Politics Eclipses Needs Of Cannabis Patients: SB1182 Passes Senate 

Politics Eclipses Needs Of Cannabis Patients: SB1182 Passes Senate 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – 10/1/2014

PhillyNORML – local chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws

Contact: Derek Rosenzweig derek@phillynorml.org

Politics Eclipses Needs Of Cannabis Patients: SB1182 Passes Senate

Last week the Pennsylvania Senate passed a heavily amended version of SB1182, a bill intended to allow for the compassionate use of medical cannabis. Since 2009, surveys of registered voters have consistently resulted in over 80% in favor of legalizing cannabis for medical use. However, the bill that sailed though the Senate in a 43-7 vote would not provide what most residents would recognize as “medical marijuana.”

The scope of compassion has been narrowed significantly with the recent amendments to SB1182. The Senate Appropriations Committee modified the bill to define a very limited set of qualifying conditions. This list excludes many conditions which cannabis is well documented in treating such as HIV/AIDS, chronic pain, and glaucoma. The committee also removed the most effective and well-researched delivery methods: smoking and vaporization.

Only processed forms of cannabis products would be legal for patients to posses under the latest version of SB1182. These include cannabis-infused edibles, oil-based extracts, tinctures, and salves. Whole plant cannabis (the dried, cured raw flowers) would remain illegal and available only underground. Patients who use raw cannabis would still be at risk of arrest and prosecution.

Derek Rosenzweig, a member of the PhillyNORML Board of Directors, has been working on the issue for last six years.

“I’m very happy that the Senate voted in favor of a medical marijuana bill. It shows that Pennsylvania legislators have evolved past their outright opposition to this issue, and that the Commonwealth is ready for medical marijuana,” said Rosenzweig, “Unfortunately, the version of the bill which passed is impractical.”

“This approach leaves too many patients out in the cold from the outset. It certainly is not the final product I wanted to see made into law. It will not allow it for chronic pain. Nor for glaucoma. My father, who suffers from Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy, will not benefit from this bill. RSD is a severe neuropathic pain condition that causes extreme pain and sensitivity. It is very hard to control, especially with pharmaceuticals,” explained Rosenzweig, “He lives in constant pain every day.”

Other problems with the new SB1182 include: Extremely high licensing fees and overly excessive background check requirements for providers; limiting patients to a 30-day supply of cannabis products but not defining what amounts constitute that supply; and forbidding patients from altering their medicine. This means patients cannot utilize any whole plant material to make their own oil extracts, concentrates, or edibles – all of which are perfectly safe to do.

Patients are also barred from growing their own medicine.

SB1182 does exempt the limited medical cannabis products from the Pennsylvania Controlled Substance, Drug, Device and Cosmetic Act. However, new criminal prohibitions and penalties were added for non-authorized medical use of cannabis oils and edibles. That means that patients who do not qualify for the program could face even stiffer penalties attempting to gain health by using underground cannabis products. This will in effect raise penalties on any type of unauthorized cannabis use, an action that PhillyNORML opposes on principle.

Some positive points of the legislation remained intact: Protection for registered patients from issues involving child custody; workplace protection for registered patients; no restrictions on the amount of cannabis strains or cannabinoid levels. SB1182 still allows for researching medical cannabis and it provides a testing framework to ensure medicine is of high quality.

Perhaps most stunning alteration was the removal of HIV/AIDS from the extremely limited list of qualifying conditions. Jay Lassiter has lived with HIV for 22 years and sits on the Board at PhillyNORML. Lassiter is a respected political consultant in New Jersey and a registered medical marijuana patient in that state. He helped Pennsylvania families craft videos appealing to legislators and attending rally events in Harrisburg advocating for the original version of SB1182.

“Legalizing medical cannabis therapy but not for HIV/AIDS is like legalizing gay marriage but not for lesbians” said Lassiter.

“I’m glad ailments like PTSD made the cut,” Lassiter added, “But eliminating smoking and vaporization is a cynical maneuver against so many military veterans who already find much needed relief from over-prescribed narcotics with a simple, underground joint.”

