Next year the Tennessee state legislature may look at whether medical marijuana should be available in the state and have agreed to call on state health, agriculture and law enforcement officials to study the issue and report on it no later than February 15. Brilliant – until you learn that the committee did not approve any additional funding for the study, meaning that it will be up to the state’s Board of Pharmacy to decide whether to take up the issue.
If they do decide to move forward on this, 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.
Activist, Bernie Ellis, who wrote the bill and presented it the legislature was cautiously optimistic and said he was pleased with the February deadline.
It is estimated that 25,000 Tennesseans use marijuana to deal with chronic conditions or the side effects of diseases such as cancer, AIDS and multiple sclerosis. Currently, of course, their use of the drug is illegal and Ellis’ bill is designed to bring these users the reassurance of knowing they will not be prosecuted for using their medication of choice.
Skeptics are not convinced, however, saying there has not been enough research on medicinal uses of weed.
Family medic, Rep Joey Hensley, said “We don’t know how to prescribe it. 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.”
The study was agreed as a compromise.
Given such resistance, supporters of medical marijuana have abandoned their plans to pass legislation legalizing it in favor of the study group led by the Board of Pharmacy. Among others, this board would include representatives from the Board of Medical Examiners, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, the Tennessee Sheriffs’ Association and the Department of Agriculture.
Richardson thinks that, with a certain amount of cajoling, the board would be able to learn from the experience of states where medical marijuana has been legalized. However, Hensley said later that he doubted the group would make much progress.
Hi i have been smokeing marijuanna for over 10 years now. I suffer from pain, add, adhd, anxiety, depressio & bypolor disorder.
doctors have prescribed me many different medicantions for my mental disorders but so far i havent found anything that helps me as much as canabis. and as far as the pain goes, i cant take the pain killers they have prescribed, the side affects, makeing me sick, & doing dammage to my body just isnt worth it.
Allowing me to legally use medical marijuana would eleviate many concerns i have & make it alot easier for me to get my medication.
I have been smoking pot for about 4 years. I have very bad ADHD. Also hurnia pain. I started smoking the more legal forms of synthetic cannibanoids. Like “posh” “k2″ and so on. There sold at EVERY convenient store corner. The synthetic to me is stronger. And is laced with some very hard hallucinogenic ingredients.
It makes me sick when I found out that I could by fake pot at the local convenient store. Yet in just a few states over its legal. These stores are charging premium prices for this stuff to! We needs tax revenue right? Lots of people purchase these fake pot concuctions. Not knowing of there laced with who knows what. There are no ingredients listed on them either.
Pot needs to be legalized so we can go the more natural approach. Tax the profits, help our government and keep simple pot smokers out of jail. I can function on real pot, working, driving whatever. If I smoke the fake stuff I can’t drive good, I’m low functioning.
Lol but it’s legal! I have never smoked to much till I got sick, and I’ve tried. If I have over 2 drinks of alcohol i can’t function. What is our world coming to. We need more across the table laws. So one state something is legal and another it’s not.
Let me first say, I commend all of you all who are battling out there. One day all will see what we see. That being said, I want to start by saying, I am a 21 year old, full time college student (about to graduate in 4 years), work 40+ hours a week, and I still make time for my family. I have a hectic life, but I like every second of it.
Yes, I’ve battled depression my whole life, but it has all stemmed from anxiety from being ADHD and pain from Fibromyalgia. I was diagnosed with both at 18/19 years old. I have had more pain pills than a Kroger pharmacy. I will also admit that I have been RESPONSIBLY smoking for 2 years straight. I have learned to moderate, and if moderated, marijuana can be very beneficial. I like to smoke, yes, but it is STILL the only thing that helps both of my illnesses.
Yes, adderall helps, but it also raises my blood pressure. In case you didn’t know, adderal is an amphetamine (Speed). Another substance that CAN be used as a drug. I won’t lie, my mother hates I take it, but she sees the benefits. She has an open mind, and believes marijuana could be beneficial as well(she has also seen the 20+ years of searching my dad has put in for a Rhuematoid medicine that works for his debilitating arthritis.
