By Christen Smith
Staff Reporter
Capitolwire
HARRISBURG (June 23) — Rep. Nick Miccarelli, R-Delaware, said Tuesday he would file a discharge resolution for Senate Bill 3 on Friday.
The medical cannabis bill passed the Senate in May on a vote of 40-7, but has been “languishing” in the House Health Committee for six weeks. Committee Majority Chairman Matt Baker, R-Tioga, says he doesn’t support legalizing medical cannabis outside the FDA’s approval process.
“I believe it’s time for medicinal cannabis in Pennsylvania,” Miccarelli said, citing a survey from the New England Journal of Medicine that found 76 percent of doctors supported the drug for medical use. “So, I think it’s time.”
The survey, featured in a May 2013 edition of the journal, polled physicians on if they would, hypothetically, recommend medical cannabis to an elderly breast cancer patient who’s disease had metastasized.
Some 1,446 doctors around the world responded, with three-quarters saying they would recommend the drug to ease the patient’s symptoms.
The Journal of the American Medical Association, however, published a new study Tuesday questioning the benefits of medical cannabis for a variety of diseases included in legislation approved across 23 different states. Some of those same diseases are in Pennsylvania’s bill, including HIV and cancer.
The study reviewed 79 different medical cannabis trials that included a total of 6,462 participants. The researchers concluded there was some “moderate-quality evidence to support the use of cannabinoids for the treatment of chronic pain and spasticity,” but described evidence suggesting the drug improved nausea and vomiting due to chemotherapy, increased weight gain for HIV patients, aided in sleep disorders or Tourette syndrome as “low quality.”
The American Medical Association is one of more than two dozen advocacy groups opposed to medical cannabis. Baker says the resistance from much of the medical community cements his position.
Still, advocates of the bill believe Baker is the only man standing in the way of its passage in the House. Miccarelli’s discharge resolution would forge a new path to passage by pulling the bill out of Baker’s committee.
The resolution needs 25 cosponsors to be considered — something Miccarelli says he isn’t concerned about.
“I’ve had at least double that tell me face to face they would support me,” he said.
Miccarelli, who served two tours in Iraq with the Pennsylvania Army National Guard, said he has watched fellow soldiers struggle on the powerful narcotics prescribed for PTSD. He believes medical cannabis is a safer alternative.
Once filed, the discharge resolution can be brought up on the chamber floor as early as next week. If approved, SB 3 will be removed from the Health Committee.
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