Medical marijuana info meeting is Monday
Though 23 states and Washington, D.C. permit the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes –and four of which permit it for recreation purposes – the legalization of the plant is still a highly conflicted topic for the commonwealth.
Next week, local supporters can learn how they can help the state progress toward legalization.
On Monday, representatives with Kentuckians for Medical Marijuana will host a town hall meeting at the Shelby County Public Library from 6:15 to 8:30 p.m. to discuss the medicinal values of cannabis and educate the community about the facts of the plant’s uses, said organizer John Adcock.
“Our aim is to overthrow the prohibition [of marijuana],” he said.
Adcock said marijuana could be used to treat numerous ailments including PTSD, asthma, diabetes and dementia.
“There are all sorts of problems that it can treat,” he said. “It slows the progression of Alzheimer’s – glaucoma, it takes the pressure of the back of the eye.”
In addition, Adcock said the drug could help curb the local heroin problem.
“We looked at states that have legalized [marijuana] and there was a twenty-five percent decrease in overdose deaths,” he said.
“Once a person is on heroin and they try to get off they have the withdraws. Methadone has always been used to battle the withdraws but its just as toxic as the heroin,” he said. “Why not use a marijuana that can calm them down and get them through and they can move on?”
He explained that there are 40 different strands of marijuana that could be blended together to specifically treat various needs.
“Every strand does something different,” he said, noting that some strands can reduce nausea and encourage a cancer patient to eat and some are even believed to kill cancerous cells in the body.
In fact, Adcock said families are known to uproot and relocate to states were the use is legal in order to treat issues such as seizures in children.
“In Colorado there are over three thousand families that were refuge families –I think ten were from Kentucky– just so they can get the cannabis oil for their kids they cant get here,” he said.
Monday’s meeting will kick-off with a presentation and thereafter guests will have the opportunity to voice their questions and have their concerns addressed.
Adcock said attendees would learn how they can get involved and how the legalization could be done in Kentucky.
He explained that a doctor would not prescribe marijuana for an ailment, only offer a recommendation. The patient would then give that recommendation to the health department who would in turn give them a card to take to a dispensary.
“They would make up the marijuana they need for their ailment,” he said.
The organization has already hosted several of these town hall meetings and Adcock said they have all been well attended, several with more than 100 guests, and they hope to have another great turnout Monday.
Adcock said the topic is a very meaningful issue and residents need to hear the facts.
“We could save a lot of lives by legalizing marijuana,” he said.
Staff Report
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