Zen Healing Medical Marijuana Pharmacy | Flickr via Creative Commons
The State Medical Board of Ohio will reconsider whether doctors should be able to prescribe medical marijuana for patients with anxiety or autism.
Just last month, the board considered expanding the qualifying conditions for medical marijuana to these two conditions, along with depression, insomnia and opioid use and addiction. The board rejected medical marijuana for the latter three conditions and delayed a decision on the other two to await more input from medical experts.
These experts will be contracted through the Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, according to Cleveland.com.
Jared Moffat, a campaign coordinator for the Marijuana Policy Project, told The Center Square via email that five medical marijuana states give doctors discretion for prescribing medical marijuana for all serious health conditions. Seven states specifically list autism as a qualifying condition and one state – New Jersey – lists anxiety as a condition.
The Marijuana Policy Project is a non-profit that advocates for the legalization of both medical and recreational use of marijuana.
About 1.6 million Ohioans are diagnosed with anxiety, which is nearly 14 percent of the state’s population. The state does not have statistics for the number of adults diagnosed with autism, but about 44,000 children have been diagnosed. Minors are only eligible to be prescribed medical marijuana with the consent of their parents.
“It’s important to keep in mind that the issue is not whether every child with autism or every person with anxiety should be treated with medical cannabis,” Moffat said. “The issue is whether the state should expand the set of qualifying conditions, so more patients, families, and their doctors can legally make that choice. Our position – and I think the compassionate position – is that more families and doctors in Ohio should have these options.”
Moffat said that studies have shown that medical marijauana can alleviate symptoms associated with autism, citing two studies in Israel. He said that more research needs to be done to know whether medical marijuana could help with anxiety, but that there is evidence that suggests it may help in some circumstances. Regardless, he said that the option should be available for doctors who believe it may be helpful in a certain situation.
If the board does not expand qualifying conditions, “fewer families will have the option of legally accessing something that may have the potential to alleviate suffering for a loved one,” Moffat said. “I think the moral weight of that outweighs any hypothetical objections someone might come up with.”
Currently, Ohio has more than 20 conditions that qualify for medical marijuana if prescribed by a doctor. These conditions include
This article originally ran on thecentersquare.com.