LITTLE ROCK — A Colorado study that found that 74 percent of teens in substance-abuse treatment said they had used medical marijuana shouldn’t be considered alongside Arkansas’ proposed legalization measure because of differences in the laws, supporters of Arkansas’ ballot issue said last week.
Arkansas voters will decide Nov. 6 whether to legalize the use of marijuana for certain medical reasons. The proposal, the Arkansas Medical Marijuana Act, will appear on the ballot as Issue 5.
Arkansans for Compassionate Care supports the measure, which would establish a system to cultivate and distribute marijuana for qualifying patients through nonprofit dispensaries.
The study appeared in the July issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. It was written by University of Colorado School of Medicine researchers Stacy Salomonsen-Sautel, Joseph T. Sakai, Christian Thurstone, Robin Corley and Christian Hopfer.
The lead author of the study, Salomonsen-Sautel, said she isn’t aware of any other study that examined misuse of medical marijuana by teens in substance-abuse treatment.
The study states that “it cannot determine whether medical marijuana has had any effect on marijuana use among adolescents in the general population.”
The study questioned 164 marijuana users ages 14-16 receiving substance-abuse treatment in the Denver area.
About 74 percent said they used someone else’s medical marijuana.
“Medical marijuana use among adolescent patients in substance abuse treatment is very common, implying substantial diversion from registered users,” the study states.
The study didn’t ask teens where or from whom they got the marijuana, Salomonsen-Sautel said.
She said they could have gotten it from registered users, dispensaries or even drug dealers who claimed that it was medical marijuana.
“We have no way to know that, we just asked have you ever used somebody else’s medical marijuana, and the adolescents said yes or no,” she said.
That shows that the study is flawed, Arkansans for Compassionate Care campaign strategist Chris Kell said.
“It could have been from another kid who said it was their parents’ medical marijuana, it could have been a dealer who said it was medical marijuana,” he said. “They have no way of determining if it was medical marijuana or not.”
The study said the results support the need for policy changes to keep medical marijuana from being used by nonregistered users and reduce children’s access to it.
“The widespread ‘quasi-legalization’ of marijuana raises concerns about the diversion of marijuana to adolescents,” it states. “The widespread use of medical marijuana provides an opportunity to study the potential diversion of medical marijuana to adolescents in Colorado, which may be a bellwether state in terms of potential diversion of medical marijuana.”
It warns against expecting similar results in other states.
“Because of different state laws regarding medicinal use of marijuana, the results in this study do not generalize to other states; however, the findings may be an indication of what may occur in a similar context,” the study said.
Of the 122 teens who reported using medical marijuana, 80 percent were male and 56 percent were non-Hispanic whites. The participants reported having easy access to drugs and using marijuana more than 20 times a month in the past year.
Kell said he questions the validity of the study because it focuses on a small group of people in a population prone to substance abuse.
WHO IS USING?
The use of marijuana for medical reasons was approved by Colorado voters in 2000.
The most recent statistics from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment show that as of June 30, the department has received 184,002 applications since the registry began in June 2001.
As of June 30, 99,960 Coloradans possess a valid registry identification card.
Salomonsen-Sautel said the number of people on the registry jumped in 2009 with a change to the Colorado law allowing dispensaries to provide marijuana for as many users as it wants and an announcement from the federal government that it would no longer spend resources prosecuting people who possess small amounts.
“You saw this huge increase in registered users. There were just 5,000 users, and now there are over 100,000 users,” Salomonsen-Sautel said.
The average age of a patient is 42. Only 47 people under age 18 have qualified.
Of the conditions that qualify, 94 percent of patients suffer from severe pain, 17 percent suffer from muscle spasms and 12 percent from severe nausea. Patients report using medical marijuana for more than one condition.
ARKANSAS’ PROPOSAL
The proposed act on Arkansas’ ballot would legalize medical marijuana for treatment of certain medical problems, though it remains illegal to use, produce or distribute the drug for any reason under federal law.
Marijuana is regulated by federal and state law. More than a dozen states have removed their criminal penalties for “medical use” of marijuana, while recreational use is still a crime.
Registered and qualified patients would be allowed to have up to 2 1/2 ounces of usable marijuana without being prosecuted by the state.
Kell said there would be one dispensary for every 25 pharmacies in the state, equaling about 30 total.
Patients living more than 5 miles from a dispensary would be allowed to grow their own. Some caregivers also would be immune from state prosecution for growing marijuana.
Patients could qualify if they have cancer, glaucoma, HIV, AIDS, hepatitis-C, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Tourette’s syndrome, Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, post-traumatic stress disorder, fibromyalgia or Alzheimer’s disease.
