The article by Margaret Sotham, regarding Marijuana Myths and Facts is full of myths and short on facts.
The Florida Department of Health has been charged with the job of writing the regulations should Amendment 2 pass on November 4th. That body has the opportunity to create rules that will minimize, if not eliminate the opportunity for teens to obtain medical marijuana without parental cooperation. For instance, entrance to a dispensary could be restricted to those over 18. We don’t know yet what the DOH will do.
She mentions that medical marijuana will be available for conditions such as headaches and menstrual cramps. Both of those conditions could easily be classified as debilitating for some patients, but that decision should be left to the patient and his/her doctor, not to a politician. Certainly, given a choice between a dangerous opiate painkiller or a natural plant, the decision should easily fall on the side of the natural remedy. To be debilitating, a condition need not be life-threatening. It would be offensive to deprive a seriously ill patient of the safest, most effective medicine due to a fear that someone with tennis elbow might also be treated with this natural anti-inflammatory rather than with dangerous steroids.
As for the caregiver requirements, once again, Ms Sotham is surmising that there will be no thought given to the qualifications that the Department of Health will demand. There are no guidelines at this point; the election has not yet happened and Amendment 2 is not yet part of Florida’s Constitution. Her lack of respect for the integrity of the Department of Health is shameful and is indicative of the old “Reefer Madness” propaganda of the 1930s.
The time has come for Florida to embrace the science that has come out of the more than 20,000 studies showing the efficacy of marijuana as medicine, and to ignore the myths.
Karen Goldstein is the Director NORML of Florida and can be reached at NORMLFlorida@gmail.com or 954.303.9254.
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