Pubdate: Fri, 24 Jan 2014
Source: Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN)
Copyright: 2014 The Commercial Appeal
Contact: http://web.commercialappeal.com/newgo/forms/letters.htm
Website: http://www.commercialappeal.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/95
Author: Heidi Hall, The Tennessean
Page: 3DSA

MEDICAL POT BILL'S SPONSOR 'VERY HOPEFUL'

But Tenn. GOP Lends No Support

NASHVILLE - Tennesseans who want to curb their nausea, seizures or
chronic pain with marijuana are hoping a cultural shift makes the
prospect of passing a state measure move from laughable to possible.

Past medical marijuana bills gained little traction, and House and
Senate sponsors of the last bill, proposed in 2012, lost re-election
bids.

But five states have joined the ranks of those offering medical
marijuana since then, the most recent being New York, whose governor
this month launched a policy by executive order. That brings the total
to 21 states - including traditionally conservative Arizona - and the
District of Columbia, all with different fee structures and possession
limits.

Tennessee's bill, introduced by Rep. Sherry Jones, a Nashville
Democrat, lists diseases from glaucoma to post-traumatic stress
disorder as qualifying conditions and includes the catch-all "any
other medical condition or its treatment as certified or prescribed by
practitioners and approved by the health department." It names the
medical marijuana program Safe Access and outlines processes for
setting up growing operations and approving dispensaries.

It's tough to get Tennessee doctors to comment on whether there's any
value to offering marijuana - botanically named cannabis - as a
treatment here. That's probably because so little is known about what
in marijuana is making patients feel better, said Laura Borgelt, a
clinical pharmacy specialist at the University of Colorado.

"There are so many strains, you can't keep count anymore," Borgelt
said. "How Tennessee decides to proceed can make a big difference in
what's available. And every single person is going to have a different
response."

All diseases have treatment options other than marijuana, says Casey
Laizure, a professor in the department of clinical pharmacy at the
University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis. He's
comfortable with marijuana being decriminalized, but legalizing it
goes a step too far, he said.

"With increased availability, it's going to get into other
populations," said Laizure, who's also a clinical pharmacist in the
chemical dependency center at the Memphis Veterans Medical Center. "It
can be another prescription drug children can abuse, and it has
effects on brain development. That's the risk we're opening up."

Bills impossible to pass in one period may be popular in another
because of political and cultural shifts, said Sekou Franklin, an
associate professor in Middle Tennessee State University's political
science department. He points to the 2006 success of an American Civil
Liberties Union of Tennessee-supported bill to streamline the process
for restoring voting rights to ex-felons.

"Think about the attempt by Gov. Frank Clement to abolish the death
penalty" in 1965, Franklin said. "It fell one vote short, but it was
potentially transformative and garnered national attention."

So far, no Republicans in Tennessee's GOP-controlled legislature are
stepping up to support the bill. Answering a question last month about
Colorado legalizing recreational marijuana for adults, Lt. Gov. Ron
Ramsey told a group of reporters to expect problems in that state.

But Jones is undeterred. She points out medical marijuana once was
legal in Tennessee. In the early 1980s, it was one of a handful of
states that joined the federal Controlled Substances Therapeutic
Research program, but repealed the measure in 1989.

Her personal inspiration is a brother who died in 2010 from Crohn's
disease, one of the conditions approved for medical marijuana
treatment in her bill.

"Some of the conservatives up here believe that it's not fair to keep
these sort of remedies from people who need them," Jones said. "That
makes me very hopeful for the legislation. If you look at a list of
the diseases and sicknesses that medical marijuana can positively
affect, it is a huge, long list of things."

Conditions named in the bill, HB 1385, are cancer, glaucoma, multiple
sclerosis, human immunodeficiency virus, acquired immune deficiency
syndrome, hepatitis C, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Crohn's disease,
posttraumatic stress disorder and Alzheimer's disease.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.
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MAP posted-by: Matt