Mary Jane for Your Daughter Jane

 From the ASHP Headlines

Christie Approves Medical Marijuana For Children.

The CBS Evening News reported that while New Jersey Governor Chris Christie vetoed part of a bill legalizing edible marijuana for pain relief, he did sign off on making it available for children under age 18 with certain chronic illnesses, if certain changes are made. Unlike 17 other states that only require one doctor to authorize medical marijuana for children, Christie will support the bill with a requirement for authorization from both a pediatrician and psychiatrist. Christie wrote, “While many will disagree with the decision to allow minors access to marijuana, even for serious illnesses, parents should remain empowered to make a choice based on their own reflections, study and physician consultation.”

        NBC Nightly News reported that either the pediatrician or psychiatrist has to be enrolled in the state’s marijuana program. The synthesized marijuana will not have the chemical that makes people high, but will have higher amounts of the chemical that impacts the brain to reduce problems like seizures.

        The New York Times (8/16, Zernike, Subscription Publication) noted the New Jersey marijuana registry includes two pediatricians and 16 psychiatrists. Parents of sick children oppose the double authorization requirement because “pediatricians and psychiatrists often know so little about the program that they do not want to support it, and finding a registered doctor willing to prescribe to a child is already difficult.”

        The Wall Street Journal (8/17, Haddon, Subscription Publication) added that marijuana for a child may also be authorized by three doctors, if none of them are on the registry. Christie is putting tight regulations on medical marijuana to not repeat the problem of other states having runaway growth for the industry.

        The Washington Post (8/16, Blake) reported in its “Post Politics” blog that State Assemblywoman Linda Stender criticized Christie saying, “it’s unfortunate that these families were forced to wait nearly two months while this legislation languished on the governor’s desk.”

        The Los Angeles Times (8/17, Mueller) noted that Christie’s decision “to allow sick children access to forms of pot that can be eaten,” is a move “supported by parents worried that the dry-leaf and lozenge forms of the drug pose health concerns.”

        Bloomberg News (8/16, Dopp) reported that Christie originally delayed the medical marijuana program established by his predecessor over concerns of violating Federal law.

        The AP (8/19, Santi, Mulvihill) reports that though the New Jersey legislature has a voting session scheduled for Monday, when it might consider Christie’s revisions is unclear.

        CBS News (8/16, Miller) reported Christie indicated, “I am making commonsense recommendations to this legislation to ensure sick children receive the treatment their parents prefer, while maintaining appropriate safeguards.”

        NBC News (8/16) reported Christie explained limiting the strain cultivation limit “will allow dispensaries to develop products tailored to the needs of particular patient populations, and thus provide additional options to those in need.”

        CNN (8/16, Frerrigno, Koenig, Hudson) reported that parent Brian Wilson, who forced Christie to act by confronting him at a campaign stop, said, “While it is a small victory ... it really just maintains the idea of making (New Jersey) one of the worst medical marijuana programs in the country. So it’s a small victory but it’s kind of ludicrous in a lot of ways.”

        MSNBC (8/16, Lockie) reported that New Jersey’s only medical marijuana dispensary re-opened last Thursday after a lack of supply closed it for seven weeks. Later this year, two more dispensaries are scheduled to open.

        The Bergen (NJ) Record (8/16, Hayes, Williams) reported that pediatric neurologist Dr. Rosario Trifiletti said marijuana is better than strong medications on the market for treating children with severe epilepsy, though Dr. Stephen Thompson, chief of pediatric neurology at Hackensack University Medical Center, “cautioned that child use of marijuana should be a last resort.”