Medical pot research OK’d for Delaware

Since January, Delaware lawmakers have removed criminal penalties for simple marijuana possession and opened the state’s medical marijuana program to minors.

But they made another move more quietly, voting to establish a legal framework that will allow facilities in Delaware to research the potential benefits of marijuana for medical purposes.

The vote came more than four years after the General Assembly legalized medical marijuana, but just days after the first marijuana dispensary opened in a nondescript industrial park west of Wilmington.

“Delaware has an opportunity here to be in the forefront pioneering research,” said Deb McPherson, of New Castle, one of about 400 Delawareans who have IDs allowing them to buy marijuana to help treat a medical condition.

Marijuana advocates like McPherson praised the legislation, which allows facilities that meet U.S. Food and Drug Administration standards to initiate research on potential medical benefits of the drug.

The law, signed by Gov. Jack Markell last month, allows research studies that include “demonstrations of safety and efficacy for treatment of medical conditions that often fail to respond to conventional treatment.”

Delaware and 22 other states, plus the District of Columbia, have legalized marijuana to treat a variety of medical conditions.

Delawareans can be certified by a doctor, and the state, to use the drug to treat symptoms associated with cancer, Alzheimer's disease, post-traumatic stress disorder and conditions that cause intractable nausea, severe pain or seizures, among other illnesses.

Still, there’s little evidence that validates marijuana as a proven medical treatment, even for some conditions in state medical marijuana laws, according to research published in June by the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The research, which examined 79 trials involving more than 6,400 patients, found evidence that marijuana can help with pain reduction, and in reducing nausea and vomiting during chemotherapy.

Markell’s office said it only makes sense to lay the groundwork for additional research in states like Delaware that approve the drug for medicinal use.

“Since the state has approved the use of marijuana for medical purposes, it makes sense to research what those medical purposes might be,” said Jonathon Dworkin, a spokesman for Markell. “Given recent steps taken by the federal government to remove barriers to medical marijuana research...we are hopeful that there will be a trend toward allowing more of it.”

Dworkin pointed to the Obama administration’s decision this summer to no longer require a Public Health Service review of research involving marijuana. The U.S. FDA still must review research plans.

Delaware lawmakers did not appropriate any funds for additional medical marijuana research when passing the new law, which protects researchers against prosecution if they meet state and federal standards.

And it’s unclear which institutions might be interested in studying additional benefits of medical marijuana.

Lobbyists for the Delaware Healthcare Association, which represents hospitals, and the Fraunhofer Center for Molecular Biotechnology in Newark, registered interest in the legislation this summer. Lawmakers ultimately voted unanimously to pass the measure.

Mark Lally, president of Delaware’s only medical marijuana dispensary, the First State Compassion Center, said he is closely monitoring the issue.

“Anything that is going to...increase our knowledge about medical marijuana for the benefits of our patients is always an interest of ours,” Lally said.

Janie Maedler, of Rehoboth, said additional research into marijuana’s benefits is a must.

But she’s convinced, by a very personal story, that the drug can help.

Her 9-year-old daughter, Rylie, was the driving force behind legislation, signed by Markell in June, that allows minors access to marijuana-based oils for the treatment of seizures, severe muscle spasms, intractable nausea and other conditions not responding to other therapies.

Rylie began suffering from epileptic seizures after undergoing surgery in 2013 to remove a tumor that had spread from her jaw to the palate of her mouth.

Marijuana oils now help Rylie increase the threshold before a seizure will set in, allowing her to play outside on a hot day without as much worry, her mother says.

They also take the edge off persistent pain in her jaw, and reduce inflammation.

“She's had a wonderful summer,” said Janie Maedler. “This is probably been the best summer that she's had in the last two years.”

Maedler said more research should focus first on proper dosing for patients relying on marijuana as a medical treatment.

“We just need a lot more information,” Maedler said.

Contact Jonathan Starkey at (302) 983-6756, on Twitter @jwstarkey or at jstarkey@delawareonline.com.