Minnesota To Reportedly Add Flower/Raw Marijuana To Program Following A Full 1/3 Of Registered Patients Quitting Restrictive Program

See below for more.

Amendment Outline:
• A1 adds chronic pain and “any condition for which an opiate could otherwise be prescribed”
• A2 removes language about cancer and terminal illness patients needing to have severe pain, nausea, cachexia, wasting, etc. and removes from terminal illness the “with less than one year to live” language.
• A3 adds vaporized raw cannabis as an allowable delivery method.

Accessibility – Conditions (A1-A2):
• We currently have very, very low patient numbers compared to other states, when adjusted for population.
• 7,000 of the 22,000 who have registered over time have dropped.
• Removing statutory limitations on cancer and terminal illness, health care providers and patients can work together to determine whether medical cannabis is an appropriate treatment for their condition.
• By adding chronic pain and “any condition for which an opiate could otherwise prescribe” will help reduce opiate use in Minnesota.
• Opiate overdose deaths and emergency room visits continue to rise in Minnesota amidst an opioid epidemic, with over 400 deaths in Minnesota, half from prescription abuse.
• A Department of Health survey of early intractable pain patients found that 64% of those who were on opioids when they entered the program were able to reduce their intake or wean off them after six months.
• Research has shown that medical cannabis is associated with significant reductions in opioid prescribing in both the Medicaid and Medicare Part D populations.

Affordability – Raw Cannabis (A3)
• A 2016 report by the Minnesota Department of Health Office of Medical Cannabis, 86% of survey respondents indicated cost was a barrier to access.
• Minnesota’s prices are substantially higher than other markets. In Minnesota, a cartridge from Leafline Labs, costs $73, eighteen cents per milligram. Minnesota Medical Solutions sells their cartridges, with only 250 milligrams of THC for $59, or
twenty-four cents per milligram.
• Minnesota is the only state in the country with an active medical cannabis program that statutorily prohibits the use of plant material, raw cannabis.
• Minnesota’s medical cannabis products cost 2-4 times equivalent products in other states.
• States that followed our model, like Pennsylvania and Florida, added raw cannabis material. Just this month, republicans in Florida voted to add smoking raw cannabis to their program, an initiative that passed the Florida House 101-11.
• Our colleagues in Pennsylvania indicate the cost to patients for medical cannabis dropped over 50% when raw cannabis was added as an allowable delivery method.
• Kyle Kingsley, M.D., CEO of Vireo Health, the parent company to Minnesota Medical Solutions, one of Minnesota’s two registered medical cannabis manufacturers, published an op-ed this past fall indicating that he saw only one realistic policy path toward making cannabis-based medicines more affordable, the use of regulated and safety-tested cannabis flower.
• Minnesota is now the only state among the 30 with viable medical cannabis laws that does not allow plant material of some type to be utilized directly by patients.

While this is a great step forward, we need help in moving this, so I am asking you to please consider a donation to Sensible Change Minnesota to help keep our lobbying efforts alive to try and see these amendments through until the end of session. On behalf of our organization, thank you so much for your support!

Sincerely,

Brandan Borgos
Chair, Sensible Change Minnesota

Says prominent Minnesota activist Maren Joyce Schroeder when WeedPress inquired as to the Governor’s current position she replied “He has indicated he supports this measure.”

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again…this year looks to be remembered as yet another nail in the Reefer Madness coffin! Congrats Minnesota activists. You’re joining the rest of the world.