So what I am saying is, yes, medicines all have possible negative stipulations attached, however for those who need them, it can be beneficial. We deserve the right to try to help ourselves. For example, when you have a headache and you have Advil and Tylenol, you choose what works best for you. Why cant I choose what works best for me? And trust me, I will continue. Sorry. But if a 21 year old college kid can approach this with an open mind, then why cant others? Prove to me that humanity isn’t lost.. Can those out there be sensible and mature enough to make a decision based more for the rights we have as citizens in this country? I stay optimistic in this world of chaos.
Selfless acts show the true character of someone.
I hope marijuana becomes legal simply because it helps my anxiety and depression.It puts me in a great mood!So please legalize.
Somedays are easier than others,so if it gets legalized than every day can be wonderful.
Hello,
I’d to tell my story I am a 16 year old teen me and my family moved to virginia from bristol tennessee and from there my life hasn’t been to swell i’ve been depressed for 3 years and started smoking marijuana last year and it is extremely better than the meds i take now i’ve been off and on anti-depressants.
I have attempted suicide twice but ever since I have started smoking marijuana my life has turned around tremendously I am more outgoing and loving life unfortunately my family isn’t for marijuana mainly because it is illegal but legalization in tennessee means we would be able to move back and I could be around more of my family.
I hope this happens because mirtazapine isn’t fun I take 15 mg and I have slept through school (from 6 am to 3 pm) without interruption. I hate pills
I love you heres my story and please dont attempt suicide again,
If I had medical marijuana. I could return to work. But mean while im suffering and every one around me has to pitch in and help me out. I suffer from brain injurys and I have tried every medication you can think of and nothing works! Except marijuana which.I tried years back. I have been waiting so long and suffering day in and day out. You can only Imaging how many people cant go to work and hold a steady job in this country. Because they cant get the right medication and it would be less expensive to give them medical marijuana than almost every psychiatric drug on the market. Which our governtment is flushing money down the drain to provide.And from my own experiance made me worse than I was.
Put that as a reply to Theresa comment
Hello,
I am a Vietnam vet and in ill health from agent orange and have been told by doctors at the VA that if it was legal in Tennessee they would write me a prescription but the law in the state makes to much money keeping it illegal.
My eye sight is loosing ground with the drugs prescribed and hate the fact that the state does not care and just drains the funding for whatever else they can to avoid the issue.
I am an older man with grand children and fought for this country and it has cost me a price that the state of Tennessee chooses to ignore, let one of there kids or husband or wife get glycoma and see how they would act when the one drug that is proven to slow the process down, would they change there minds ?
Thanks
my dad was exposed to that and i belive thats why I had so many problems growing up and still this day cant get the right medication
It’s me again Margret, Moral grey areas here. I’m glad to see this issue on the table. I’ve seen this issue come to the table several times now, but it’s the first time in a public forum. I really feel this issue ifs long overdue,
I’m not trying, to make this issue any more difficult than it has to be, but I do think and feel, that we do need to bring this issue to light.
These are the first posts and opening comments, of what could be, the largest letter ever sent to congress. It’s within these first comments, that we will have the attention of anyone who matters. So make every word count, if you have a point make it.
My suggestion is this, we keep our posts to a max of 250 characters. Limit them to real personal experiences, ones that are limited to just the facts, and specificity state what the drug does for YOU!
Don’t make stuff up, don’t tell me about what you think it does for your sister inlaws girlfriend.
Don’t cuss, and don’t point fingers.
Don’t tell me how you think it might better the economy. What’s at discussion here is, is there a medical necessity? Yes, or no.
Like I said, they already have a distribution method, and a documentation system. A documentation system that allows the authorities to get involved with the user.
I think you guys got the idea, keep it short and sweet, and to the point. thanks for your cooperation.
I’m not, trying to be a disruption. But I do feel, I need to speak out on this issue. Some important people risked their jobs, their families lives. And it would just be wrong for me to remain silent, when they have believed in me for the last fifteen years.
A. We don’t really need to invest anymore time, money or resources on this issue.
B. I moved to the state of Tennessee, to recover from a stroke (a stroke that over fifty experts testified, I would not recover from)
C. I’ve been living in the state of Tennessee for over twenty years now, of them twenty years, fifteen of them years has been spent using marijuana.
D. At least ten of them fifteen years, my local government and authorities have been aware of me.
E. I have a unspoken agreement, to keep it at home
F. I’ve been arrested, it was documented in my legal file that I use for medical reasons, and I paid a hefty court cost.
G. I intend to get out of my wheelchair this year, proving it’s medical validity.
H. In using marijuana, I’ve personally saved the state health care over a hundred thousand over the course of twenty years.
