Pubdate: Sat, 27 Oct 2012
Source: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (Little Rock, AR)
Copyright: 2012 Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Inc.
Contact: http://www2.arkansasonline.com/contact/voicesform/
Website: http://www2.arkansasonline.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/25
Note: Accepts letters to the editor from Arkansas residents only
Author: Tracie Dungan

'POT' ACT DRAWS OFFICIALS' CONCERN

State Leaders, Doctor Speak Against Medical-Marijuana Ballot Measure

SPRINGDALE - A group of Northwest Arkansas politicians, law 
enforcement officials and a doctor turned out Friday to oppose a 
ballot measure to legalize medical marijuana, saying Issue No. 5 is 
fraught with legal and medical problems.

Led by state Sen. Cecile Bledsoe, R-Rogers, about a dozen leaders 
joined a Little Rock-based advocacy group in a news conference Friday 
afternoon urging voters to reject the Arkansas Medical Marijuana Act.

If voters approve it Nov. 6, the act would legalize some medical use 
of marijuana.

The act requires the Arkansas Department of Health to set up a system 
of nonprofit dispensaries that would provide marijuana to qualifying 
patients who have certain symptoms or diseases.

Bledsoe told reporters gathered at the Jones Center in Springdale 
that she had three main problems with the ballot issue.

"We don't know that much about the side effects of marijuana," she 
said, saying that weakens proponents' argument that the act would 
alleviate patients' pain and suffering.

Bledsoe also contended the proposed law provides no accountability or 
patient follow-up.

Thirdly, she said, state lawmakers are repeatedly told on issue after 
issue that "state law does not supersede federal law."

"But ladies and gentleman, what we have here today is a state law 
that usurps federal law," Bledsoe continued.

She referred to a provision in the ballot title wording, right after 
the first clause: "An act making the medical use of marijuana legal 
under Arkansas state law, but acknowledging that marijuana use, 
possession, and distribution for any purpose remain illegal under federal law."

Jerry Cox, executive director of the Little Rock-based Family Council 
Action Committee, contended the ballot said too much.

"This measure is nearly 9,000 words long," Cox said, adding that by 
his count it was 8,700 words.

The ballot title explains the act would set up a system of nonprofit 
dispensaries, which "localities" would be able to limit, for 
qualified patients and the patients' designated caregivers. The 
patients, caregivers and the dispensaries "shall not be subject to 
criminal or civil penalties or other forms of discrimination."

The act's opponents attacked another provision explained in the 
ballot title whereby the qualifying patients or designated caregivers 
were authorized to engage in "limited cultivation" of marijuana if 
the patient lives more than 5 miles from the nearest nonprofit dispensary.

One of the opponents featured at the news conference, Benton County 
Judge Bob Clinard, told others afterward that in a rural state like 
Arkansas, the number of patients living more than 5 miles from a 
dispensary - who thus could grow their own marijuana - could be quite numerous.

Cox had said earlier, during the news conference, that the law 
appears to say a patient could get a card for marijuana and renew it 
quite easily.

"About like getting a fishing license," said Cox, whose Family 
Council Action Committee is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit. It is the 
"associated" political arm of the conservative Family Council, a 
501(c)(3) research and policy group for which he also is executive director.

Steve Lowry of Fayetteville, a former resident agent-in charge of the 
Drug Enforcement Administration's Fort Smith and Fayetteville 
offices, also spoke Friday.

"If this was truly a medical issue, there is already the FDA approved 
drug, Marinol, which is synthetic THC," Lowry said, referring to the 
active ingredient in marijuana. "The difference being that the 
Marinol does not create a high."

Bledsoe's husband, Dr. James Bledsoe, also spoke, saying Marinol has 
a side effect and a cost that can make it prohibitive in some cases.

"It costs a little more than $4 per capsule," he said, referring to a 
2.5 milligram dose. Its most severe side effect is syncope, in which 
a person passes out.

Still, Bledsoe, a Rogers general surgeon, said marijuana is a 
dangerous drug that can elevate the heart rate and that the side 
effects have not been effectively explored in clinical trials, unlike 
the Marinol.

"It's a 70 percent higher chance that you will get cancer of the lung 
compared with cigarettes," he contended of marijuana smoking, though 
he acknowledged the lack of clinical trials that could support 
marijuana's safety also make it difficult for doctors to back up 
claims of harm.

The event drew no proponents of the act.

Arkansans for Compassionate Care has said previously that the 
benefits to patients suffering from cancer treatments or other 
pain-causing conditions outweigh opponents' arguments.

On Wednesday, a group of physicians in central Arkansas came out 
against the act, saying they are concerned about possible medical 
ramifications of proposed legalization, such as drug interactions, 
lack of proper testing and that marijuana wouldn't be controlled adequately.

But other physicians have favored the drug, such as Dr. David 
Crittenden of Fayetteville.

In July, Crittenden told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette that the lack 
of studies in the U.S. is because the government hasn't provided 
enough funding for researchers to study marijuana.

On Thursday, he told the newspaper he believed medical use of 
marijuana would be "far better" for patients than the chronic use of opiates.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom