Asa Hutchinson, Doctors Criticize Medical Marijuana Push

LITTLE ROCK - Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, the former head of the federal Drug Enforcement Administration, accused medical marijuana supporters on Monday of misleading voters about the drug's benefits as they promote two new ballot measures that would legalize pot for some patients. Joined by some of the state's top doctors, the Republican governor said the measures "do not lead to good medicine" and said they would circumvent the federal process for studying, approving and regulating new drugs. Arkansas voters narrowly rejected legalizing medical marijuana four years ago. "We don't vote on cancer cures in our society and we should not set a new pattern of determining what is good medicine at the ballot box," Hutchinson said at a news conference, flanked by doctors from several hospitals and organizations around the state. Half the states and the District of Columbia have legalized medical marijuana in some fashion, and advocates for Arkansas' measures view them as a chance to demonstrate support in more conservative parts of the country. Both proposals would allow patients with certain conditions to buy the drug but vary in how it would be regulated and restricted. Dr. Rick Smith, a psychiatrist and addiction specialist at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, said he believed both measures were misleading voters into believing people with conditions such as Alzheimer's disease, post-traumatic stress and anxiety disorder could safely use marijuana. He a...
Source: Arkansas Business - Health Care - Category: American Health Source Type: news