Pubdate: Sun, 29 Jun 2014
Source: Albuquerque Journal (NM)
Copyright: 2014 Albuquerque Journal
Contact:  http://www.abqjournal.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/10
Author: Joseph Wilson
Note: Former U.S. Ambassador
Page: B3

PROPOSED MEDICAL POT RULES THREATEN VETS

Many Veterans Will Be Unable to Get the Medical Marijuana They Need 
If State Implements Rule Changes

Over the past several weeks I have been following the growing scandal 
concerning our country's Veterans Affairs system and their 
disgraceful treatment of American military veterans with disgust. 
Sadly, we have also learned that veterans here in New Mexico have not 
been treated any better.

As many as 3,000 veteran patients in New Mexico were assigned a 
primary care doctor in the Veterans Affairs system but were never 
actually seen.

And, to add insult to injury, New Mexico's Gov. Susana Martinez is 
attempting to put New Mexico's military veterans at additional risk 
by threatening their access to medical marijuana.

Many of these veterans suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder and 
chronic pain. Medical marijuana has been an effective medicine for 
them. There is no logical reason to deprive them of that relief, or 
to make it more difficult for them to obtain it.

New Mexico's medical marijuana program is considered a nationwide 
model - in 2007 New Mexico became the first state to develop and 
implement a state-licensed medical marijuana production and 
distribution system and was one of few states at the time in which a 
majority of Republican legislators voted for the passage of the legislation.

In 2009, New Mexico became the first state to specifically list PTSD 
as a qualifying medical condition for medical marijuana. Today, 
veterans and others suffering from PTSD have access to this medicine 
in 11 states.

When veterans do see a doctor in the VA system they are often 
prescribed pharmaceutical drugs. Sadly, evidence shows that these 
pharmaceutical drugs are claiming an unacceptable number of lives of 
current conflict veterans through preventable overdoses, nearly as 
many as veterans dying by suicide.

Veteran patients often report that the pharmaceutical drugs do not 
offer them the relief they need to function. Medical marijuana, a 
safe alternative, is something that researchers and thousands of New 
Mexico veterans have found to relieve symptoms from 
treatment-resistant combat stress and supports veterans as they 
reintegrate into their community and family life.

In New Mexico, as well as any other state with a robust military 
population, protecting our courageous men and women of the armed 
forces should be of utmost importance to our elected officials. On 
June 16, the New Mexico Department of Health held a hearing on 
proposed rule changes governing the state's medical cannabis program, 
and if these new rules are adopted New Mexico patients will find it 
harder, if not impossible, to access their medicine.

While the regulatory power of the executive branch is critically 
important in protecting the public's interest and safety, this 
regulatory move would do the opposite.

The Martinez administration's proposed rule changes will result in 
cutting in half the number of plants patients are allowed to grow, 
eliminating a primary caregiver's ability to grow medicine for 
seriously ill homebound patients, and instituting an unworkable 
courier service that would dramatically impact low-income military 
veterans, many of whom are living in the rural parts of our state.

These changes would leave many veterans and other rural patients 
without enough medicine to serve their medical needs.

These men and women put their lives on the line for this country and 
when they return home they deserve access to medicine that works for them.

Experts predict the number of veterans facing these severe problems 
will only increase as more service members return from Iraq and 
Afghanistan; the last thing they need is both their federal and state 
governments creating more hurdles to finding effective relief for 
their medical symptoms.

I urge Martinez to call off these harmful rule changes and implement 
the objective of the state's medical marijuana law - to ensure the 
safe access to and an adequate supply of medical marijuana for 
seriously ill New Mexicans living with debilitating medical 
conditions that qualify for the program.

New Mexico's military veterans deserve the freedom to choose the 
safest treatment for their disabling conditions. Gov. Martinez, 
please don't turn your back on our veterans.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom