Medical marijuana boards in both Washington and Oregon have added new ailments for which patients are legally permitted to use marijuana medically.
Washington State’s Medical Quality Assurance Commission this week added diseases that cause severe gastrointestinal symptoms and seizures or muscle spasms to the list of terminal or debilitating medical conditions for which marijuana can be used if the patient possesses a doctor’s recommendation.
The commission rejected a request to include insomnia and post traumatic stress disorder to the list. In the past, the board has added Crohn’s disease and hepatitis C to the list of approved ailments.
“They’ve (the commission) done more than any other state in the country in listening to patients’ needs and allowing truly suffering people to have access to marijuana,” said Rob Killian, M.D., who filed the petition to include the recent additions to the medical marijuana law.
Last week, Oregon’s Health Division added agitation from Alzheimer’s disease to its list of medical conditions covered by the state’s medical marijuana law. According to the state’s health officer, marijuana won’t help patients with the loss of memory and other intellectual capacities associated with the disease, but it may ease patient’s agitation, which is the inability to settle down, restlessness and pacing which leads to the patient’s combativeness.
The Oregon board rejected petitions to include anxiety, bipolar disorders, schizophrenia, schizo-affective disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, insomnia and adult attention deficit disorder.
“Both Oregon and Washington can be commended for making an honest and credible attempt to make functional recently passed medical marijuana laws,” said Allen St. Pierre, NORML Foundation Executive Director.
For more information, please contact Allen St. Pierre, NORML Foundation Executive Director at (202) 483-8751.