Although the Senate approved the measure, it still awaits action in the House. Derek Rosenzweig started an online petition to urge House Majority Leader Rep. Mike Turzai to take action on the bill. It has garnered over 2,300 signatures. Activists plan to deliver the petition, in person, on October 6th.

LINK – http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/rep-turzai-please-put

“We will be pushing for immediate fixes and changes if this version of the bill is passed into law,” said Rosenzweig.”If the bill is not passed this year, we will be back in 2015 seeking legislation to protect a bigger group of patients with far fewer restrictions.”

Follow up :

“We would like to acknowledge that the bill’s sponsors, Senator Leach and Senator Folmer, did as much as possible to keep the bill strong and for as many patients as possible,” said Rosenzweig, “and they deserve credit for working as hard as possible to make even this bittersweet victory possible. ”

“Political maneuvers from a small group of Republican members of the Appropriations committee were the true problem here. If it were not for their interference and unfounded fear of cannabis, we would have passed the carefully constructed bill that made it through Law and Justice back in June.”

Follow us on Twitter: @PhillyNORML

Contact: Contact: Derek Rosenzweig derek@phillynorml.org

15 Responses to "Politics Eclipses Needs Of Cannabis Patients: SB1182 Passes Senate "

  1. Jetdoc  October 1, 2014 at 9:21 am

    Way too many restrictions on this bill for it to be called a “Medical Marijuana law”. When over 90% of the people who NEED the medicine, won’t have access to it, it’s NOT a Medical Marijuana program! I’m all for helping children with seizures and all but that MAY include a total of 100 patients in your State. I think I’m being liberal in that number as well. My State has over 50K patients in its program that’s in its 4th year of existence. What about the 49,900 other people who NEED access to the medicine? There shouldn’t EVER be an “age limit” for this medicine and that’s what it seems they’re doing.

    Restricting the conditions to EXCLUDE the generally MOST included conditions for qualification in the program DRASTICALLY reduces the number of people who WOULD benefit from it. Why pass a law to help people yet over 90% of those in need won’t QUALIFY for the program?

    • aw  October 6, 2014 at 1:02 am

      You’ve exaggerated more than a little bit. The bill in its final form would help way more than 100 patients. There are thousands upon thousands of patients suffering from Multiple Sclerosis alone in Pennsylvania (which was not removed as there is more documentation and research supporting cannabis for ms than any other condition by far) With the inclusion of ALS, Cancer, PTSD, epilepsy and fibromyalgia the number of patients who will be able to receive help skyrockets. It certainly is well over 100. I realize you are angry your dx was not included but that is a poor reason to wish this final version to fail. Nowhere is there an age limit implied or otherwise, nor do the changes keep 90% of patients without help. Many more patients will be able to rcv help with this bill than the current total of zero. It also includes the process by which new conditions can be added. As much anecdotal evidence there is for medical cannabis and there is certainly a great deal… The amount of conditions that have had real research recognized by the scientific community and using all the safeguards and processes of a standard pharmaceutical study is still woefully short BC of the constraints placed by the govt until recently. The conditions left on the list for the most part have very well documented evidence for their use and if a condition not included has that evidence it will be included by the process established in short order. The reps do not want pa to turn into Cali where anyone can walk into a clinic with a bs excuse and get a card. Medical cannabis can and should be used as medicine by those with a real demonstrated need. It is early days yet for the region and they have erred well on the side of caution. The bill is far from perfect in its current form but it WILL help ease the suffering of thousands of patients. Let us move forward with this bill so that some patients at least can get help. More conditions will be added in short order and lawmakers will see its success and the fact the world has not ended as reason to expand it further.

      • Jetdoc  October 6, 2014 at 11:07 am

        And that’s what makes the world go around! You see it ONE way, I see it another! My dx has NOTHING to with it! I’m covered a REAL Medical Marijuana law! I’m not in PA but I’ve seen these laws become unworkable! You can say there’s no implied age limit, yet ROC (REALM OF CARING) wants it ONLY available for children! Those were THEIR words not mine! I’ll betcha this law NEVER comes to fruition. Wanna bet? You can jump on the CBD ONLY bandwagon if you want. You’re heading fast into the big PHARMA takeover cannabis. I myself will take my FULL FREEDOM’S! NOT these half assed, fly by night cms only bills!

