Heather Curtis
WMAL.com
WASHINGTON — (WMAL) The ink’s still drying on a new law Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe signed in March that will allow select dispensaries to fill prescriptions for medical cannabis oil for people with severe epilepsy. The Virginia chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws is already looking to expand legal access to cannabis oil to people with other chronic illnesses.
“We hope to do some good work with the joint commission on healthcare over the summer in preparation for some legislation in 2018 that would more appropriately let doctors decide who should be receiving these kinds of treatments, and not legislators,” said Jenn Michelle Pedini, the executive director of Virginia NORML.
Pedini said the epilepsy community pushed for the new law. Pedini feels the law sets up the idea that it’s appropriate to legislate healthcare in a way that says some patients deserve special rights and while others don’t. NORML believes doctors should be the ones to decide which patients could benefit from medical cannabis oil.
“What doctors have said over and over again is that they are already highly regulated, and that they’re best suited to make these healthcare decisions,” Pedini said.
Unlike recreational cannabis oil, the medical kind is non-psychoactive and doesn’t get people high.
Meanwhile, the Board of Pharmacy has until December 15, 2017 to come up with proposed regulations for dispensaries licensed to grow low-THC cannabis, make the oil and use it to fill prescriptions for people with severe epilepsy.
Copyright 2017 by WMAL.com. All Rights Reserved. (photo: NORML press release)
