By Kevin Zwick
Staff Reporter
Capitolwire
HARRISBURG (Jan. 28) – When Dina Kenny’s 17-year old son had episodes of violent rage, he’d punch, kick and hurl objects at her head, forcing her to wear a helmet for protection in her own home.
“The episodes were pure, vicious and laser-focused rage. With this type of violence, the rage is targeted toward one individual, and that target was me, his mother,” she said. “Chris would attack me with intent to kill me.”
Her son was diagnosed when he was six months old with tuberous sclerosis, and she and her husband tried over a dozen medications. When being weened off the drug that caused the violent outbursts, her son would have seizures or his skin would turn blue.
“Remember,” she said, “all of this was due to a side effect of an FDA-approved medication that they say is safe.”
Kenny and other mothers of children with epilepsy made emotional appeals Tuesday in front of the Senate Law and Justice Committee for support of Senate Bill 1182, sponsored by Sens. Mike Folmer, R-Lebanon, and Daylin Leach, D-Montgomery, which would allow physicians to prescribe marijuana for medical use in Pennsylvania.
The panel heard from a range of testifiers – mostly in support of the bill – during a hearing that lasted more than two hours.
While still prohibited by the federal government, states began legalizing marijuana for medical use starting with California in 1996. Since then, 20 states and the District of Columbia have public medical marijuana programs, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Gov. Tom Corbett is opposed to SB 1182. He said he would not approve such a law until the Federal Drug Administration moved marijuana off the Schedule I drug category to Schedule II, which would allow for clinical trials and in-depth studies. Schedule I classified substances are considered to have high risk of dependency and no medicinal qualities, a notion proponents of medical marijuana dispute.
“Children should not have to die while we wait for the federal government,” said Dana Ulrich, who read the testimony of Heather Shuker, mother of 10-year-old Hannah Pallas, who has intractable childhood epilepsy and epileptic encephalopathy.
Support for allowing Hannah to be treated using a strain of cannabis called “Charlotte’s Web,” was backed up in written testimony from House Majority Leader Mike Turzai’s wife, Lidia Comini Turzai, a physician who treats Hannah. She wrote the strain has shown to “significantly improve the lives of children like Hannah and decrease seizure activity.”
Josh Stanley is the owner a cannabis cultivator and breeding nonprofit in Colorado, which has recently approved recreational use of marijuana. His company developed the hemp strain Charlotte’s Web, which he said is very high in Cannabidiols (CBD), a compound with anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties, and very low in Tetrahydrocannabinols (THC), the psychoactive ingredient in cannabis.
“As humans, we tend to fear what we don’t understand. It’s our first natural reaction. And for 85 years, we’ve been given at the very best misinformation about this plant and at the very worst an innate fear that’s lasted up until the present day,” he said. “These fears are breaking up now with the help of proof and science.”
Stanley said the drug could be used to treat a variety of diseases like cancer, diabetes, epilepsy, and multiple sclerosis. The safety profile for the plant is “off the charts,” he said.
The Pennsylvania Medical Society, however, is more skeptical and withheld support of the legislation.
“Good, careful scientific research takes time,” said Michael Fraser, executive vice president of the medical society. “Our current position on the subject of medical marijuana is as follows: further research is needed to build the body of knowledge and evidence base indicting its use by the medical community.”
“We also believe that to enable rigorous research on the top the Federal Drug Administration should re-examine marijuana’s status as a Schedule I controlled substance,” Fraser said, noting the organization in no way discounts the experiences of some families who lives have been improved by medical marijuana.
But he said the medical community is “at this intersection, of the duty to do no harm and the ethical duty to treat with the best available medicine. You can see what this is an issue requiring further study.”
The crossroads in the medical community was evident in a conference call with Pennsylvania doctors prior to the hearing Tuesday.
Dr. Tony Stile, a Pittsburgh psychiatrist specializing in addiction, was concerned with dependence of the drug, saying 9 percent of people who use it become addicted. About 15 percent of alcohol users become dependent, he said.
Dr. Erik Rupard, an oncologist in Reading, said “if marijuana is addictive, especially for those patients of mine truly in need of relief, so be it.”
“Medicines that we give to our cancer patients are known to be addictive,” Rupard said. “They cause the patients to be dependent on them and we don’t really mind that … the doctors, the patients, we don’t mind if they become addicted if it provides a far better quality of life for the last 12 months of their life.”
According to a statement, the Pennsylvania State Nurses Association supports protection from prosecution for patients who currently use medicinal marijuana or for providers suggesting medicinal marijuana for relief of intractable conditions or symptoms. The association also supports the establishment of drug delivery, growing and dispensing systems contained in SB 1182. The association believes medical marijuana is worthy of further rigorous clinical testing, which would require changing the classification of the drug from Schedule I to Schedule II.
“Schedule II classification would allow testing of consistent grade medical marijuana in a randomized controlled fashion to ascertain the drug’s risk/benefit profile for a multitude of illnesses and symptoms,” the association said in a statement. The association is concerned about the system of smoking medication, but Stanley testified that the medical cannabis is mostly in oil form, pills or vaporized.
The Elks Grand Lodge opposes the bill because they believe it would facilitate subsequent legalization of marijuana as a whole, said Steve Kaylor, head of the Elks Club drug awareness program. He said making marijuana legal for medicinal purposes could lead to lower perceived harm and increased use among youth.
Folmer commended the Elks drug awareness program, but took issue with their position on his legislation.
“You have to understand that I did not do this bill because I’m trying to destroy the youth of Pennsylvania,” he said. “If we’re gonna hold the same logic that we are fearful of the abuse and the future abuse of medical cannabis, should we not ban Oxycontin, codeine, morphine? Should we not ban these other highly, highly addictive drugs?”
“We have something here that we’re looking for, an oil extract from a plant that is so benign, that if every hippie in Pennsylvania wanted to smoke some Charlotte’s Web, all you would have is a bunch of disappointed hippies,” Folmer said.
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NEWSLANC EDITOR: “Good, careful scientific research” has long been prohibited by the Federal government. Hopefully the day of the big lie is over.