I. You have a way to distribute it through the pharmacy, you have a way to track it through the courts.
J. There’s ways of using this drug, without smoking it.
K. There’s just no sane reason, not to legalize it.
L. Ask me any of this, and ill deny it till I’m blue in the face.
Thank you for the post i thought you were going to complain. in the 10 years ive been smoking i have gone from not being able to hold my life together to have a steady job ben with my wife for 9 years and have to wonderful kids i moved to TN. were almost all jobs have a drug screen and had to quit started useing herbale incence me and my coworkers call it “diet weed” but its killing people its bad for anyone useing it. I havent smoked “REAL” in over a year now. and im thinking of moveing to a state that i can get a “script” in.
@Kevin … No sir,
I’m sumwhat, in the same boat as you. My life too was also about over, when I first moved here….
I moved here in the early nineties, at which time the doctors began to dismiss me from the medical system. They informed me that, I had made all the progression I was going to make.
After several years of being on 3 different prescription muscle relaxers (as a way to control my out of control muscle spams), my muscles became almost petrified………..
In the mid nineties, I sat in front of my tv.. Sitting, feeling helpless as was I watchin the world end on the news,
And about half way through, they did a segment on Angel Raich & med mj.
And the claims she made about marijuana, were claims that i had only experienced within my own body when I used mj.
So i went to my computer that night, and I did some extensive research…. Within the week I informed my doctor, who then informed me… That, he was only my doc, and how he could only make informative decisions… And that, I need to do what works for me.
So after about ten months of seeing her case being bounced around the federal courts, I weighed out my options…
And I made the decision, that if the world was going to end. I was not going to sit on my ass and watch it.
So I took myself off all prescription meds, and medicated myself daily with mj.
Its now fifteen years later….. I’m no longer the broken man I was, when i first moved here. The world didn’t end, and my life is not quite as bleak as first thought by the med expert I have no complaints.
Here’s the difference between a medical user, and social user.
A social user, will take his or herself. Into ANY situation! (mostly illegal, in order to get it.)
Medical users MIGHT but really don’t want too.
Cops hate that, it makes their job harder, more stressful!
Who suffers?…. Their family…. Mostly the WIVES, but kids suffer allot too. Especially the children of the cops who have either lost their wife, Or the ones that put all the responsibility of raising the children, on the mother.
I have encountered both over my life time. And trust me, nobody in this world suffers more, except maybe the wives and children in third world countries. Than the wives and children of an enslaved police officer, that’s just trying to do for his family and he’s got a bunch of mj users in the middle of it.
Oop’s sorry got off on a rant….
I beg to differ, I think the board will approve it. Why, do I think this? I think the board is a smart one. And they will change how they look at this issue, when they see the trillions of dollars they will save in medical costs. Ya that’s right, trillions!
For those who can’t understand, how marijuana can save trillions… Here ya go…. Me personally, as i mentioned in the above post. Have saved at least $100,000 ~ $200,000. OK so, let’s just say 150,000. And say maybe 2000 medical marijuana patients.
So 2000 x $150,000 x however many years this state survives. Not to mention the billions you will save in emergency room over doses, failed suicide attempts (now you got to pay someone to care for this person that’s fried their brain) it will help fight cancer, etc…
Just legalize it and make coco canna caps
To the doctors:
Who may or may not be, prescribing this medical marijuana.. As some of you doctors may well know, when prescribing this stuff its at best a crap shoot…. I myself have been searching for the “perfect” strain for 16 years, and its been hit or miss, every step of the way. It seemed like every time I thought i knew which strains were helping, I’d spend the next month in pain because I bought the wrong kind… So here’s what you might try, this is an issue that has hurt me for quite sometime. I’ve taken allot of criticism over my strain theorys, but see what you think about this solution… And if any of you patients want to chime in and confirm this works, it would be appreciated…. Here’s the thing I’ve been failing to realize for all them years, in terms of reality nothing in life is perfect, in fact nothing in life is even close to perfect unless you try. So, here’s what I’ve been doing to remedy the situation. Rather than continue wasting more time on this issue, what I’ve done was combine a few of the strains that help me best in a tincture. I take 3 droppers in the am, and 3 at bed time. And I vaporize something that’s beneficial in several areas, like OG Kush within the first hour I’m awake. This has been working for me for the last three months, mornings are a little shaky because my THC level drops. But I hope to remedy this with some homemade coco canna caps and maybe remove the tincture from my routine.
