BUFFALO, NY - State lawmakers want to let doctors treat addiction with medical marijuana. But, the medical field isn't entirely convinced it's a good idea.
Cancer, Parkinson's Disease, multiple sclerosis and post-traumatic stress disorder are just some of the conditions that are allowed to be treated under the state's medical marijuana program. Under a bill proposed by Assembly Member Daniel O'Donnell a Manhattan Democrat, opioid addiction would be added to the list.
"I think it's an excellent idea, I think the risks of medical marijuana are relatively low," said psychiatrist Jared Masci, one of many doctors, approved by the state, to prescribe medical marijuana. He thinks addicts could benefit from it.
"A large portion of them have pre-existing psychiatric conditions including anxiety, post-traumatic stress - so the idea being if that is treated effectively with medical marijuana, the risk of relapse could potentially be less," he said.
But Dr. Richard Blondell, of UB's Department of Family Medicine, isn't so sure.
"My question is, where is the science that would support that and the science is pretty weak? It would be appropriate to isolate these chemicals from marijuana one by one and evaluate them in clinical trials to see which ones are helpful if any and which ones are not," he said.
"Because it's federally illegal, it makes it very difficult to get funding to do clinical research trials and because of that, there's very limited data as to whether medical marijuana works," Masci said. "There's a lot of unknowns and if nothing else, the use of medical marijuana in this setting could help us to get some of that information."
"The other thing that is important here is to understand what's the difference between a short term outcome and a long term outcome," Blondell said.
The bill passed out of the Assembly's health committee last week by a vote of 23-1, with local assemblymen Ray Walter and Robin Schimminger voting yes.
But, it still needs votes in the full Assembly and Senate - and we don't know if or when that will happen.