action in the Legislature on their proposal,
proponents this year circumvented Beacon Hill by gathering enough
signatures to place the medical marijuana question on the ballot.

Gov. Deval Patrick has said, "I don't have a lot of enthusiasm for the
medical marijuana," a sentiment that was echoed by House Speaker
Robert DeLeo in a brief interview on Monday.

"I really have problems with it. I'll tell you the reason why. This
past summer, I attended some seven wakes for people in my district
with drug overdoses. That's just in Revere and Winthrop, alone," DeLeo
said, saying he is concerned about the lack of "protections" in the
proposal.

Asked about the Legislature's attitude to the legislation when it was
under consideration, DeLeo said, "There was an appetite, I think, with
some members, but I think an overwhelming part of the body  the House
anyways  I don't think they saw this as a subject matter there was an
interest in delving into."

Voters have recently shown more interest in revising the state's
policy toward marijuana. In 2008, voters decriminalized possession of
less than an ounce of marijuana by an almost two-to-one ratio and
Question 3 has polled well this year.

Jerome Smith, a Fall River man who was left paralyzed from the waist
down by an auto accident, said pain cures left him dazed and lethargic
until he started treating his symptoms with marijuana, which he eats.

"It's helped me get off many prescription medications," Smith told the
News Service. "It gave me the ambition to get out and see things again."

Question 3 opponent Dr. James Broadhurst told the News Service the
proposed legislation could be improved if the doctors allowed to
prescribe it were limited to certain specialists  neurologists,
oncologists and pain specialists  and if there was only one supplier.
Broadhurst questioned DPH's ability to oversee a new medical marijuana
system with as many as 35 treatment centers.

"They have a hard enough time inspecting compounding centers,"
Broadhurst told the News Service.

Both Broadhurst and Munkacy were in agreement that Food and Drug
Administration approval of medical marijuana would be almost
impossible for different reasons. Munkacy said a drug company would
need to spend $500 million to $2 billion to comply with FDA
regulations, and if the FDA granted approval, the drug company would
not have proprietary rights over the plant. Munkacy called opponents'
assurances that they would accept the medical benefits of marijuana if
it received FDA approval a "Catch 22."

"If the FDA evaluated any substance and found it to be safe and
effective, then I would be happy to prescribe it for the indications
for which it is intended," Broadhurst told the crowd. He said, "It is
a mixture, and that is much more akin to the herbal remedies. You
know, I don't prescribe black cohosh; I don't prescribe ginkgo biloba;
I don't prescribe saw palmetto."

Later he told the News Service that while he has no problem with
people using marijuana, he thinks it is out of the purview of a
medical doctor to prescribe it, and said purified forms of chemicals
found in marijuana are already available.

"If you went to the FDA and said, 'I've got this crude plant mixture,
okay? It's different every time you make it. We don't know really
what's in it, and by the way, we usually administer it by lighting it
on fire, which means that its components are going to change every
time somebody puffs on it, depending on where it is burning within
that cigarette.' The FDA is going to laugh at you," Broadhurst said.
He also said, "I don't begrudge at all the individuals who say, 'I
smoke marijuana and it makes me feel better.' That's fine. People run
and it makes them feel better. People go to acupuncturists and it
makes them feel better, but I don't prescribe any of that stuff."

Walsh told the small crowd that the proposal has "everything to do
with legalization of marijuana," a point that Broadhurst also made,
which was vigorously denied by the proponents.

Proponents pointed out ways the Massachusetts proposal would more
tightly regulate the industry than medical marijuana laws in
California and Colorado, and said it would regulate the means for
patients to obtain the drug. Matt Allen, executive director of
Massachusetts Patient Advocacy Alliance, said, "A lot of the patients
we work with have to go to the street to deal with criminals."

Munkacy said that marijuana bought on the street can be tainted by
mold, which can be deadly for people suffering from cancer.

"The irony is that medical marijuana is safe," said Hawkes, who also
said, "The opposition is promoting hysteria and fear."
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MAP posted-by: Matt