A bill condoning the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes is pending introduction in the Wisconsin State Assembly, a state representative said Sunday.
If passed, the legislation would allow physicians to recommend in writing that patients who qualify could obtain marijuana legally. While federal law currently overrides state law regarding the use of medical marijuana, the matter continues to be adjudicated in the court system.
The bill is aimed to help relieve symptoms of people who suffer from painful and debilitating diseases, like cancer and multiple sclerosis, State Rep. Gregg Underheim, R-Oshkosh, the lead author of the bill, said.
Underheim said he began drafting the legislation after he was diagnosed and treated for prostate cancer. Though he said he did not use marijuana while he battled the disease, Underheim talked to other cancer patients who said they benefited from the use of the substance.
"It provides an option for people who have a very difficult medical [situation] that could be helped by the use of medicinal marijuana," Underheim said.
The bill lists specific conditions patients must have in order to receive a recommendation; after a doctor approves the use of marijuana, a patient must obtain a card from the Department of Health and Family Services stating the person can legally use marijuana for the treatment of a medical condition.
The patient must then purchase the marijuana on his or her own, Underheim said.
"The bill is silent on that matter," Underheim said.
A similar bill introduced into the Legislature last year was not approved by an Assembly committee and thus never reached the Assembly floor for debate.
Federal law prohibits the use of marijuana for medical purposes, though there are several states which have passed legislation legalizing its use to treat illness.
"There is a controversy between states and the federal government about whether states have the right to legalize medical marijuana, and that is ongoing," state Rep. Spencer Black, D-Madison, a co-author of the bill, said.
Black said the conflict between the federal government and state governments will be resolved by the courts system sometime in the future.
Polling in the state indicates Wisconsin residents support the use of medicinal marijuana, Underheim added.
In a 2005 survey conducted by the Chamberlain Research Consultants and paid for by the Marijuana Policy Project, approximately three-fourths of 600 randomly polled Wisconsinites said they think the state Legislature should allow people suffering from serious illness to legally use marijuana.
"We are heartened by such overwhelming, bipartisan support for legislation to protect medical marijuana patients from arrest," MPP Legislative Analyst Adam Horowitz said in a release. "Young or old, Republican or Democrat, Wisconsin residents believe seriously ill patients should not have to live in fear. We are hopeful that legislators will listen to their constituents and give Wisconsin patients the protection they deserve."
However, there is some opposition to the legislation in the state government and among some in the medical field.
June Dahl, a professor of pharmacology for the University of Wisconsin Medical School said there is little evidence marijuana has any "special benefits" over other drugs used to treat the same symptoms.
"The major concern I have is that many of the uses to which [marijuana] is purportedly going to be approved really don't have any basis in science," Dahl said.
In addition, Dahl said there are medicines containing THC — the drug causing the relief of the symptoms in question — that can already be obtained legally through a prescription.
Despite this, Underheim said patients who have used both marijuana and other legal drugs that are supposed to have the same effect have told him the alternative drugs are not as effective as marijuana.
"Just because this drug has a stigma to it doesn't mean we should ignore the legitimate medical benefits it could have," Underheim said.
