April 29, 2010 – Thousands of Tennesseans suffering from cancer and other maladies — and thousands more of their families, spouses and loved ones — got a boost of hope when the House Health and Human Resources Committee voted Tuesday to send a proposed medical marijuana bill for further study by the State Board of Pharmacy.

It was a remarkable turn of events for the dogged citizens’ coalition that has been pushing the Safe Access to Medical Cannabis Act. (And not just because it seemed to slap the smirk off some of the state media covering the issue.) Just last week, the bill appeared on slippery footing as the same committee members voted 12-9 against the measure recommending study. This time, though, the measure passed with bipartisan support, with just four Republicans voting no.

What made the difference? According to Bernie Ellis, the voting-reform advocate who has emerged as a leader in Tennessee’s medical-marijuana movement, it was a combination of factors — including hundreds of constituent emails bombarding legislators; an amendment adding the TBI and the Tennessee Sheriffs’ Association to the study group; a lobbying effort that put representatives in touch with Tennesseans directly affected by the bill; and a full hearing three weeks ago that helped convince lawmakers the issue was both serious and urgent.

Above all, Ellis says, it was a meeting between two men that made the difference: John Donovan, a 25-year-old Red Bank, Tenn. resident who began suffering at age 16 from juvenile-onset rheumatoid arthritis — a condition portrayed movingly in a widely read Chattanooga Times Free Press article — and Rep. Joey Hensley, the Republican MD from Hohenwald who chairs the committee.

Below, Pith excerpts an email Ellis sent describing the process that led to the vote.

John [Donovan] and I spoke and we decided he should come to Nashville yesterday (Monday). Starting around noon, John visited with perhaps 15-20 legislators, slowly limping (painfully) from office to office. He was accompanied by Chad Fowler, an Iraq War vet who uses cannabis medically (and illegally) for injury-related degenerative joint disease.Both John and Chad shared their stories, giving copies of the Chattanooga paper and letters describing their conditions and need for safe access to cannabis. Several more of us accompanied those two patients and also discussed support for the bill with the same legislators. (I mainly ran to the next office to see if there was anyone John and Chad could speak with.)

Perhaps the pivotal meeting was with Rep. Joey Hensley, the only physician in the legislature. Dr. Hensley gave John almost 30 minutes face-to-face and he also gave Chad about 15 minutes one-on-one. I gave him more information and [medical-marijuana advocate] Paul Kuhn likewise brought requested information to Rep. Hensley. I do believe that Dr. Hensley’s willingness to listen to these men’s stories and to have his own questions answered really changed the climate. From being the leading voice of opposition last week against moving forward on safe access, Dr. Hensley became a clear and vocal supporter of further study today. His voice carries a lot of weight, but I also believe that having many legislators meet actual patients and give them a few minutes spoke volumes and provided a personal education on this issue that perhaps has been lacking for many of them.

Right up to the last minute, I wasn’t sure whether our amendment would pass. I was tracking down two legislators to get them back in the committee room to vote, so I missed most of the discussion on the amendment. I did hear (and do support) adding the TBI and representatives of the Sheriffs Association to the study process, which was recommended by Rep. Dean. The only thing I heard was when I walked back in the room and heard a call for “yeas” (which were noticeable) and then “nays” (that were noticeable by their [relative] absence). Then it was on to a round of press interviews and coming home to see Andy Sher’s (Chattanooga) story on the Safe Access vote having already made it to AP and on to 2 dozen web-sites.

Let me tell you … the world doesn’t look like the same place right now. … The policy arena around cannabis is shifting mightily on all levels and in all directions today and Tennessee is both a beneficiary and a contributor to that change. It’s about time.

by Jim Ridley. Source.

April 28, 2010 – The state legislature may take up the question next year of whether marijuana should be available by prescription in Tennessee, after agreeing to send the question to a study group.

The House Health and Human Resources Committee voted Tuesday to call on state health, agriculture and law enforcement officials to study medical marijuana and deliver a report to the legislature no later than Feb. 15, ending a two-week debate over the issue. But the committee did not approve any additional funding for the study, leaving it to the state’s Board of Pharmacy to decide whether to take up the matter.

If it goes forward, the study could set up a debate over medical marijuana next year.

The vote to approve came after several lawmakers on the committee expressed qualms over a bill sponsored by state Rep. Jeanne Richardson, D-Memphis, that would have made it legal for people suffering from serious illnesses or debilitating conditions, such as severe nausea, pain or seizures, to receive prescriptions for cannabis.

