GOP Florida Lawmaker Wonders If State’s Medical Marijuana Program Is ‘Causing More Harm Than Good’

“That doesn’t mean that there are not patients who might massively benefit from this, but we haven’t defined the benefit of this.”

By Mitch Perry, Florida Phoenix

With practically 900,000 registered sufferers, Florida has the biggest medical marijuana program within the nation. While campaigning towards a proposed constitutional modification that will have legalized leisure hashish final yr, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) hailed the medical program, boasting that he had legalized smokeable weed in the state in 2019.

But that doesn’t imply the Florida GOP-controlled legislature is all in with medical marijuana, and on Tuesday one House member requested a state physician charged with analyzing the effectiveness of hashish as medication if its use by Floridians poses extra of a threat than a profit.

“You’ve made it very clear that there needs to be more research across the gamut of this area, but you’ve also made it clear that a lot of the research that you do have shows this program to be of questionable medical value,” stated Northeast Florida Republican Dean Black to Dr. Almut Winterstein, a professor within the College of Pharmacy on the University of Florida and director of the Consortium for Medical Marijuana Outcomes Research.

“My question is, do you fear that we’re causing more harm than good?”

Winterstein replied that the query illuminated the “conundrum” that exists in the case of the medical efficacy of hashish, which as a result of it’s listed as a Schedule I managed substance by the federal authorities has at all times had restrictions positioned on analysis. (The Biden administration proposed final yr to reclassify the substance as a Schedule III controlled substance).

“That is concerning,” she stated in response to Black’s question. “That doesn’t mean that there are not patients who might massively benefit from this, but we haven’t defined the benefit of this.”

In her presentation to the House Professions & Programs Subcommittee, Winterstein reported speedy progress amongst younger adults as much as age 25 in Florida in itemizing anxiousness because the medical situation motivating them to hunt a medical marijuana prescription. She stated that was “fairly strong evidence that marijuana attacks the developing brain negatively—specifically, cognitively.”

But she stated that was very totally different than taking a look at sufferers affected by power ache or different medical situations. 

‘Hip or cool’

“We just don’t know enough about it,” she stated, including that in some instances she thought the motivation to develop into a affected person amongst younger adults was to be “hip or cool.”

Those feedback prompted Broward County Democratic Rep. Christine Hunschofsky to talk out—first asking if there had been any survey carried out to again the assertion about sufferers getting a medical card to be “cool.”

“I cannot tell you whether this growing trend that we saw among young adults is because it’s a fashionable thing to do, or if it’s a true health concern,” Winterstein replied. “That would be a really important thing to tackle.”

“I just wanted to make sure that we’re talking about actual data and not opinion as to why people are doing things,” stated Hunschofsky.

The South Florida Democrat adopted up on Winterstein’s remark that hashish might impede mind growth. She requested, when the physician was taking a look at analysis, was she additionally wanting on the results on mind growth that publish traumatic stress dysfunction or despair have on mind growth.

Hunschofsky referred particularly to how a teen’s mind could be affected by watching a classmate “bleed out” in entrance of them after being shot. (Hunschofsky was mayor of Parkland in 2018 when the Marjory Stoneman Douglas college capturing happened). 

“Which is more negative to brain development,” she requested. “Is it the medical marijuana or is it the fact that they witnessed their friend be shot to death and bleeding out next to them in the classroom?”

“This is where benefit/risk becomes really important to understand,” Winterstein responded, including, “There is no drug on this planet that doesn’t come without side effects.”

‘Emergency basis’

Rep. Black later requested whether or not, if research present hurt from medical hashish use, would Winterstein be ready to react “on an emergency basis” to any “alarming findings from that data” and never wait to convey that info again to state lawmakers, even when they weren’t scheduled to fulfill in a daily legislative session.

Winterstein stated she possible might come earlier than legislators “within a few months” if printed well being studies required rapid motion.

The presentation included info on medical marijuana sufferers who suffered from “adverse events,” who represented fewer than 1 p.c (0.08 p.c), with 96 p.c of these studies rated as medically nonserious and 56 p.c delicate in severity. And 95 p.c of these studies have been submitted by simply 5 medical doctors across the state, main Winterstein to invest that the variation in reporting prompt a excessive likelihood of underreporting.

The legislature created the Consortium for Medical Marijuana Outcomes Research in 2019 to “conduct, disseminate and support rigorous scientific research on the clinical outcomes of medical marijuana use.” It’s housed on the University of Florida campus and consists of researchers from 10 universities within the state of Florida.

This story was first published by Florida Phoenix.

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Photo courtesy of Philip Steffan.