Mccaslin Backs Bill To Study Medicinal Marijuana
Sen. Bob McCaslin says his wife Wanda suffered during her losing fight with cancer last fall.
“I couldn’t do anything for her, and she couldn’t do anything for herself,” McCaslin said, overcome with tears at the memory.
To ease the pain and discomfort of the very sick, McCaslin, R-Spokane Valley, is co-sponsoring a bill requiring a study of how best to grow and prescribe marijuana for medicinal use.
“My philosophy on a terminal illness is whatever helps you, it’s OK no matter what it is as long as it’s legally obtained. You should be able to get it through prescription,” he said.
“Some people get hung up on, ‘It’s illegal. It affects you mentally,”’ McCaslin said. “Well when you are terminally ill, that affects you mentally a lot more. This bill could help people.”
The issue is sensitive: several health service providers in Spokane interviewed about medicinal marijuana were enthusiastic about its benefits, but afraid to be quoted by name.
Catherine Ralston of Hospice of Spokane welcomes the bill. “Certainly it bears further study,” she said of medicinal marijuana use. “Generally speaking, there are benefits from a medical standpoint to this substance.”
THC, the active drug in marijuana, can help control the nausea and pain of AIDS or HIV-related illnesses, cancer chemotherapy and radiology, as well as glaucoma, multiple sclerosis and other life-threatening diseases.
“It’s out there,” Ralston said. “People are using it whether it’s legal or not …. It has nothing to do with getting high.”
THC can be prescribed in pill and smokable form, but is synthetically derived. The plant form is both cheaper and more effective, some health practitioners say.
“Nurses tell me there are lots of other drugs out there that do the same things but cost a lot more,” Ralston said. “The pill is less speedy to deliver, and not quite as intense.”
Wanda McCaslin’s cancer was first diagnosed in 1986. It began as breast cancer, and spread to her bones. Painful treatment, including placement of metal rods in each femur, did not reverse the disease.
“When she wanted to die I couldn’t give her medication to kill her,” McCaslin said. “That’s taking a life and I couldn’t do that.”
But he hated to see her suffer.
She died in her sleep last October at the age of 69.
The bill, HB 6744, would direct the University of Washington, Washington State University, the State Board of Pharmacy and the Department of Health to explore a tamper-free means of growing effective and safe marijuana plants for medicinal purposes.
The study would determine who would grow it, the appropriate chemical content of marijuana to provide safe and effective relief, licensing procedures, the plant’s potential benefits, and an estimate of the cost of growing, processing and distributing the substance.
, DataTimes