Pubdate: Sun, 16 Feb 2014
Source: Oklahoman, The (OK)
Copyright: 2014 Associated Press
Contact: http://www.newsok.com/voices/guidelines
Website: http://newsok.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/318

SICK KIDS AND MEDICAL MARIJUANA

Lawmakers Across Country Are Being Swayed by Stories of Epileptic 
Children Who Are Being Helped by Cannabis Oil

ATLANTA (AP) - Medical marijuana has been a non-starter in recent 
years in the Deep South, where many Republican lawmakers feared it 
could lead to widespread drug use and social ills. That now appears 
to be changing, with proposals to allow a form of medical marijuana 
gaining momentum in a handful of Southern states.

Twenty states and the District of Columbia have legalized medical 
marijuana, and this year powerful GOP lawmakers in Georgia and 
Alabama are putting their weight behind bills that would allow for 
the limited use of cannabis oil by those with specific medical 
conditions. Other Southern states are also weighing the issue with 
varying levels of support.

The key to swaying the hearts of conservative lawmakers has been the 
stories of children suffering up to 100 seizures a day whose parents 
say they could benefit from access to cannabidiol, which would be 
administered orally in a liquid form. And proponents argue the 
cannabis oil is low in tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the psychoactive 
compound in marijuana that makes users feel high.

"I'm an unlikely champion for this cause," said Georgia Rep. Allen 
Peake, a businessman from Macon who attended the evangelical Dallas 
Theological Seminary. "Once people realize it's not a 6-year-old 
smoking a joint, most folks realize this is the compassionate thing to do."

Peake's bill has already earned the backing of more than 80 state 
lawmakers, including several members of the House Republican 
leadership, who signed on as co-sponsors and the state's largest 
professional association of doctors.

The bill would revive a long dormant research program allowing 
academic institutions to distribute the medical cannabis and would be 
"limited in scope, tightly restricted, well regulated and managed by 
doctors," Peake said.

Alabama Rep. Mike Ball, a retired hostage negotiator for the State 
Patrol, is behind a bill that would allow people to possess the 
cannabis oil if they have certain medical conditions. It passed a key 
committee vote on Wednesday.

"The public is starting to understand what this is," said Ball, who 
chairs a powerful House committee and is a prominent voice on law 
enforcement issues. "The political fear is shifting from what will 
happen if we pass it, to might what happen if we don't," Ball said.

The bills in Georgia and Alabama still have more vetting, and their 
ultimate prospects are not certain. But what is happening offers a 
strong signal of what's to come in other states.

In Louisiana, although a bill has yet to be introduced, a recent 
committee hearing at the Capitol on legalizing medical marijuana drew 
a standing-room-only crowd, and Gov. Bobby Jindal made comments last 
month indicating he was willing to consider it.

"When it comes to medical marijuana ... if there is a legitimate 
medical need, I'd certainly be open to making it available under very 
strict supervision for patients that would benefit from that," Jindal 
said, according to a report in The Advocate.

In Mississippi, Republican state Sen. Josh Harkins of Brandon is 
sponsoring a cannabis oil bill similar to the ones in Alabama and 
Georgia. Harkins said one of his constituents has a 20month-old 
daughter with Dravet syndrome, a form of pediatric epilepsy, and the 
oil can help reduce the number of seizures.

Elsewhere, both Kentucky and Tennessee have medical marijuana bills 
under consideration although they have yet to gain traction. Kentucky 
Senate President Rover Stivers, R-Manchester, has said he's not 
convinced marijuana has legitimate medical purposes and called it an 
area ripe for abuse.

In Florida, it's likely to become a campaign issue in the fall given 
that Gov. Rick Scott is up for reelection and a proposed 
constitutional amendment will be on the ballot that would allow for 
the medical use of marijuana as determined by a licensed physician.

Meanwhile, Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley has signaled a willingness to 
discuss medicine that might be derived from marijuana with 
appropriate federal regulation.

"If someone wants to use the medicine that is in marijuana, go 
through the same testing that you have to go through when you do that 
through the (U.S. Food and Drug Administration), you go through all 
of that, do the testing, the drug testing, that's fine," Bentley said 
last month. "I have no problem with that."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom