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State Representative Jim Buchy
Could
Pharmaceutical Marijuana have Benefits without a High?
Medical marijuana has been the subject of a growing discussion because
new research is pointing to certain positive results from a medical
standpoint. Science is also become successful in producing a
product that can provide medical benefits without the high, this
product can be referred to as pharmaceutical marijuana. We must
work to keep marijuana off the streets that could aide Ohio’s very
serious drug epidemic.
Recently, some legislators launched a task force to explore the issue
of medical and pharmaceutical marijuana. The task force will meet in
order to learn more about the impact of lab made medical marijuana and
improved technologies to provide a safe product for Ohioans. The
task force is hoping to answer the question of how they can keep drugs
off the streets while allowing those with serious diseases to benefit
medically in a clinical setting.
As a result of legalizing medical marijuana, several states have
witnessed an increase in drug use and crime because they failed to keep
drugs off the streets. The discussion in the task force should focus on
pharmaceutical products that are not smokeable and cannot cause a high.
Pharmaceutical marijuana would be able to be filled like any other
prescription at a local pharmacy. The key difference in this
pharmaceutical marijuana is that instead of a patient smoking the
marijuana plant, the cannabinoid compounds of the marijuana plant that
provide medical benefits will be extracted in a lab and prescribed in
an ingestible form.
Furthermore, unlike smokeable marijuana products, some pharmaceutical
marijuana products have already been approved by the FDA to treat a
number of illnesses. These alternative forms to smokeable marijuana can
be made without THC, which is the component that causes a high. Without
the “high,” these pharmaceutical marijuana products would not be
marketable on the streets making them less prevalent than illegal
marijuana products.
This task force is positive for Ohio as it provides a safe place to
discuss the impacts medical marijuana will have on Ohioans. I
will continue to oppose smokeable medical marijuana, but I remain
positive on what can be learned about non-high inducing pharmaceutical
marijuana.
Please give me your opinion on this topic and others in the news this
month by completing an online survey attinyurl.com/buchyfebruary2016
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