I am a medical patient in Michigan. I got my card for pains i get in my neck from an accident were i was hit by a driver going 60 mph.
I got 4 broking ribs and a c5 fracture out of the whole thing. I mostly smoke at nights and it shouldn’t matter how much to prescribe. Most people are responsible enough to treat it as it was alcohol. Just focus on how much people should have on them. Like here in michigan we can have up to 12 plants and 2.5 ounces.
I really got to give it up, to the guys from Michigan. The way they wrote that law, was just sweet, I’m not sure if they wrote it like that intentionally. But it’s written in a way so the feds can’t revoke it, or come down on the state through the legal system.
So they put it all off on the caregivers, the only thing the doctors can do is recommend strains to the patient. But there’s one thing they didn’t figure in, and that’s where they are having issues that’s. Caregivers can only grow two crops a year, so ya I think the law should cover the dispensaries.
No one dies from it, like FDA approved dosages of many drugs that should NOT be on the market.” Exactly. I have epilepsy, and I live here in TN. I hope my meds don’t kill me before they legalize it.
i have my medical license in michigan and it does wonders, i have messed up and deteriating disk in my back and its a lot better than messing around with pills. Its nice not to worry about pain and then have to worry about the cops as well.
It should be legal everywhere, meaning cards.. not for everyone though.. some kids will abuse it and thats no good, but for patients that really need it its the best way to go. The governent will make a hella load of money to and get us outta debt.
It is a shame that Tennessee is going to look at the board of Pharmacy for the answer to wether it should be legal.
They will never say it should be. That would take to many of the terrible presciptions medications which people are addicted to away. Would even cut into their prescription filling which would cut into their business. Instead of just looking at the facts on how this can help with cancer patients, depression, pain, etc.
Why don’t they just look at the studies done on it instead of relying on the Pharmacy board. It’s a shame you can live in one state and get medical marijuania (non addicting) vs. presciption medication (addicting), but move to another state and have it and you are under arrest because it’s not legal.
I thought we lived in the UNITED States of America. They don’t seem to be to united to me. Maybe we should just say we live in America.
The reasons to begin the legalization process in Tennessee are many, and the many medical uses of cannabis present some of the best but most challenging.
Cannabis has been used as medicine for thousands of years. It is literally impossible to overdose on this perfectly natural substance. It’s active ingredients are even produced in the human body. All of the negative propaganda about this medicinal herb has been produced and propagated by those whose financial interests were in direct opposition to this plant that can be grown almost anywhere and has myriad uses that threaten industries that have great political clout.
Pharmaceutical companies have the greatest stake in illegal cannabis. They have tried for many years to corner it’s active ingredients, but are unable to overcome the fact that, in its natural form, cannabis is effective in treating pain, sleep disorders, emotional disorders, and even some forms of cancer. Cannabis has many testimonials from users who have been able to abandon much more risky synthesized medications whose contraindications and severe side effects but high profit have been placed on the market to later become advertising for legal firms in their search for victims to represent.
As a fiber, hemp the inactive form of cannabis, stands as a very big competitor to wood and synthetic fibers. An acre of the hemp plant can produce as much fiber as an acre of wood, but wood takes twenty years to harvest whereas an acre of hemp can be harvested in one year. Our country is in an oil crisis. Many synthetic fibers are produced from oil. We are all aware of the political power of oil industries.
The implications of hemp and cannabis are social, financial, and political change. When sources of political funding against any attempt to decriminalize cannabis are researched, we find that pharmaceuticals, fiber, law enforcement, oil, and even alcohol producers are at its core. If you want to know why something that seems unfair or plainly ridiculous is being done or not done, following the money trail will always lead you to the hidden answer.
Many, but not all law enforcement agencies, are opposed to legal cannabis. Cannabis is the low hanging fruit of crime. Compared to the difficulty of investigation, prosecution and conviction of other illegal drugs and other crimes, cannabis is relatively easy to uncover. It is well known in police circles as an easy way to promotion. The resources of the courts, probationary services, and police agencies would be much better served in pursuit of real crimes that have serious social impact.
