This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
No, Utahns whose pain, nausea, seizures and debilitating stress could be relieved by the judicious use of marijuana or its by-products should not have to wait for a long and complicated scientific study before the state takes the humane step of allowing it.
But, if putting the state's backing and money behind such a study would help make the move more politically tolerable, then, by all means, let us get on with it.
State Sen. Brian Shiozawa, whose day job is that of an emergency room physician, is planning to submit legislation next year that would put Utah state government squarely behind efforts to use existing funds and the state's impressive array of medical facilities for a research project to determine whether, and how best, to use cannabis to relieve any of the long list of ailments that advocates have long, and convincingly, argued it can ease or cure.
The Legislature came close to approving a plan to allow the medical use of marijuana products in its session early this year. Shiozawa's bill may be one of several that will raise the issue again in the 2017 session to begin in January.
Such a law would not just allow but encourage the state's various medical powerhouses — the University of Utah, Intermountain Healthcare, the Veterans Administration, the Huntsman Cancer Institute — to launch real clinical trials.
Trials that would gather useful, real-world data about how the medical use of marijuana can help, how it might fail and what side-effects should be of concern.
Trials that would enroll Utahns of all ages and walks of life so that people already suffering from everything from cancer to epilepsy to PTSD could participate under the watchful eye, not just of one overworked doctor, but whole teams of top-flight scientists.
As Shiozawa points out, approaching the matter that way should help to make the therapy available to those who need it even as it gathers real data for the benefit of patients here and around the world. And it would do so in a way that should avoid interference from federal anti-drug agencies.
The kind of major research on the promises and hazards of medical marijuana that could have been done a century ago has long been blocked by a senseless federal policy classifying the plant in the same category as heroin and cocaine.
The number of states that have given up waiting and legalized medical marijuana has grown to 25. There is really no reason why Utah should not go ahead and become the 26th.
But Shiozawa's approach would be a smart mixture of compassion and science, a step that would further boost the reputation Utah already deserves for being a leader in healthcare management and science.
So let's get out those clipboards and microscopes and get to work.