        • aw  October 6, 2014 at 12:17 pm

          The bill has absolutely nothing to do with CBD only. The only legislation that lists CBD is a totally different bill with no support much less bipartisan support. The only implied age limit is the one in your conspiracy laden brain. Realm of Caring does not pass the laws our representatives do and the reps pushing this bill hard, like leach are against cbd only. A year ago people like yourself were raving that we would never even get to a vote. No one is jumping on a bandwagon nor is big pharma involved. They already have their hat in the ring with Sativex which is still pending approval. Likely the bill will not pass this year yet. There is very little time left in this session and it hasn’t been through committee yet. It will be updated and reintroduced next year after Tom Wolf is elected governor since Corbett has stated he will veto anyways. It will likely go trough next year. What do you care anyways? Your states is perfect you claim yet you are raving like a lunatic, uttering complete nonsense bordering on straight paranoia about the state of affairs in PA. We will have a working system soon enough and if it doesn’t meet your frenetic standards you are welcome to worry about your own states issues.

          • Jetdoc  October 6, 2014 at 12:36 pm

            Never said anything about perfect, you did! I’ve been fighting this fight for YOUR rights to use it as well. If you’re satisfied with your Bill? YOU have to live with it. But when things I’ve said come to fruition, you remember that! If I see something that I believe is WRONG, I have every right to say something about it. I gotta be honest with you, YOU are the ONLY person I’ve seen defending it. Did YOU write it?

      • Jetdoc  October 6, 2014 at 1:34 pm

        Just for arguments sake, I went back and read this article again! I’m saying pretty much EXACTLY what the article States about the law.. but I’m paranoid? Gotcha! 😉

        I actually got you mixed up with another conversation on CBD ONLY bills! Yours is NOT, but it also ISN’T a Medical Marijuana Bill. When you exclude “the most generally accepted conditions” for medical marijuana, the people who NEED the meds don’t GET them. We can argue that all day, but YOU’RE the ONLY person I see defending this travesty! By excluding the conditions that they have, would mean in MY State, you’ve just excluded OVER 75% of the qualified patients, (45K people) WITH those conditions included. You can try to manipulate the numbers anyway you like, but it boils down to the fact that people who NEED the medicine won’t get it! I mean how can you argue they will? I’ve SEEN it in action!

        I swear… You HAD to write this bill! When you exclude the 2 most common methods of delivery, and keep the FLOWER illegal, you’re telling wealthy people THEY CAN use it, but poor people will still go to jail for it’s use because generally they can only AFFORD flower. HELL, that’s basic “Drug War statistics”. Don’t take it from me, YOU do the research! Google can be your friend! You seem be okay with creating 2 classes of citizens, You seem to be okay with throwing the poor in jail for using marijuana, but since YOU can afford (the processed products) “… to Hell with them. I GOT MINE!”? It’s a statistical fact that most patients smoke flower moreso than ANY other method. You can argue its carcinogenicity 😉 or not all day as well. But then too exclude what is widely known to be the “most clean” method of delivery… vaporizing you’ve further reduced the number of people who WILL benefit from the medicine. There’s medicine in the ENTIRE FLOWER that’s released at different temperatures, WITHOUT combustion and you exclude that? Edibles don’t work for everyone.

        What I’m saying is you can’t put all the patients in a neat little container and then put em on the shelf for display. They don’t ALL look like the other! What works for one, May not work for another. The more conditions you exclude as well as methods of delivery you exclude the more patients you exclude!

  2. DJ  October 1, 2014 at 1:24 pm

    the answer is simple. Give the Philly govt an enema. Do not re-elect even a single one that pulled the new variation on the tax stamp act and get them out of office. November is just around the corner after all

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