Comments (0)Stirring The Pot
January 29, 2010Andrew A. Buerger
Publisher
I have someone in my family who suffers from Multiple Sclerosis (MS). Until you know a person with that debilitating disease, you can never understand the fatigue, the heaviness of the limbs, or the other smaller chronic nagging factors that affect daily life. The worst, though, is to watch someone in constant pain.
My relative has tried everything: pain meds, acupuncture, holistic vitamins and changes in diet. Nothing, nothing stops the pain.
Dr. Dan Morhaim thinks he might have a prescription for sufferers of diseases such as MS. He’s not a neurologist, but an emergency room physician and a state delegate representing a prominently Jewish area here. Del. Morhaim (D-11) is sponsoring a bill that would allow marijuana use for certain ailments, such as MS or people undergoing cancer treatment.
“It’s just another tool in our tool box that can be used,” Dr. Morhaim told me prior to his Tuesday press conference on the issue. He makes it clear that he is not advocating for the legalization of marijuana.
“This bill won’t make it any more legal than Oxycotin,” he said. “There are benefits and risks to using marijuana, like all drugs including narcotics. We have to be judicious. For some, it’s the only thing that helps.”
In fact, the National MS Society has studies showing marijuana to be effective in certain muscle-related pain. Dr. Morhaim was motivated by 14 other states now allowing it for medical purposes, including New Jersey, where a bill recently passed with bipartisan support.
Another sufferer is Deborah Miran, a retired pharmaceutical formulation research chemist who now has CML (chronic mylogenous leukemia. After four years of unsuccessful drug treatments, which involved brutally high doses of chemotherapy, side effects included complete loss of taste and severe nausea. She also lost her appetite, dropping one to two pounds per week until she weighed less than 100 pounds.
In a statement she said, “After consulting with my oncologist and a discussion with my husband, we decided the only solution was to try and obtain some marijuana and ‘dose’ myself a few minutes before the evening meal. My goal was not to get high, but rather try and stimulate my appetite.”
It worked. Mrs. Miran was able to discontinue some 17 medications, and “slowly my sense of taste and appetite returned. At that point, there was no longer a need for the medical marijuana, as my normal ability to stimulate an appetite was returning.”
Not everyone will support this bill. Mike Gimbel, a former Director of Drug Abuse for Baltimore Country and recovering addict, told me it’s a very bad idea. “Can you imagine an Oxycotin or heroin dispensary in your neighborhood?” he said.
Mr. Gimbel, who often lectures at Jewish day schools, raises good points including, “If marijuana is so helpful, why doesn’t it go through the regular FDA process?”
Del. Morhaim doesn’t disagree with that, and thinks that other legal drugs should have more scrutiny. He tries to allay concern by saying New Jersey has the strictest new law and “ours will be even more strict.”
Rabbi Steve Schwartz weighed in, agreeing with Del. Morhaim that those who would receive “prescriptions” for medicinal marijuana are so sick that it’s important to provide humanitarian relief.
He told me “p’kuach nefesh — the overriding value to preserve human life — is appropriate here. If the current medical professionals think it would help, then why not do it?”
Given our battles against illegal substances, this is a very touchy subject. But as Del. Morhaim told me, “In the war on drugs, get the sick and dying off the battlefield.”
Still, a lot of people are understandably concerned about kids gaining easy access — even though marijuana is easy to find. Many of these kids also easily obtain dangerous drugs from the medicine cabinets of friends and parents.
As Del. Morhaim said, “Steroids for high school kids can be very dangerous, but for those suffering from low testosterone, it’s extremely helpful.”
If Maryland legalizes marijuana, I don’t know if my relative will try it. But a prominent MS doctor recently told my family member, “It may be worth the drive to New Jersey to find out.”
Or maybe for some the drive could end right here in Maryland.