10/30/2009 by Chris Goldstein
On October 19th the Ocean County College in Tom’s River, NJ hosted a debate on medical marijuana. A professor of Social Science, Brad Young, moderated. The opposition was Terrence Farley, a former county prosecutor and the now head of the NJ Narcotics Task Force Commanders Assn. Farley is a vehement prohibitionist and we’ve sparred over this topic on television programs before.
I represented the Coalition for Medical Marijuana – New Jersey www.cmmnj.org
Neither of us saw the questions prior to the debate and this question was particularly interesting. As an added bonus you get to see me address some of the reefer madness we encounter locally.
Essentially, “Should medical marijuana be covered by health insurance.”
Looking to see what started my rebuttal? – watch the Previous Debate Segment.
So I pose the question to you all: Should medical cannabis be covered by health insurance?
More about medical marijuana in New Jersey at www.cmmnj.org
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Slightly off-topic, but all the times I’ve heard MJ not being “medicine,” as with the above ex-cop, he means a drug/pharmaceutical. But I’ve heard Kerlikowske and others say specifically it isn’t medicine, and to that I ask, “is getting enough sleep or drinking more fluids or getting exercise or sunshine–is this medicine?” I’ve been told to do all these things by doctors. Are these not valid treatments? Has the FDA studied these courses?
Of course it is medicine, as with MJ–medicine isn’t just about ingesting synthetic (or any) drugs–it’s about a doctor-patient relationship to determine a person’s ailments and well-being and what is needed to correct ailments or maintain well-being. That may involve drugs, lifestyle choices, natural remedies, etc., obviously and rightly including marijuana (and not the ill-informed, non-medical, non-scientific opinions of law enforcement!).
It may be a bit of a fight to get health insurance to pay for the cannabis but I think it should be required that they provide a proper method of using the drug. Forcing a patient to smoke marijuana is exposing them to dangerous tars and other substances. Cooking the herb helps some people but most find that inhaling the THC works best. The best method of inhaling the drug is through a vaporizer. I think vaporizers should be considered necessary medical equipment and covered by medical insurance.
Absolutely, medical insurance should cover medical marijuana. It should NOT cover the shit they give me—Oxycontin—which does absolutely NOTHING for my pain.
One or two puffs of even the schwaggiest herb enables me to go outside, work in the garden, and see the whole world differently. Cannabis allows me, or you, or anyone, to compartmentalize pain and get on with life.
I am so glad Chris Goldstein is on OUR side. He is such a powerful, articulate, persuasive speaker, I can’t imagine him using that gift to spew the prohibitionist garbage of the opposing parties.
Once it’s legalized, or at least decriminalized, (not if, but when) we should all insist on making it retroactive—that is, releasing all marijuana “criminals”, and go after the REAL criminals…these filthy, lying prohibitionists!
I’ll tell you one thing, I can see “San Francisco Democrat Nancy Pelosi wants to use your taxpayer dollars to subsidize all the pot smokers in California!” commercials complete with scary music and foreboding flashes of gay pride parades and stock footage of that one guy with the scraggly beard puffing a pipe fading from black-and-white to negative if we do suggest health insurance should cover marijuana.