“I’m pleased that they put a deadline of February on it, and if we get through the report, I’m hopeful our bill will be passed,” said Bernie Ellis, an activist who wrote the bill and presented it to the legislature.

Supporters of medical marijuana estimate that 25,000 Tennesseans use marijuana illegally to deal with chronic conditions or the side effects of diseases such as cancer, AIDS and multiple sclerosis. Ellis says his bill would legalize that use under a tightly regulated system that would require the drug to be grown by licensed farmers and dispensed through pharmacies.

Skeptics pointed to the history of marijuana’s use as a recreational drug and said there has not been enough research on medicinal uses.

“We don’t know how to prescribe it,” Rep. Joey Hensley, R-Hohenwald, who practices family medicine, said in the first of three hearings this month on the matter. ” … We don’t know what doses any problem needs.

The state legislature may take up the question next year of whether marijuana should be available by prescription in Tennessee, after agreeing to send the question to a study group.

The House Health and Human Resources Committee voted Tuesday to call on state health, agriculture and law enforcement officials to study medical marijuana and deliver a report to the legislature no later than Feb. 15, ending a two-week debate over the issue. But the committee did not approve any additional funding for the study, leaving it to the state’s Board of Pharmacy to decide whether to take up the matter.

If it goes forward, the study could set up a debate over medical marijuana next year.

The vote to approve came after several lawmakers on the committee expressed qualms over a bill sponsored by state Rep. Jeanne Richardson, D-Memphis, that would have made it legal for people suffering from serious illnesses or debilitating conditions, such as severe nausea, pain or seizures, to receive prescriptions for cannabis.

“I’m pleased that they put a deadline of February on it, and if we get through the report, I’m hopeful our bill will be passed,” said Bernie Ellis, an activist who wrote the bill and presented it to the legislature.

Supporters of medical marijuana estimate that 25,000 Tennesseans use marijuana illegally to deal with chronic conditions or the side effects of diseases such as cancer, AIDS and multiple sclerosis. Ellis says his bill would legalize that use under a tightly regulated system that would require the drug to be grown by licensed farmers and dispensed through pharmacies.

Skeptics pointed to the history of marijuana’s use as a recreational drug and said there has not been enough research on medicinal uses.

“We don’t know how to prescribe it,” Rep. Joey Hensley, R-Hohenwald, who practices family medicine, said in the first of three hearings this month on the matter. ” … We don’t know what doses any problem needs.

“Any other drug, we have a certain dose, a certain time to use it, a certain way to use it. There’s just a lot of issues with marijuana I see as a physician who’s prescribing other medications.”

Study is a compromise

Lawmakers’ resistance led supporters of medical marijuana to give up for this year efforts to pass legislation legalizing it and push instead for a study group led by the Board of Pharmacy. That group also could include the Board of Medical Examiners, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, the Tennessee Sheriffs’ Association and the Department of Agriculture, among others.

“I believe these groups can work with the Board of Pharmacy, and I think they probably will,” Richardson said in an interview after the vote. “There’s enough medical marijuana laws in other states that they can look at this without having to do any of their own research. … With some cajoling, I think we can get it done.”

But Hensley said in a separate interview that he doubted the group would make much progress.

“I don’t think the group will be able to provide any additional information,” Hensley said, “so this just prolongs” the debate.

Tennessee’s bill would create one of the more highly regulated programs in the nation, said Tamar Todd, staff attorney for the New York-based Drug Policy Alliance, which advocates for reform of drug laws, including legalized medical marijuana.

Despite federal law prohibiting marijuana use, 14 states allow medical marijuana use, and at least 14, including Tennessee, are considering legislation to do so, Richardson said.

John Donovan, 25, a Red Bank, Tenn., resident who was diagnosed in 2001 with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, said he hoped the study would be a step toward legalizing medical marijuana. Donovan visited the Capitol this week to lobby lawmakers, telling them that he has regularly smoked marijuana, after discovering that prescription painkillers made him dangerously nauseated.

“What I was doing yesterday was trying to put a face on what had been, up until this point, an impersonal issue,” he said. “We do exist. We’re severely ill patients who are seeking safer alternatives.”

In approving the study group, several lawmakers said they weren’t certain about making marijuana more widely available, even if only by prescription.

“As a teenager from the 1960s, I got a long way to go before I can vote for this bill,” said Rep. Mark White. “But as (someone with) a mother with Parkinson’s disease … I will go along with this” study.  Source.