Last Monday, the MetroWest Daily News published an opinion piece by Heidi Heilman, voicing her opposition to medical cannabis being allowed in Massachusetts. While she did present a few good things to remember when attempting to regulate a medical cannabis industry, she largely ignored the real issue at hand here: helping those who truly need cannabis as medicine.

Last Monday, the MetroWest Daily News published an opinion piece by Heidi Heilman, voicing her opposition to medical cannabis being allowed in Massachusetts. While she did present a few good things to remember when attempting to regulate a medical cannabis industry, she largely ignored the real issue at hand here: helping those who truly need cannabis as medicine.

Not only that, her opinion is not in synch with the majority of Bay Staters. In fact, with the 2012 election fast approaching, medical cannabis advocates are one of the few campaign groups spending little time worrying about polling numbers. A Public Policy Poll showed that Massachusetts voters support the idea of the commonwealth becoming the 17th state to legalize cannabis for medicinal purposes, with a 53-35 margin. A similar poll done by CBS news last year showed that 77 percent of Americans also support the legal use of the drug for serious illnesses.



It seems like the only place where a majority of people don’t support medical marijuana is in the federal government. Despite overwhelming evidence of the contrary, federal agencies continue to argue that cannabis has no medicinal value, and continue to spend taxpayer money to shut down operations in states where medical use is legal. Fortunately for patients, this federal interference has simply led to increased public scrutiny of current cannabis laws rather than the shut down of states’ operations.



While the federal government is quick to point to the synthetic THC pill Marinol as a replacement for medical marijuana, patients disagree. According to a collection of research gathered by the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), not only is Marinol a less effective treatment than natural cannabis, it can have much harsher side effects, and in some cases even causes users to feel more intoxicated than smoking cannabis because it’s composed of 99 percent THC, the main psychoactive component of marijuana.



The history of the use of cannabis as medicine in Massachusetts dates back to the mid-19th century, according to archived editions of The New England Journal of Medicine. Long before the days of cannabis prohibition, residents of the commonwealth could legally obtain medicinal cannabis, which modern research has proven to have a wide variety of positive medicinal effects, according to a summary of research done by Dr. Frajo Grotenhermen.



While it’s true that other states could do better jobs regulating their medical operations, that’s hardly an argument that cannabis isn’t a valid medicine or that Massachusetts is incapable of regulating it. The initiative in Massachusetts has corrected many of the shortcomings of other state’s medical programs. The bill specifically lists the serious illnesses for which medical cannabis can be prescribed, and requires the Massachusetts Department of Public Health approve the addition of future illnesses. These diseases include cancer, glaucoma, HIV, Crohn's disease and post traumatic stress disorder, all of which cannabis has been proven as an effective treatment for.



It’s also absolutely true that we must do our best to discourage youth marijuana use, but the idea that medical marijuana is going to lead to an increase in teen use is unfounded. A 2005 study showed that in California, a place where marijuana has been available medicinally since 1996, use among 9th graders decreased 47 percent over an eight-year period.

Other states have seen similar declines in youth use after medical legalization as well, and the study concluded that “enactment of state medical marijuana laws has not increased adolescent marijuana use.” Keeping kids off of marijuana is important, but clearly reasons for youth use have no correlation with the legality of medical cannabis.

However, instead of attacking the problem at its root and asking why adolescents are using drugs, prohibitionist parents and community leaders continue to take the easy way out and blame outside factors for teen use rather than asking what is pushing their children to make possibly destructive decisions in the first place. The idea that marijuana is the number one cause of youth admissions to treatment centers is also a half-truth, as a majority of those put into treatment due to marijuana are there because they were court ordered, not because they honestly have a drug problem.



The reason why opponents harp on the issue of our the safety of our youth is because no statistic in the world, no matter how factual, can make a parent not worry about their child. However, we can not let those who are suffering continue to lack legal access to extremely useful medicine simply because we fear unforeseen consequences, as the actual consequences along with the pain and suffering caused by our current laws are all too real.

Opponents will use anecdotal stories about the alleged dangers of medical cannabis in an attempt to confuse voters away from voting yes, but government policies must be based on reasoning and statistics, not fear mongering and sensationalism. Whether or not the federal government admits it, cannabis has medicinal value, and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts has an obligation to allow patients access to it in a safely regulated manner.



Eric Casey of Marlborough is president , of the University of Rhode Island chapter of Students for Sensible Drug Policy.