Robert Celt
New Member
Recently, the Legislature passed and Gov. Chris Christie signed into law A4587, a bill requiring schools and facilities for the developmentally disabled to allow the administration of medical marijuana to qualifying patients.
This law was inspired by Genny, the 16-year-old daughter of the Barbour family of Maple Shade, N.J. Genny has a seizure disorder that was not controlled by conventional drugs or even by brain surgery. Only medical marijuana controlled her seizures. Genny's school, however, would not permit her caregiver/mother to give a noon time dose of marijuana oil to her while she was in the facility.
A4587 will allow Genny's mother to come into the school and give Genny her medicine. Genny is lucky that she has a caregiver who is able to come to her school on a daily basis. But what about all the other "Gennys" in the state?
A woman recently called me from Bergen County. She said her son also had a poorly controlled seizure disorder. She wanted medical marijuana for him, but he lived in a group home that was an hour away. She said she was not physically able to drive to the group home every day, let alone multiple times a day, to give her son the doses of marijuana that would be required to control his seizures.
Nor should she have to. It is entirely impractical, and in most cases impossible, for a caregiver to duplicate the duties of a nurse and give the doses of marijuana throughout the day that the patient requires.
A broader exception needs to be created for institutionalized patients so that nurses may administer oral doses of medical marijuana along with all the other medications that they give.
The State of New Jersey must recognize its status as caregiver of last resort to the many patients who are under its care – this applies not only to residents of facilities for the developmentally disabled, but also to residents in psychiatric hospitals, nursing homes, group homes, and hospices, as well as to inmates in correctional facilities.
I know these facilities. I worked for four years at Trenton Psychiatric Hospital and for 22 years at the New Jersey Department of Corrections. Some of the residents and inmates at these facilities suffer from cancer, HIV/AIDS, seizures, multiple sclerosis and other conditions that qualify for medical marijuana. There is no reason to withhold oral doses of medical marijuana from these patients and in fact, it may well be illegal to do so. The courts have determined that inmates in New Jersey are legally entitled to "community standard of care" and right now, that care includes marijuana therapy. The Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act only forbids smoking marijuana in state correctional facilities–it does not forbid oral forms of marijuana to be dispensed there.
The staff in these facilities is already trained to administer and account for controlled substances. They are trained to observe for side effects and adverse reactions. The State simply needs to develop policies and procedures to administer oral forms of marijuana to the patients in its care who qualify, under state rules, for this therapy.
The Medicinal Marijuana Program Rules adopted by the New Jersey Department of Health on Nov. 23, 2011 specifically allowed medical marijuana to be packaged and dispensed not only in dried flower form, but also as "Oral lozenges...or Topical formulations for direct dispensing to qualifying patients." Sadly, over four years later, no marijuana lozenges or patches are yet available from the State's Alternative Treatment Centers.
Hopefully, these lozenges will be available soon so that caregivers, like Genny's mother, will not have to use their home kitchens and internet recipes to convert the dried flowers into oral preparations.
Beyond the legal and moral obligations to meet the needs of these institutionalized individuals in this way, there are compelling financial reasons to do so. It can save the State tens of millions of dollars to replace extremely expensive pharmaceuticals with marijuana lozenges.
With marijuana's broad range of therapeutic effects, it is not surprising to see that one or more additional problems are also managed when the qualifying condition is adequately treated. For example, Genny Barbour also has autism, and her self-injurious autistic behavior is controlled much better now that she takes regular doses of marijuana oil for her seizures.
Of course, when marijuana lozenges are finally available, the State will have to undo the absurd restriction imposed by Gov. Christie in 2013 that limits oral marijuana preparations only for minors but not for adults.
When the State finally does implement its role as medical marijuana caregiver for the institutionalized, the result will be improved healthcare at tremendous savings.
