Marijuana

State Senators Mike Folmer and Daylin Leach, the sponsors of a bill to legalize medical marijuana in Pennsylvania, were frustrated to hear the Secretary for Drug and Alcohol Programs say their is no scientific basis for their proposal.

State Sen. Mike Folmer was not pleased to hear Pennsylvania's Secretary for Drug and Alcohol Programs say there is no "scientific basis" for legalizing medical marijuana.

Since he began looking at the research at the request of a constituent, the Lebanon County Republican said he's seen dozens of scientific studies on the potential medical benefits of cannabis. There are studies on its ability to reduce seizures in people living with epilepsy, studies on alleviating the side effects on chemotherapy. Israeli studies have shown cannabis can help soldiers suffering from PTSD, Folmer said, and the Chinese are looking at using it to treat diabetes.

"The science is on my side on this," Folmer said.

As the sponsor of the bill that would legalize medical marijuana in Pennsylvania, Folmer said he's fighting an uphill battle against "a lot of misconceptions and a lot of misinformation." In his view, that would include what Secretary Gary Tennis said when members of the Senate Appropriations Committee asked his opinion of medical marijuana Wednesday.

"What is good medicine should be determined by medical researchers, by the scientists and ultimately it's something that is the responsibility of the FDA to decide what works, what are the side effects, how can it safely be used," Tennis replied. "That's not an area that I think is really appropriate for the political arena."

Later he said that without more FDA research to prove the claims made by medical marijuana proponents are accurate, "there's not a scientific basis to move forward with this yet."

Tennis also said medical marijuana legalization has been a "Trojan horse" for expanded recreational use in states like California. When asked if his department would have to treat more severe addictions if medical marijuana was allowed in Pennsylvania, Tennis said he believed it would.

Friday, Folmer said his patience is wearing thin.

"No one has addressed my bill yet," Folmer said, describing a strict set of controls it would establish over the distribution of the drug.

"I can understand trying to be safe," Folmer said. "I can understand trying to move cautiously. That I get. But to hide behind the FDA? As long as cannabis is a schedule I drug, the FDA's hands are tied."

Folmer's co-sponsor, Sen. Daylin Leach, D-Montgomery, echoed Folmer's frustration.

"It makes my head want to explode," Leech said. "Rather than give non-addictive marijuana to people who are sick -- and I'm talking about the pills and oils that don't even get you high … we're going to continue to give them Oxycontin and Klonopin and Ativan and all these drugs that are addictive."

They both bristled at the assertion that medical marijuana has been a "Trojan horse" for recreational use. Many of the treatments advocates want legalized involve cannabis pills and oils with THC levels so low a person couldn't get high if they wanted to, Folmer said.

Leach has a separate bill that would legalize, regulate and tax the sale of marijuana for recreational use, something Folmer does not support. Even if Leach's bill were to pass -- an extreme longshot at the moment -- the state would still need to pass a separate medical marijuana bill to deal with the prescription process, insurance reimbursement and pharmacy regulations, among other things, Leach said.

Medical marijuana has a long way to go before it could become law in Pennsylvania.

Despite an emotional hearing last month that brought hundreds of supporters to the Capitol, the bill is not yet scheduled for a vote in the Senate.

Like Tennis, Gov. Tom Corbett wants to hear more from the FDA. So do many members of the House's Republican caucus, according to a statement from Majority Leader Mike Turzai's office.

"We don't believe a state legislature should be making the decision of what is medicine; that is the job of our Federal Food and Drug Administration," Turzai said in a statement. "The FDA has the expertise and resources - something clearly lacking in a state legislature on this subject."

Folmer said his hope is to educate lawmakers on the benefits of medical marijuana one at a time if necessary. Some Republican senators have already changed their position after seeing more of the research, Folmer said. Realistically, getting the bill passed by the Senate would be a big accomplishment for this session, he said.

When he sees the research, Folmer said, he notes that it's being done elsewhere, often in other countries. In a perfect world, the state's research hospitals would have the chance to perform that kind of work, with the hopes of finding breakthroughs.

That would require federal changes to the nation's drug laws, something Folmer has no control over. In the meantime, he'll keep stumping for his bill.

"The whole point of this bill," he said, "is to make sure a person has one more arrow in their quiver to fight for their life."