By Derek Rosenzweig

Derek Rosenzweig

In 2003, my father Louis, a hardworking and active family man, was diagnosed with Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy. Also known as Complex Regional Pain Syndrome, it is a chronic neurological/neuropathic syndrome characterized by severe burning pain, burning sensations, pathological changes in bone and skin, excessive sweating, tissue swelling and extreme sensitivity to touch.

Stubbing a toe, something which you or I would get over after a minute or so, would be painful to him for the rest of the day, if not the next. Sunlight, light touch, and excess vibration (from a subwoofer, or a car ride) can cause pain. It's a rare condition that can follow 5 percent of all nerve injuries, and can be caused by even minor injuries such as a sprain or a fall.

It's the worst thing in the world to see a loved one in pain, so severe so often, while none of the "normal" treatments provide relief.

Over the years, these pain treatments have included acupuncture, lidocaine, a four-day in-patient stay for a Ketamine IV drip, and medications including Oxycontin, morphine, Valium, Opana, and other opiates. They are highly addictive, powerful medications that can affect memory and speech, the ability to stay awake, or hold a conversation. Abruptly ceasing treatment can cause serious withdrawal symptoms, possibly death.

Opiate-based medications are not particularly well-suited to treat neuropathic pain, which can endure for long periods of time. There is something that could help, but physicians in Pennsylvania have their hands tied by bad laws and an intransigent governor.

For patients suffering from neuropathic pain, marijuana has been shown to have a significant palliative effect and provide a better quality of life. (Links to two of the studies, on the National Institutes of Health website, are here and here.)

In numerous anecdotal reports, those with my dad’s condition and chronic pain patients do better with medical cannabis than without it.

My father could turn to the black market and obtain marijuana quite easily — anyone can if they really want to. It's easily grown, ubiquitous in society, and everyone knows someone who has a connection. But it's not so simple for patients suffering from chronic pain.

Pain management physicians who prescribe opiate-based drugs are required to drug test their patients for illegal substances. If they detect illegal substances that they did not prescribe, they will end treatment.

Since marijuana is still illegal, and up to 30 days prior use can be detected by many drug tests, patients could suddenly lose all treatment including their medications (which can be fatal in some cases).

Patients have no protection under the law — even possessing the plant can land them in jail. Physicians’ hands are tied — they can't even discuss the issue with their patients, let alone recommend or prescribe it for them.

This is hardly the appropriate legal status for such a useful plant with such obvious, far-reaching, and wide-ranging medicinal use.

Bu there is hope for people like my dad in Pennsylvania. Thousands, if not millions, of patients here could benefit from legal access to medical marijuana.

Senate Bill 1182, sponsored by Senators Folmer, Leach, and 13 others, makes available to medical professionals and patients the widest range of treatments possible from the cannabis plant and doesn't attempt to arbitrarily restrict it to any one form.

It spells out a workable program for cultivating, manufacturing and distributing concentrated forms, such as the oils from CBD-rich strains which would be especially useful for kids suffering from intractable epilepsy or Dravet's syndrome.

Our medical marijuana program will also fully apply to patients from other states where medical marijuana is legal - if you're legal there, you're legal here. It's called reciprocity, and not many states have it but it's essential until we have a federal medical marijuana program.

Two large surveys were published in March showing that 85 percent of Pennsylvanians support making medical marijuana legally available. However, Governor Corbett has insisted that he will veto any legislation trying to legalize it. To continue to allow so many people to needlessly suffer would be morally reprehensible.

Marijuana is medicine in America. It's safe and effective, has a low potential for abuse, and millions of patients use it every day. It's about time patients and medical professionals here in Pennsylvania have this option available to them.

Derek Rosenzweig writes from Warminster, Pa.