The Panel recommends Post-traumatic Stress Disorder and Parkinson’s Disease be added to Michigan’s medical marijuana conditions
LANSING- On Friday April 5 a panel of doctors gave their final approval on a recommendation that would expand the list of ailments justifying a patient’s inclusion in the Michigan Medical Marihuana Program (MMP). Two conditions were given approval and two more were announced as under consideration.
This was the third hearing for both Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Parkinson’s Disease. The Medical Marihuana Review Panel is almost exclusively composed of physicians and is tasked with reviewing scientific literature and taking public testimony in determining if marijuana will deliver palliative relief or provide therapeutic benefits for the symptoms or effects of specific illnesses. These illnesses are introduced to the Panel through a petition process initiated by a Michigan citizen.
The recommendations will now enter the final stage of the process- approval by the head of the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA). As of January 31, Steve Arwood is the new Director of LARA and the man to whom the responsibility falls.
Arwood has plenty of information with which to make that decision. One of the hearings was held at the Michigan Library in Lansing, where testimony from patients was videotaped for submission to the Panel. The issue of Parkinson’s Disease had already been decided at that time, and the resultant videos were focused on PTSD and the effect it has on veterans and non-military sufferers. Researchers in Arizona are being blocked from conducting medical research at Universities by varying interpretations of state law regarding medical cannabis.
The next two illnesses to be considered by the Panel are autism and asthma. Michigan residents are already promising to come out in force to support the addition of these ailments to the list of qualifying conditions. The Panel’s next hearing date has not been set as of this writing.
Source: The Compassion Chronicles
