Don’t Expect Legal Pot Here ; Ncounty Legislators Oppose Bills That Would Legalize Marijuana For Medical Use. [Intelligencer Journal (Lancaster, PA)]

Staff Writer

tknapp@lnpnews.com

If the Lancaster County legislative delegation in Harrisburg has its way, medical marijuana is unlikely to become legally available to ailing Pennsylvanians.

"I don't believe the majority of my constituents would support this legislation," state Rep. David Hickernell, a Republican representing the 98th District, said in an email Tuesday.

"If the bill comes before the House, I would vote no."

House Bill 1181 and Senate Bill 770 would both legalize marijuana for medical use.

Neither bill is expected to come to the floor for a vote any time soon. If they did, approval is unlikely.

"I am opposed and will remain opposed to ... HB 1181 until the medical community makes the case that this is a medical necessity," said Rep. Ryan Aument, a Republican who represents the 41st District.

"To date, this case simply has not been made," he said. "There is not broad agreement, nor support, within the medical community for the approach taken in HB 1181."

Aument said there are "numerous federal restrictions in place that stand in the way of effective implementation of a medical marijuana program."

Roadblocks include federal guidelines on insurance coverage and research, he said, as well as the legal right to deny jobs to patients using marijuana in any form.

A proposal to tax medical-use marijuana is problematic since other prescription medications are not taxed, he added.

Any action by state lawmakers may be moot unless there's a change at the top. Gov. Tom Corbett, also a Republican, has said he'll veto any bill legalizing any form of marijuana.

Dana Ulrich of Reinholds, whose daughter Lorelei, 6, suffers from epilepsy, has raised the issue.

Treatment with various medicines has failed to budge the disorder, Ulrich said. She believes - armed with a recent CNN documentary - that a form of medical marijuana can ease Lorelei's condition.

The girl suffers some 400 seizures each day, her mother said. Ulrich said Lorelei might gain relief from a marijuana extract that is ingested, not smoked, and has no psychoactive effects.

Even so, state Rep. Keith Greiner, a Republican representing the 43rd District, said he's against legalizing medical marijuana here.

"If it would come up for a vote, I would vote no," he said.

"I really don't believe that there is clear-cut evidence that medical marijuana would help solve that little girl's problem," he said Monday. "So, at this point, definitely a no."

However, he didn't slam the door on the possibility of changing his mind.

"If there's convincing evidence, maybe I'd give it a second thought," Greiner said.

Rep. Mindy Fee, a Republican representing the 37th District, said Lorelei's story "is tragic."

"I absolutely grieve for that family," Fee said Monday. However, she said, "there are a lot of other tragedies out there where families lost their children to drug abuse."

That's the bottom line for Fee when addressing the question of legalizing medical marijuana.

"I am opposed to it," she said. "I am going to stay opposed to it. ... It puts our families, our children and our communities at risk."

Rep. Bryan Cutler, a Republican representing the 100th District, said debate at the state level is premature.

"While several states have loosened their laws relating to medical marijuana, the substance is still illegal under federal law," Cutler wrote in an email Tuesday, "and the federal government has consistently asserted ... its authority to prosecute anyone found in violation of the federal Controlled Substances Act."

He said, for instance, that the feds can seize inventory from medical marijuana dispensaries.

"As a parent I sympathize with seeking medical treatment for your children and understand the desire to find anything that would help your kids," Cutler said.

However, medical trials are, at this time, "the only viable option for patients or their families seeking medical marijuana as a treatment," he said. Ongoing clinical trials will "help shape the debate" if the federal government opts in the future to allow the use of medical marijuana.

Rep. Steven Mentzer, a Republican from the 97th District, touted the use of Marinol - an FDA-approved synthetic cannabinoid marketed as a legal alternative to natural cannabis - as an option for the Ulrichs and other patients to consider.

"There's a lot of research yet to be done on cannabis," he said.

Before he can support a law like HB 1181, Mentzer said, he wants the FDA "to say aye or nay about this."

"If research shows that there are no harmful effects, I think we should do anything we can for people who are suffering from diseases like that," he said.

Rep. Gordon Denlinger, a Republican from the 99th District, said he's open to further research.

"I'm very open to medical research on non-smokable uses of cannabis and will be watching the development as research moves forward," he said Wednesday.

"I am somewhat concerned about recreational-use advocates who are riding this issue, riding the medical marijuana issue to try and push through recreational use and legalization," Denlinger added. "Clearly some individuals are using the hardship of others to gain recreational-use legalization."

State Rep. Mike Sturla, who represents the 96th District, said Monday he's "generally supportive of the concept, but as they always say, the devil's in the details.

"I can't imagine it coming up in the House in the near future," he added. "For those people who believe they can get some relief from it, that's not good news."

Sturla, the county's lone Democrat in the Legislature, said Pennsylvania is a socially conservative state, and he expects most lawmakers will wait to see how legalization for medical use goes in other states first.

But the state House isn't likely to bend, he said.

"It looks like there's going to be a huge hole in next year's budget," Sturla said. The Republican Party is interested in expanding gaming to fill the hole, he said.

"Maybe if they could figure out a way to make money off of medical marijuana, they would," he said. "That's the only thing I can think of that would entice them."

Ulrich and other supporters may have an ally in the state Senate, however.

Sen. Mike Folmer, a Republican representing the 48th District, said doctors are best able to make decisions regarding drug use.

Folmer said medical marijuana could be handled in the same way as narcotic painkillers such as Oxycontin, Vicodin and Percocet.

"Under the same strict supervision of my medical professional, why would I not be able to have medical marijuana prescribed?" he asked. "If it can help pain and suffering, why not?"

He blamed widespread opposition on misinformation.

"Everyone seems to think that medical marijuana means they'll be sitting around smoking a doobie," he said.

One reason Sen. Lloyd Smucker opposes Senate Bill 770 is a clause allowing patients, with a medical card provided by a doctor, "to have in their possession up to six plants, which I presume to mean they could grow it and use it as they see fit."

Like with narcotics, Smucker - a Republican representing the 13th District - said, any consideration of medical marijuana should include strong controls of its availability.

"We have doctors that prescribe drugs that are more potent than marijuana," he said. "However, marijuana has not been approved by the FDA, so it hasn't gone through that rigorous review."

Smucker also noted that doctors in the area don't seem to be lining up to prescribe marijuana to their patients.

"I haven't heard from doctors in my area that it is a drug that they'd like to prescribe," he said. "Quite the opposite, in fact."

Sen. Michael Brubaker, a Republican from the 36th District, did not immediately return calls Tuesday and Wednesday.

Ulrich - who runs a blog at mmj4l.com - and other supporters will rally to support medical-use marijuana at the capitol rotunda in Harrisburg at 9 a.m.Nov. 18.