This was authored by Marlena I. Mosbacher, occupational therapy student at Rush University; Mona Shattell, PhD, RN, FAAN, professor and department chair at Rush University; Douglas Bruce, PhD, MSW, assistant professor at DePaul University; Elissa Foster, PhD, associate professor at DePaul University and John P. Brady, BA graduate research assistant at DePaul University.
Decision 2016 will undoubtedly go down as one the most emotionally-charged elections in U.S. history. Although division amongst voters was rampant, there was one candidate on whom America seemed to agree: marijuana.
Three new states, California, Massachusetts, and Nevada, all passed measures legalizing recreational marijuana. Voters also gave medical marijuana initiatives the green light in Florida, North Dakota, and Arkansas. With the marijuana reform movement gaining huge ground with the American public, are cannabis policies in Illinois following suit?
The Compassionate Use of Medical Cannabis Pilot Program Act, which legalized medical cannabis in the State of Illinois, has taken strides in recent months. The Act’s original expiration slated for January 1, 2018 was extended to July 1, 2020. With the Act prolonged, 2016 has seen new dispensaries such as Dispensary 33, The Clinic Mundelein, Greenhouse Morris, Mindful Dispensary, and Seven Point open their doors for business.
Victories aside, the Act is still the most restrictive medical cannabis program in the country. An applicant must’ve been diagnosed with one or more of the 39 qualifying medical conditions or have a life expectancy of 6 months or less. The Act still fails to recognize several chronic pain conditions such as migraines and osteoarthritis.
Are patients who need medical cannabis able to get it? Even for persons with debilitating illnesses that are spelled out in the Act – such as cancer, multiple sclerosis, and Parkinson’s – few actually get it. In Illinois, since September 2014, 12,000 patients have been approved to legally use cannabis, which pales in comparison to the 75,000+ estimate that was projected.
Patients who’ve incorporated cannabis into their therapeutic regimen report significant benefits including management of pain and nausea, and better quality of sleep. These findings align with those that a collaborative team from DePaul University and Rush University (Bruce, Brady, Foster, and Shattell) is finding in their ongoing study. For many patients, cannabis makes it possible to achieve a sense of control over debilitating conditions and improve their quality of life.
Acquiring a card requires a physician to confirm the presence of the qualifying condition(s), but talking to physicians about medical cannabis may be difficult. While some patients are immediately shut down, others are told cannabis could be beneficial but are still refused certification. According to the Act’s most recent annual progress report, the majority of physicians in Illinois certified fewer than 25 qualifying patients each.
Some physicians are unsure about the validity of medical cannabis because of a lack of research; however, producing more high quality cannabis research isn’t easy. This past summer the DEA announced it’ll continue to list marijuana as a Schedule 1 substance under the Controlled Substances Act, deeming it a high-risk drug with no accepted medical use. As a result, cannabis research still requires extensive federal review and government permission.
In some cases, the decision to certify a patient is out of the physician’s hands. It’s common for physicians to practice under hospital/agency policy, which may include strict bans on cannabis. In addition, physicians working with chronic pain patients often utilize medication contracts that prohibit cannabis, because of its classification as an illicit drug.
Another challenge is insurance companies that don’t cover cannabis-based treatments. For patients who need cannabis multiple times per day this is an extra $350 per month or more. In a country that has the most expensive healthcare in the world, this is a serious financial burden for people who may already be drowning in medical debt.
Although the Act has been amended to increase participation, negative stigma still plagues the use of cannabis as medicine. To be sure, states with medical marijuana laws have seen an increase in reported use of marijuana but no increase in marijuana abuse and dependence. Concerns that the presence of marijuana dispensaries might increase neighborhood crime rates have also proven to be unfounded. It’ll take more than a temporary law to guarantee safe access to high-quality cannabis-based treatment – it’ll take a change in attitude that reshapes the conversation about marijuana entirely.