BY RUTH HILL R.N.
Do you know a physician that has prescribed any of the FDA approved cannabis drugs to a patient in a health facility? I sincerely doubt it. The approved FDA drugs are Epidiolex, Marinol, Syndros, and Cesamet. All are Cannabidiol (CBD) products, not Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC).
These pages in Cannabis Corner have regularly shared research showing cannabis benefits for dementia, long-COVID, insomnia, and a multitude of disease symptoms. Is this reluctance due to ignorance of the public or the healthcare professionals?
The US market is expected to make up 81% of global cannabis sales, even without federal legalization. As the excise, cultivation, distribution, and sales taxes continue to keep increasing the price of illegal weed continues to go down. Any federal legalization will further increase the price for ordinary working people sending them to the local grower.
While President Biden’s move in October 2022 to pardon all federal offenses of simple cannabis possession, there is a favorable shift in legislative sentiments toward cannabis. Most federal cannabis bills have only a 40% chance of passing. Congress re-introduced the SAFE Banking Act, and it is stalled.
Due to the abysmal recruitment for the military, Matt Gaetz (R) of FL, added an amendment to the military budget to waive prior drug use for recruits. What has your congressman done lately?
The California Senate bill, SB-302 Compassionate Access to Medical Cannabis, is also stalled. The bill is an expansion of Ryan’s existing law which permits the use of cannabis products, except smoking or vaping, for terminally ill patients in health facilities. SB302 requires not only terminally ill patients but “patients who are over 65 years of age and have a chronic disease.” It was amended on 6/21/23 to “Ensure that a patient is not denied admission to the health care facility in whole or in part because of the patient’s use of medicinal cannabis.”
If you know a person who is over 65 with a chronic illness you may want to inform them of this bill. Public awareness is essential to overcome legislative resistance. Contact the author of the bill Senator Henry Stern at (916) 651-4027 and tell him you support this bill. Summer recess convenes on July 14th and reconvenes on August 14th. If you do not have time to write or call visit their offices during recess.
SB302 is currently in the Appropriations Committee chaired by Senate Majority Leader Anthony Portcentino, Tel (916) 651-4025, and Senate Minority Leader Brian Jones, Tel (916) 651-4040.
The New York Times reported on an article in 2016, about, Kara Waite, an English teacher in Mass who made a rule for herself: “For every political rant she posts on Facebook, she must pick up the phone and call a legislator. “It’s kind of a swear jar for political action,” Ms. Waite said. A phone call from a constituent can, indeed, hold more weight than an email, and far outweighs a Facebook post or a tweet. Phones ringing off the hook are more difficult for a lawmaker to ignore than a flooded inbox.
Emily Ellsworth, whose job included answering phones for Jason Chaffetz, from 2009 to 2012; and Chris Stewart from 2013 to 2014, said the way your points reach a lawmaker depends on how many calls the office is getting at the time and how you present your story.
If there are medical readers of this column against patients’ use of cannabis in health institutions, read the White Paper from Doctors For Cannabis Regulation for more information.
Cannabis prohibition in health institutions is detrimental to public health and fosters the unregulated, untested, illegal market. Cannabis regulation benefits public health, and many of the fears of cannabis legalization are unfounded.
Learn Cannabis Education, Dosing Without the High on the 1st Saturday of every month from 11 AM to 1 PM at the Vault Dispensary Lounge. Call 760-866-9660 or send comments to cannaangel16@gmail.com
