The Time is Now to Pass the Tennessee Safe Access to Medical Cannabis Act
Introduction
Over the past two decades, there have been more than 15,000 articles in medical journals about the medicinal uses of medical cannabis. This plant contains over 60 different bioactive agents, and they have demonstrated potent anti-nausea, pain reduction and appetite stimulation properties. The medically useful substances in cannabis have also been shown to slow the progression of serious auto-immune diseases, and to act as an anti-depressant, anti-spasmodic and vasodilator.
This abundant evidence from medical research around the globe convinced both the American College of Physicians and (last November) the American Medical Association to call for the federal government to remove cannabis from Schedule 1 of the Controlled Substances Act. In their review of the literature, the AMA's Council on Science and Public Health declared:
"Research has demonstrated that cannabis reduces neuropathic pain, improves appetite, and relieves spasticity and pain in patients with multiple sclerosis."
This growing consensus among health professionals that medical cannabis has sufficiently demonstrated its efficacy and safety to be removed from Schedule 1 has been matched by a policy decision by the US Department of Justice (released last October) not to interfere with lawfully-established and administered state-level medical cannabis programs. These massive shifts in cannabis policy by the federal government and leading medical organizations are encouraging a more assertive effort to allow state-level programs to be developed and implemented.
Fourteen states (and the District of Columbia) to date have established medical cannabis programs, and fourteen more states (besides Tennessee) are now discussing implementation. We have had over a decade to watch how some states' medical cannabis programs operate, so we know what we want – and what we do not want – in a medical cannabis program for Tennessee.
That is why the Safe Access to Medical Cannabis Act was filed. If enacted, the Safe Access program will be the most tightly controlled medical cannabis program in the country, and the most patient-friendly. We hope you will support it.
Tennessee’s Safe Access to Medical Cannabis Act: What It Will Accomplish
The Tennessee Safe Access to Medical Cannabis Act (SB 2511/HB 2562) was introduced in the Tennessee General Assembly on January 13, 2010. Unlike every other medical cannabis program in the US (existing or planned), the Safe Access act will establish a state-managed program that will be the most tightly controlled medical marijuana program in the country. It will also be the most patient-friendly.
Under the Safe Access program, farmers will be trained, supervised and licensed by the Tennessee Department of Agriculture to produce medical cannabis under secure, safe specifications, including growing only cannabis strains of known chemical composition to make sure that the medicine is safe, reliable and targeted to provide maximum relief to patients suffering a discrete set of medical conditions.
Farmers will be allowed to sell their medical cannabis only to licensed processors, who will process, package and distribute the cannabis under the strict supervision of the Tennessee Board of Pharmacy.
These licensed processors will be allowed to sell medical cannabis only to regulated dispensaries that will sell medical cannabis to eligible patients for the Safe Access program. Both dispensaries and patients will be under the strict supervision of the Tennessee Department of Health.
Eligible patients will obtain medical cannabis from these dispensaries (and perhaps, one day, participating pharmacies) with a recommendation from their health practitioners and without the need to go through a separate review and approval process.
Patients can participate in the Safe Access program if they are diagnosed with one of the following serious medical conditions and they have received a certification for program participation from their health practitioners.
Cancer
Multiple Sclerosis
HIV/AIDS
Hepatitis C
Wasting Syndrome
Severe, Debilitating and Chronic Pain
Severe Nausea
Epilepsy
Glaucoma
Crohn's Disease
Alzheimer's Disease
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (Lou Gehrig's disease)
Enrolled in (end-of-life) hospice program
The Tennessee Department of Health will convene an advisory panel that is empowered to consider and recommend modifications to the Safe Access program, including the future inclusion of other serious qualifying medical conditions, in a systematic manner.
Medical cannabis through the Safe Access program will be priced at a very reasonable rate (e.g., $60/ounce), with 40% of that amount going to the farmer, 20% to the processor, 20% to the dispenser and 20% to the state to fully fund the Safe Access program. Excess state revenues will go to indigent health care and substance abuse treatment. Even with this low pricing (one-fourth to one-tenth what illegal cannabis now costs), the Safe Access program will provide significant revenues to farmers and to the state from its inception.
Safe, effective, inexpensive, highly-regulated and controlled medical cannabis
Available to seriously ill patients as soon as their health practitioners decide it is needed
Eliminating the need for any involvement with, or support of, the illegal marijuana market
The Safe Access program is the best-conceived method to date for making medical cannabis available to seriously ill Tennesseans in a safe, secure, controlled, cost-effective and patient-centered fashion.
For more background information on the Safe Access program, read these articles:
www.nashvillescene.com/2010-01-28/let-s-roll/
http://blogs.nashvillescene.com/pitw/2010/01/sen_marrero_on_medical_marijua.phpTo help us get this model legislation passed, please contact us at rose.cox@gmail.com
Now is the time for safe access.
Support the Tennessee Safe Access to Medical Cannabis Act.