Marijuana also would be available for people suffering from chronic or debilitating diseases, and from medical conditions or treatments for those conditions that produce one or more of the following: cachexia or wasting syndrome; peripheral neuropathy; intractable pain, which is pain that has not responded to ordinary medications, treatment or surgical measures for more than six months; severe nausea; seizures, including those characteristic of epilepsy; or severe and persistent muscle spasms, including those characteristic of multiple sclerosis.
Under Arkansas’ proposal, physicians would have to sign off that a person is ill with a qualifying condition before the person could use or possess marijuana for a medical reason. A qualified patient would be issued a Registry Identification Card by the state once a doctor signs a “written certification” stating that the patient has a qualifying medical condition and is eligible.
A traditional prescription written by a doctor and filled at a pharmacy would not be required under the proposal.
CONSEQUENCES
“I think the risk of diversion, especially to adolescents, is a serious consequence that must be considered before legalizing medical marijuana,” Salomonsen-Sautel said.
Colorado’s constitutional amendment doesn’t specify penalties for giving marijuana to someone who is not registered with the state as having a medical need.
The Colorado Legislature has made it a Class 1 misdemeanor to fake a medical condition to obtain a registry card, steal another person’s registry card or create a false registry card. Neither the amendment, Colorado law nor the application for a registry card requires a pledge from the user that he will not divert marijuana to unregistered users.
Kell said Arkansans for Compassionate Care looked at the laws or constitutional amendments that have been approved in the 17 states where medical use of marijuana is legal and picked the best aspects of each.
“The Arkansas bill is much more specific about who can possess it than any of the other bills that exist now,” Kell said.
Under Arkansas’ proposal, the application for a registry card would include a signed statement from qualifying patients or their designated caregivers pledging to not divert marijuana to anyone not allowed to possess it.
A cardholder who gives marijuana to an unregistered person would lose his card and be subject to penalties for unlawful transfer of a controlled substance, according to Arkansas’ proposal. What those penalties would be is not specified in the act.
Arkansas’ proposal states that a qualifying patient who possesses a registry identification card “may not be subject to arrest, prosecution or penalty in any manner, or denied any right of privilege” as long as he possesses less than 2 1/2 ounces of marijuana.
It states that a patient or caregiver is presumed to be lawfully engaged in the medical use of marijuana if he holds a registration card and doesn’t surpass that amount of marijuana.
That presumption may be rebutted by evidence that the use or conduct was not for treating or relieving symptoms.
Arkansas’ proposal states that if the patient or caregiver does not live within 5 miles of a dispensary and grows his own supply, it must be kept in an enclosed, locked facility unless the plants are being transported.
It also instructs the Arkansas Department of Health to adopt rules to protect against diversion and theft from dispensaries without placing an undue burden on the dispensary. Those rules can include security requirements and what kind of identification is acceptable.
GATEWAY POLICY
When Arkansas voters decide on Election Day whether to legalize the medical use of marijuana, Colorado voters will vote on a constitutional amendment to legalize carrying and growing marijuana by anyone 21 years old or older. The amendment would also allow Colorado to tax marijuana sales.
A similar measure on the Colorado ballot in 2006 failed.
The group opposing Arkansas’ measure, the Coalition to Preserve Arkansas Values, asserts that legalizing marijuana for medical use will lead to legalization of marijuana for all uses.
Its directors include Family Council President Jerry Cox of Little Rock, and Faith and Ethics Council Executive Director Larry Page of Roland. The group has raised $5,200 and spent all but $200 as of Sept. 5.
Cox said the proposal to legalize all marijuana use in Colorado 12 years after legalizing its medical use shows that Arkansas’ proposal is just the first step.
“This is simply a back-door effort to legalize marijuana in Arkansas, and if that is the agenda of the proponents they ought to come out and say so, rather than trying to veil their efforts,” he said.
Cox said Arkansas teens already struggle with drug abuse. He compared having marijuana available in the home to teens raiding a liquor cabinet or a medicine cabinet.
“It would not be farfetched to assume that if medical marijuana were legalized for quote medical use that the same thing would occur with it that has occurred with the abuse of prescription pain medications,” Cox said.
Kell said the measure isn’t the opening to legalizing all marijuana use in Arkansas.
“We’re a much different state than Colorado, and this measure is just about compassion,” he said.
The Marijuana Policy Project of Washington, D.C., has contributed $282,292 to Arkansans for Compassionate Care’s efforts to get the proposal on the ballot.
The project’s website says its mission is to increase public support and to change state laws to reduce or eliminate penalties for medical and nonmedical marijuana use.
The Marijuana Policy Project has contributed nearly $1.2 million to the Colorado effort to legalize all marijuana use.
Front Section, Pages 1 on 09/30/2012