…and given a Utah legislature which has been unable to meaningfully act on the issue in a substantially positive fashion, it’s going to be up to you, the state’s residents to move toward making rational, compassionate decisions….
Excerpts:
“Americans for Safe Access has released ‘Medical Cannabis as a Tool to Combat Pain and the Opioid Crisis: A Blueprint for State Policy.’ The blueprint outlines legislative and regulatory solutions related to medical cannabis that states can utilize to combat the opioid epidemic.
Medical cannabis is a proven alternative to treat chronic pain. Medical professionals and researchers have released studies demonstrating its positive effects and overall benefits to public health. However, medical cannabis programs are serving just 2 percent of the population in most of the thirty states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and Guam that have so far passed laws. (Another sixteen [including Utah] have passed more limited laws.)
One-third of the U.S. population is living with chronic pain, and they all deserve access to medical cannabis. This blueprint lays out the specific barriers to access contributing to this disparity and provides lawmakers with the legislative means to reduce those barriers.
The report features model legislation, an emergency proclamation, and flow charts that help lawmakers identify barriers to access that medical cannabis patients in their states are facing.
This report comes on the tail of the President’s Commission on Drug Abuse and Combating the Opioid Crisis report issued on November 1, 2017. The Commission’s report identified over fifty solutions to the crisis, but failed to include the utility of cannabis, even though states with medical cannabis programs have witnessed a 25 percent reduction of opioid overdose deaths.
It’s time for every state to enact programs which will provide access to medical cannabis for all chronic pain patients, and the guidelines provided here will help new states and those with existing programs to better respond to the opioid crisis which the Centers for Disease Control have estimated cost 65,000 lives in 2016.”
Here is the link to download the report: http://ift.tt/2jvJloJ
TRUCE is a proud ASA affiliate.
#MMJ #ASA #Opioids #Reform #UTpol #UtahNext #TRUCE
http://ift.tt/2BcEeUQ
See full article – Improving Medical Cannabis Programs Will Combat Opioid Crisis
