Katelyn Baker
Well-Known Member
One patient was a Vietnam Veteran living with chronic pain after an amputation. Another was a middle age woman suffering from late-stage multiple sclerosis. Others faced serious cancer or intractable epilepsy.
They all came to hear Dr. Kenneth Moritsugu, the former U.S. Surgeon General, speak recently at the Compassionate Care Foundation dispensary for medicinal marijuana in Egg Harbor, where I am chairman of the board. Moritsugu spoke about the promise of medicinal marijuana to relieve suffering.
After he spoke, he met with some of the patients and then leaned over and asked me, only slightly in jest, if I had handpicked the patients for his visit. The truth is the patients at our center on the day of Moritsugu's visit were typical of the patients we see everyday. They are patients with serious and sometimes terminal illness who are benefiting greatly from New Jersey's medicinal marijuana program.
Moritsugu called New Jersey's experiment with medicinal marijuana among the nation's best. He called the New Jersey law tough, but appropriate. New Jersey requires anyone seeking medicinal marijuana to have approval from a doctor registered in the program and a diagnosis of one of the diseases on an approved list, such as muscular dystrophy and ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease.
New Jerseyans should be proud of the state's program. Still, as Moritsugu noted, more work needs to be done. So many more people in our state, I believe, could benefit from this alternative treatment.
Studies indicate that the use of medicinal marijuana can help us reduce the use of the powerful and addictive pain medicines that are driving the opioid epidemic, especially among older people. Drug overdoses now exceed even motor vehicle accidents as the leading cause of accidental death in the United States.
A University of Michigan study found that patients using medicinal marijuana reported a 64 percent reduction in the use of opioid pain relieves. Meanwhile, a Rand study found that the creation of legal marijuana dispensaries reduces opioid overdose deaths.
Creating legal dispensaries is not enough to reach people who can benefit. We also need more doctors to become educated about how medicinal marijuana can help many of their patients. We need more physicians to register to prescribe the medication. Just about 500 of the state's more than 27,000 doctors are registered.
Because marijuana has been criminalized for so long, physicians have fears and misunderstandings.
For many, prescribing medicinal marijuana is not even on their radar. But I think any physician who is considering prescribing a potentially addictive painkiller such as oxycodone should at least explore marijuana as an alternative.
We also need more research. Just recently the federal government changed the rules to allow more universities to grow the plant to use in medical studies. That simple change will give medical scientists greater access to the plant for research. More research would reduce the stigma and provide doctors with more guidance about the uses - and misuses - of medicinal marijuana.
Many people still assume that medical marijuana is really just a recreational drug for people feigning illness. I can tell you that absolutely has not been our experience at Compassionate Care Foundation. Every patient we have served has suffered from a significant and documented illness. Our largest group of patients is in the 51-60 age group. We also help children, many of them with seizure disorders that do not respond to any other medication. For children and other patients who want it, we can provide plant strains with limited THC, the chemical that creates euphoria, or "high."
In New Jersey, we also must expand the number of diseases approved for treatment with medicinal marijuana. The Department of Health has convened a Council to make recommendations for expanding the approved diseases and, just last week, Gov. Chris Christie signed a bill to authorize medical marijuana for patients with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
I supported this legislation and will support any law to expand the appropriate medical use of marijuana. Yet I believe that legislation ultimately is not the best way to regularly update the ways medicinal marijuana can be legally used under New Jersey's program. As research moves forward and we learn more, clinicians under the guidance and authority of the state Health Commissioner should be able to make changes in the program.
At Compassionate Care Foundation, I see how we are providing pain and symptom relief to people in New Jersey who greatly appreciate the state program. We can - we must - reach many others.
News Moderator: Katelyn Baker 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Give Doctors Greater Control Of N.J. Medical Marijuana Program
Author: David Knowlton
Contact:nj.com
Photo Credit: Jeff Chiu
Website: nj.com
They all came to hear Dr. Kenneth Moritsugu, the former U.S. Surgeon General, speak recently at the Compassionate Care Foundation dispensary for medicinal marijuana in Egg Harbor, where I am chairman of the board. Moritsugu spoke about the promise of medicinal marijuana to relieve suffering.
After he spoke, he met with some of the patients and then leaned over and asked me, only slightly in jest, if I had handpicked the patients for his visit. The truth is the patients at our center on the day of Moritsugu's visit were typical of the patients we see everyday. They are patients with serious and sometimes terminal illness who are benefiting greatly from New Jersey's medicinal marijuana program.
Moritsugu called New Jersey's experiment with medicinal marijuana among the nation's best. He called the New Jersey law tough, but appropriate. New Jersey requires anyone seeking medicinal marijuana to have approval from a doctor registered in the program and a diagnosis of one of the diseases on an approved list, such as muscular dystrophy and ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease.
New Jerseyans should be proud of the state's program. Still, as Moritsugu noted, more work needs to be done. So many more people in our state, I believe, could benefit from this alternative treatment.
Studies indicate that the use of medicinal marijuana can help us reduce the use of the powerful and addictive pain medicines that are driving the opioid epidemic, especially among older people. Drug overdoses now exceed even motor vehicle accidents as the leading cause of accidental death in the United States.
A University of Michigan study found that patients using medicinal marijuana reported a 64 percent reduction in the use of opioid pain relieves. Meanwhile, a Rand study found that the creation of legal marijuana dispensaries reduces opioid overdose deaths.
Creating legal dispensaries is not enough to reach people who can benefit. We also need more doctors to become educated about how medicinal marijuana can help many of their patients. We need more physicians to register to prescribe the medication. Just about 500 of the state's more than 27,000 doctors are registered.
Because marijuana has been criminalized for so long, physicians have fears and misunderstandings.
For many, prescribing medicinal marijuana is not even on their radar. But I think any physician who is considering prescribing a potentially addictive painkiller such as oxycodone should at least explore marijuana as an alternative.
We also need more research. Just recently the federal government changed the rules to allow more universities to grow the plant to use in medical studies. That simple change will give medical scientists greater access to the plant for research. More research would reduce the stigma and provide doctors with more guidance about the uses - and misuses - of medicinal marijuana.
Many people still assume that medical marijuana is really just a recreational drug for people feigning illness. I can tell you that absolutely has not been our experience at Compassionate Care Foundation. Every patient we have served has suffered from a significant and documented illness. Our largest group of patients is in the 51-60 age group. We also help children, many of them with seizure disorders that do not respond to any other medication. For children and other patients who want it, we can provide plant strains with limited THC, the chemical that creates euphoria, or "high."
In New Jersey, we also must expand the number of diseases approved for treatment with medicinal marijuana. The Department of Health has convened a Council to make recommendations for expanding the approved diseases and, just last week, Gov. Chris Christie signed a bill to authorize medical marijuana for patients with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
I supported this legislation and will support any law to expand the appropriate medical use of marijuana. Yet I believe that legislation ultimately is not the best way to regularly update the ways medicinal marijuana can be legally used under New Jersey's program. As research moves forward and we learn more, clinicians under the guidance and authority of the state Health Commissioner should be able to make changes in the program.
At Compassionate Care Foundation, I see how we are providing pain and symptom relief to people in New Jersey who greatly appreciate the state program. We can - we must - reach many others.
News Moderator: Katelyn Baker 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Give Doctors Greater Control Of N.J. Medical Marijuana Program
Author: David Knowlton
Contact:nj.com
Photo Credit: Jeff Chiu
Website: nj.com
