Pubdate: Sun, 27 Apr 2014
Source: Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, FL)
Copyright: 2014 Sun-Sentinel Company
Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/mVLAxQfA
Website: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/159
Author: Michael Mayo
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)

GOVERNOR COULD THWART HUMANE BID FOR LIMITED MEDICAL MARIJUANA

Before Florida voters decide the fate of medical marijuana in 
November, the Legislature might soon legalize a certain strain of 
medical pot - for kids.

That would be pretty ironic, given all the "Just Say No" anti-drug 
campaigns aimed at school children through the years.

But it also would be pretty humane, considering the non-euphoric 
strain known as "Charlotte's Web" has reportedly been effective in 
curtailing severe seizures in some children with intractable 
epilepsy. This type of marijuana is not smoked, but administered as 
an oil extract added to food. It is very low in THC 
(tetrahydrocannabinol), the psychoactive component of pot that gets users high.

After years of Just Saying No, legislators who've held committee 
hearings on two bills (HB843/SB1030) that would allow Charlotte's Web 
have been Just Voting Yes.

"If you tally up all the committee votes, it's been something like 90 
percent in favor," said Seth Hyman, of Weston, a medical marijuana 
supporter whose 8-year-old daughter Rebecca suffers from severe seizures.

Actually, 93 percent: 78 yeas and 6 nays in six Senate and House 
committee stops this year.

But even if the bills are approved by both chambers before the 
scheduled end of session next week, Gov. Scott might sink the effort 
with a veto.

Scott signalled as much last week. John Armstrong, the Florida 
surgeon general and a Scott appointee who heads the Department of 
Health, voiced his opposition to the bill.

"We must be wary of unintended consequences and remember that first 
we must do no harm," Armstrong told the House Judiciary committee, 
which voted 15-3 to support the bill anyway.

"Do no harm" is the supposed golden rule of medicine.

"Do no harm?! My child is being harmed every day," Hyman told me on 
Friday. "My daughter is regressing every day...This bill could save her life."

There are an estimated 125,000 cases of intractable epilepsy in 
Florida, marked by dozens of daily seizures that can progressively 
get worse for children, leading to brain damage and death.

"This is another example of our wonderful Tallahassee politicians 
coming between patients and doctors, and getting in the way of 
desperate parents and kids who need help," Hyman said. "What boggles 
my mind is how so many of these bright people can say yes, and then 
just one or two people - the surgeon general and the governor - can 
stop it by saying no."

Twenty states and the District of Columbia allow medical marijuana 
use. Armstrong testified he was leery of allowing untested drugs into 
the market. He said Florida should wait for more research by the 
federal government.

But that's pretty disingenuous, considering the federal government 
has long classified marijuana as a "Schedule One" drug with no 
medically accepted use and has thwarted nearly all research studies 
in recent decades.

Last month, the feds granted permission to Arizona researchers for a 
study into pot's potential benefits for veterans suffering from Post 
Traumatic Stress Disorder. An experimental federal program once open 
to cancer, glaucoma and AIDS patients stopped accepting new enrollees 
decades ago.

Only four patients remain in that program, including Irvin Rosenfeld, 
60, a Fort Lauderdale stockbroker with a rare bone tumor condition 
who has smoked over 130,000 joints provided by the feds over the last 
34 years. Rosenfeld says medical marijuana works and has allowed him 
to lead a productive life.

The only consolation if this latest legislative effort fails: Florida 
voters will get final say on broader use of medical marijuana come 
November. Amendment 2 needs 60 percent approval to pass. If voters 
put medical pot into the state constitution, the Legislature would 
have nine months to enact laws regulating it.

"Amendment 2 needs to pass," Hyman said. "Not just for my daughter, 
but for millions of other Floridians of all ages who are suffering."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom