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FAIRFIELD COUNTY, Conn. — Fairfield County residents suffering from debilitating diseases and other medical conditions can now get medical marijuana from their doctors.
Gov. Dannel Malloy signed a bill Friday that allows doctors in the county and the rest of Connecticut to prescribe the drug for certain illnesses and conditions. The law has safeguards that should prevent abuse, Malloy says.
“For years, we’ve heard from so many patients with chronic diseases who undergo treatments like chemotherapy or radiation and are denied the palliative benefits that medical marijuana would provide,” Malloy said in a statement. “With careful regulation and safeguards, this law will allow a doctor and a patient to decide what is in that patient’s best interest."
Some of the conditions that qualify as debilitating include cancer, glaucoma, AIDS or HIV, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, damage to the nervous tissue of the spinal cord with objective neurological indication of intractable spasticity, epilepsy, cachexia (emaciation often caused by cancer or cardiac diseases), wasting syndrome, Crohn’s disease, post-traumatic stress disorder, and other medical conditions, treatments and diseases.
Patients will be able to get marijuana from "certified pharmacists at licensed dispensaries, who will obtain it from licensed producers," the governor's office said.
The law allows for the licensing of at least three, but no more than 10, producers statewide.
“We don’t want Connecticut to follow the path pursued by some other states, which essentially would legalize marijuana for anyone willing to find the right doctor and get the right prescription,” Malloy said.
Comments (1)
I guess this is the only reason why marijuana should be legal. Medical conditions that can be cured by marijuana can be prescribed by doctors to their patients because it is now legal, but the rest of reasons should be left behind. Contrary to popular belief, Washington states and Colorado did not legalize weed. As the substance is still regulated, voters in those states actually passed marijuana decriminalization regulations. Semantics aside, those states are poised to enjoy financial advantages of doing so, not least of which being million in tax revenue.