JEFFERSON CITY • Advocates for
increased patient access to medical
marijuana, including television personality
Montel Williams, shared personal stories
while testifying for a Missouri bill that would
create a state-monitored distribution
program for the drug.
Williams and others spoke at a House
committee hearing Monday in support of the measure sponsored by a Republican
representative. The measure would set up a process for patients to register for access to
marijuana for cancer, HIV, post-traumatic stress disorder and other medical conditions.
Williams, who starred in the syndicated talk show “The Montel Williams Show,” has
multiple sclerosis and uses marijuana to treat some of his symptoms. He lives in New
York and has advocated for medical marijuana across the country. He said the legislation
could be a model for the rest of the country.
“I could care less about anybody who wants to get high— your problem, not mine. I’m
only concerned about people who need relief through medication,” Williams said to the
committee.
Republican Rep. Dave Hinson’s bill would not allow recreational use of marijuana. It
would require growers and distributors of medical marijuana to be licensed and follow
certain security procedures. The legislation also limits the amount of marijuana a person
could get without special permission to 2.5 ounces every two weeks.
Hinson said every lawmaker has had their lives touched by someone who has been
affected by a debilitating illness. He said his father, who died from bone cancer in 1989,
suffered extreme pain in the final months of his life.
“He was so endowed with morphine that he was so sick to his stomach and all he wished
to do was die,” Hinson said.
Hinson said that people should be allowed the opportunity to get relief and maintain
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their dignity by using marijuana recommended by a doctor.
Some advocates for patient access to marijuana expressed concerns about the limits on
home growing of cannabis and the high cost of setting up centers under the current
legislation. Tom Mundell, a past commander of Missouri’s Veterans of Foreign Wars, said
he thought patients should be allowed to grow the plants at home.
He shared stories of veterans who were using marijuana for medical purposes. After Rep.
Ron Hicks, R-St. Peters, asked him about using marijuana for post-traumatic stress
disorder, he broke down as he described how he’s gone from taking dozens of pills daily
to only a few each day.
Hicks said he supports the bill and wants to make sure it can pass.
A patient would have to get a recommendation from a physician and then apply to the
state’s health department before being able to purchase medical marijuana. The bill lists
specific eligible ailments, but also lays out a process for a patient to appeal and the
department to add illnesses.
But the risk for abuse of marijuana remains despite the limits in the bill, said Jason
Grellner, vice president of National Narcotics Officers Associations’ Coalition, who
opposes the measure.
Grellner said that supporters of marijuana access will chip away at any law passed in
Missouri by filing lawsuits to expand it.
“Every legislator that brings this forward, I don’t care what state you’re in, believes
they’ve built the perfect mouse trap,” he said Monday before testifying. “There are so
many unanswered questions and loopholes and pitfalls. You can’t write a law tight
enough.”
Twenty-three states have comprehensive medical marijuana laws. Missouri and 10 other
states have also approved more limited medical marijuana bills that loosen access to
extracts from strains of marijuana with low tetrahydrocannabinol or THC and high levels
of cannabidiol, or CBD, which some have used to control epilepsy in young children.
Missouri’s bill has not yet been fully implemented and the CBD oil is not currently
available in the state.
___
Medical marijuana bill is HB 800.
Online:
House: http://www.house.mo.gov