Drug Policy News in Brief (2016/12/04)
Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen
Publication (Outlet/Website): Lift Cannabis News (Submitted/Unpublished)
Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2016/12/04
Ireland opposition bill allowing cannabis for medical use passed
According to the Irish Examiner, in Ireland, a bill, which had “widespread support,” was passed on Thursday without a vote via the Dáil, or the lower house of the Irish legislature. A large number of Irish citizens gave “hopeful testimony.”
There were descriptions about the relief from chronic pain from cannabis in addition to the scientific evidence to bolster the claims, which have been around “for some time.” Apparently, one mother’s testimony stood above the others.
She walked from Cork to Dublin in support of the legalization. With cannabis-derived cannabidiol (CBD), the woman, Vera Twomey, said her daughter, Ava, aged 6 “might be dead” without the CBD provided to her. Ava suffered from seizures. A Barnes report from the UK “reviewed all the all the evidence and found a substantial body of clinical evidence to prove medical cannabis works.”
Drug users do not deserve death
Philippine Star reports that the war against drugs by the Philippine government “does not justify the reimposition of the death penalty” because there are less lethal means that can be used to combat the negative effects of drugs on society.
NoBox, a drug policy reform advocacy group, said, “Drug use alone should not be seen as a social evil or moral failing, as a huge majority of people involved with drugs do not have any associated drug use problems.”
President Rodrigo Duterte previously stated that the death penalty is a necessity because it would prevent the “drug menace from reaching the current alarming levels.” NoBox noted that some use drugs as coping mechanisms and do not harm society.
AMA considering value-based pricing
According to the American Medical Association, or AMA, (Blog), value-based pricing is being considered by American physicians, which “has the potential to reduce prescription drug spending in the U.S.”
The House of Delegate for the AMA, in some light of the increases in drug prices that affect patients, wants to address the price hikes through “new guiding principles to support value-based prescription drug pricing.”
AMA President, Andrew W. Gurman, M.D., said, “The new AMA policy acknowledges the carte blanche approach to drug…This transformation should support drug prices based on their clinical outcomes, and reductions in morbidity and mortality. We need to have the full picture to assess a drug’s true value to patients and the health care system.”
Drug Experts “implore DEA to keep opiate-like plant legal”
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As well, the Washington Post reported on kratom, which “is a safer alternative to the powerful opiates that have fueled a nationwide addiction crisis.” Advocates for kratom and the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) are in a “fierce battle.”
Over 22,000 comments came into the federal proposition for a temporary ban on the natural drug. It has been known in Southeast Asia “as a stimulant and pain reliever,” for centuries in fact, but less known in the United States.
Many comments remarked on the positive benefits to personal life and functionality for users. However, the DEA considered kratom “an imminent hazard to the public safety.” That is, opinions differ on kratom’s status as a help or a hazard.
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