Pubdate: Sun, 18 May 2014
Source: Times Herald-Record (Middletown, NY)
Copyright: 2014 Hudson Valley Media Group
Website: http://www.recordonline.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2544
Author: Ken Hall

WHO KNOWS BEST - POLITICIANS OR YOUR DOCTOR?

More than a decade ago the state Legislature considered a bill that
would have allowed doctors to prescribe marijuana. It required a
doctor to "certify that a patient has a serious condition that in the
practitioner's judgment can and should be treated" with marijuana and
"that other drugs or treatments would not be as effective."

The bill went nowhere, as did its successors in following years. Now,
the state seems to be on the verge of passing legislation that is
identical in some ways but very different in one.

The most glaring change is the limitation of the doctor's authority. A
doctor will still have to decide that a patient needs marijuana and
that a prescription for it could help treat symptoms or alleviate
pain. But the doctor no longer will be able to decide what illness
qualifies for such treatment.

That kind of open-ended authority, the kind that doctors enjoy when it
comes to most other examples of doctor-patient relationships, will be
replaced by a list of acceptable maladies, a list that is changing by
the day in an effort to get more senators to say that they will approve.

Glaucoma was on the list, now it's not. Arthritis was on the list, now
only rheumatoid arthritis is. Only senators are allowed to have second
opinions.

You have to give credit to state Sen. Diane Savino, the Staten Island
Democrat who has been championing this bill and who seems to have
found the right approach to entice those who have been holding up
progress for the past decade.

Instead of asking, as I might, why so many senators don't trust
doctors, she ignores that and instead finds the right combination of
illnesses that senators seem to know and care more about. Instead of
pointing out, as I might, that arbitrary and unique restrictions are
bound to be ineffective when medical marijuana is legal in 20 states,
including New Jersey and all of New England, she keeps on working to
build that majority.

And instead of criticizing those who have kept this important form of
treatment and relief from their constituents for more than a decade,
only to jump on the bandwagon now that others have, she ";. well
that's why she can get elected and I never could.

The deal is not done. Some senators are still bothered by the idea
that those using medical marijuana will be smoking it, even though
alternative forms such as oil-based versions would be much more
expensive and might not even be available.

If Savino's approach succeeds, I can envision the next stop for the
bandwagon, a bill that would let New York join Colorado and Washington
in allowing - and this is one of my favorite new pieces of legal
vocabulary - "recreational" use of marijuana.

All it will take is a bill that allows pot smoking without a
prescription or medical need, but only if the state gets to collect
taxes and the smoker promises not to have a good time.
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MAP posted-by: Matt