Tennessee has been given the dubious honor of being elevated to the number one state in Meth-amphetamine labs in the country. In my county, the local jail is literally bulging at the seams with these individuals and even more must be done to stop this horrific concoction. As we, as a state, look hard at the problems of effective use of resources, isn’t it time to take an adult look at cannabis prosecutions as a waste of those resources?
Some cite the moral issues as a reason to not consider cannabis decriminalization. Even this apparently high ground is only an illusion. Every religion in the past has seen cannabis as, not only a powerful and effective medical plant, but has even been found to be an integral ingredient in the Holy anointing oil that was given to Moses in the Exodus. It was used to liberally anoint both the items in the Temple, and also the priests who attended it. It has been speculated the Jesus may have used and instructed His disciples to use it to heal those suffering souls that followed Him nearly two thousand years ago.
State laws that govern alcohol use and taxation could easily be adapted to apply to cannabis production, sale and use. The tax revenue that would be generated could fill the gaps that are causing budget shortfalls effecting every area of state governmental responsibility. Jobs can and will be produced in Tennessee by the production and sale of both cannabis and hemp.
Creating an atmosphere of legal medical cannabis will be a good first step toward realizing the potential of this ancient herb. It may produce an alternative for our farmers who currently produce tobacco which has many terrible consequences to long term users and even those unfortunates in close proximity. Decriminalization will create an atmosphere where serious research can take place into its powerful potential to alleviate suffering.
I am not touting cannabis as a universal panacea for all of our many converging problems, but it is time to grow up and see the many things that may be made better by releasing it from the dark halls of ‘evil drugs’ into which it has been forced by those whose financial interests have superseded our general welfare. I, for one, would love to see my beloved state step into the twenty-first century as a leader in common sense and compassion. Let us leave behind the mythology and propaganda of those dark days of prohibition, and step into the bright sunshine of reason.
I work in the medical field and agree with You.I also use to curb back pain
If a doctors gonna prescribe me medications that can kill me im gonna smoke some weed because its safer and a lot of people risk going to jail because they don`t want to die from these medications …and this marijuana law (cost me my career) these medications approved by the FDA have killed more people than street drugs most of this state was built off tobacco and thats killed more people than all the nations wars. I don`t believe any one should be allowed to smoke weed because it doesn’t benefit every one the same ,its a drug like any other drug. and I am against drugs.
but weed is safer than at-least 50 medications IVE TAKEN PRESCRIBED BY DOCTORS (CAN I HAVE THESE DOCTORS ARRESTED?) when doctors gave me drugs in the first place that have me depending on drugs today” to function?
this marijuana LAW it self. not the drug but the (law) has gotten many people killed and cost many peoples careers and destroyed relationships and families “while pharmaceutical company’s profit off poison” that law has gotten good people killed far too long not just drug users or gangsters” but innocent kids police officers politicians” and when you take some one from that medication it causes them brain damage from withdrawal (like many medicines I have taken that my insurance gave me a hard to getting a refill).
It took lives good lives (its promoted in the entertainment industry non stop and you want your kids paying for that?) and you want to take them to a psychiatrist and have them put on drugs that have them committing suicide or shooting up their schools killing there class mates) (God told me to write that) and it kills people
just good people that get in the way because of the fear that surrounds a person just medicating and the fact their will lose their life over a plant.
Marijuana needs to be taken away from the streets and put to good use.. I have a list of reasons our economy got so bad and this is just one of them I would be a police officer if it wasn’t for this law if it is to change in the next 10 years I still am considering …
I have dealt with severe ADHD my entire life. When I was a teenager I smoked marijuana for fun at first. When I realized that it made a huge difference with my ADHD. I was actually able to concentrate in school & work. I didn’t get snappy & edgy like I normally did. My ADHD causes me to forget what I’m doing all the time. I can be cooking dinner, leave it for a second to use the rest room & the next thing I know I’m cleaning my bathroom & doing laundry. I completley forget I’m cooking cause I see something else that needs to be attended to (oh look a chicken). OR has marijuana legal I used it over there now I’m in TN were it is not legal. I’m trying to go to school but it’s so hard to concentrate in class. I take the drug Aderall for it. It helps a little but its a narcotic & I feel causes more problems. There is a problem when we would rather give someone legal meth that is full of cemicals than perscribe them a marijuana cig a few times a day. No side affects & it works so much better & longer than the pills. I hate taking pills.