Arizona’s health director wants to make it more difficult to add new conditions for which doctors can recommend medical marijuana.
Under the voter-approved law from 2010 it can be prescribed for glaucoma, HIV and severe and chronic pain and state health officials can consider petitions to expand the list.
Health Director Will Humble had rejected prior efforts to add Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, saying there was no credible scientific evidence PTSD could be helped by marijuana. But a hearing officer has ruled anecdotal evidence could be considered, so Humble relented. Now, he wants to re-draft the rules to say future changes can come only with peer-reviewed studies that show clear and convincing evidence the drug works.
"So that's just my intent in making it clear, as I thought it already was, but to make it even more crystal clear that future decisions, or any decisions I continue make in this job, will need to be based on evidence and data,” Humble said.
But attorney Jeffrey Kaufman said the change ignores a key fact.
“The governments have constructed a complex and impossible program and maze for anyone to get medical marijuana studies funding,” Kaufman said.
Kaufman contends Humble’s proposal would keep any conditions from ever being added under the law.