News Moderator: Robert Celt 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: It's Time For New Jersey To Fully Embrace Medical Marijuana
Author: Ken Wolski
Contact: NJ.com
Photo Credit: John Munson
Website: NJ.com
This law was inspired by Genny, the 16-year-old daughter of the Barbour family of Maple Shade, N.J. Genny has a seizure disorder that was not controlled by conventional drugs or even by brain surgery. Only medical marijuana controlled her seizures. Genny's school, however, would not permit her caregiver/mother to give a noon time dose of marijuana oil to her while she was in the facility.
A4587 will allow Genny's mother to come into the school and give Genny her medicine. Genny is lucky that she has a caregiver who is able to come to her school on a daily basis. But what about all the other "Gennys" in the state?
A woman recently called me from Bergen County. She said her son also had a poorly controlled seizure disorder. She wanted medical marijuana for him, but he lived in a group home that was an hour away. She said she was not physically able to drive to the group home every day, let alone multiple times a day, to give her son the doses of marijuana that would be required to control his seizures.
Nor should she have to. It is entirely impractical, and in most cases impossible, for a caregiver to duplicate the duties of a nurse and give the doses of marijuana throughout the day that the patient requires.
A broader exception needs to be created for institutionalized patients so that nurses may administer oral doses of medical marijuana along with all the other medications that they give.
The State of New Jersey must recognize its status as caregiver of last resort to the many patients who are under its care – this applies not only to residents of facilities for the developmentally disabled, but also to residents in psychiatric hospitals, nursing homes, group homes, and hospices, as well as to inmates in correctional facilities.
I know these facilities. I worked for four years at Trenton Psychiatric Hospital and for 22 years at the New Jersey Department of Corrections. Some of the residents and inmates at these facilities suffer from cancer, HIV/AIDS, seizures, multiple sclerosis and other conditions that qualify for medical marijuana. There is no reason to withhold oral doses of medical marijuana from these patients and in fact, it may well be illegal to do so. The courts have determined that inmates in New Jersey are legally entitled to "community standard of care" and right now, that care includes marijuana therapy. The Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act only forbids smoking marijuana in state correctional facilities–it does not forbid oral forms of marijuana to be dispensed there.
The staff in these facilities is already trained to administer and account for controlled substances. They are trained to observe for side effects and adverse reactions. The State simply needs to develop policies and procedures to administer oral forms of marijuana to the patients in its care who qualify, under state rules, for this therapy.
The Medicinal Marijuana Program Rules adopted by the New Jersey Department of Health on Nov. 23, 2011 specifically allowed medical marijuana to be packaged and dispensed not only in dried flower form, but also as "Oral lozenges...or Topical formulations for direct dispensing to qualifying patients." Sadly, over four years later, no marijuana lozenges or patches are yet available from the State's Alternative Treatment Centers.
Hopefully, these lozenges will be available soon so that caregivers, like Genny's mother, will not have to use their home kitchens and internet recipes to convert the dried flowers into oral preparations.
Beyond the legal and moral obligations to meet the needs of these institutionalized individuals in this way, there are compelling financial reasons to do so. It can save the State tens of millions of dollars to replace extremely expensive pharmaceuticals with marijuana lozenges.
With marijuana's broad range of therapeutic effects, it is not surprising to see that one or more additional problems are also managed when the qualifying condition is adequately treated. For example, Genny Barbour also has autism, and her self-injurious autistic behavior is controlled much better now that she takes regular doses of marijuana oil for her seizures.
Of course, when marijuana lozenges are finally available, the State will have to undo the absurd restriction imposed by Gov. Christie in 2013 that limits oral marijuana preparations only for minors but not for adults.
When the State finally does implement its role as medical marijuana caregiver for the institutionalized, the result will be improved healthcare at tremendous savings.
News Moderator: Robert Celt 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: It's Time For New Jersey To Fully Embrace Medical Marijuana
Author: Ken Wolski
Contact: NJ.com
Photo Credit: John Munson
Website: NJ.com