On Monday, I was touched by the many patients, caregivers, dispensary operators and patient family members who traveled to the State House to speak in favor of LD 1296 and in opposition to LD 887. Among other things, LD 1296 would make Maine's medical marijuana registry voluntary, as intended by the people of Maine when they voted decisively for the 2009 citizen's initiative. The bottom line - patients shouldn't have to register in a statewide database and expose their highly personal medical condition and choice of treatment in order to access the medication they need to alleviate their suffering. LD 887 would, bizarrely, require medical marijuana patients be part of the state's Prescription Monitoring Program (PMP) (see ACLU of MAINE's testimony explaining the silliness of this proposal here).
While the ACLU of MAINE has advocated strenuously in defense of patient privacy rights for years, and this year is doing so both in terms of medical marijuana patients and Maine patients in general in relation to Maine's statewide Health Information Exchange, HealthInfoNet (see more on the ACLU of MAINE's concerns about HIN here), this issue just got personal for me.
My oldest and dearest friend was recently diagnosed with brain cancer. In addition to the seriousness of the actual illness, she is facing heavy duty treatments including radiation and chemotherapy which, themselves, are often accompanied by very dire side effects. My friend is a hardworking, taxpaying, law abiding Maine resident. She and her husband are raising a young child, and are landlords for other Maine residents. As she embarks upon her journey (we hope) towards some semblance of recovery, all I want is for her to get the best treatment known in the medical field, and for her to have access to all medications available to cope with the symptoms of both her condition and her treatment protocol. If the medication that can best relieve her pain, or stimulate her (already absent) appetite happens to be marijuana - I have no question in my mind - I will do whatever I need to to assist her in obtaining, preparing, and using cannabis.
The very last thing she, her husband, her father, her child, or all of many, many others who love her need to be worrying about is whether she will be arrested by police or have her personal medical information and treatment decisions collected released against her will.
It's a simple debate. Intimate and difficult medical treatment decisions should be between a patient and her doctor - as with all other medications - many of which carry much more substantial danger of addiction, misuse, diversion or overdose.
As I stated in my testimony before the Committee on Health and Human, many medical marijuana patients are gravely ill. They literally rely on their medication to get them through the day, give them some quality of life, and for some, to even survive. Ultimately, patients who use marijuana simply want what every other seriously ill patient wants -to be allowed to treat their condition with the most effective treatment available without fear of prosecution, implied wrongdoing, or mandated invasion of privacy. Patients, their doctors, and their caregivers should be able to make decisions about medical marijuana without having to fear breach of privacy or prosecution. As stated by one patient– “If your daughter, sister, mother, wife, or loved one were in my situation, or had Cancer or was going blind from Glaucoma, would you allow them to suffer or would you want them to at least alleviate their pain and live comfortably?” For most of us the answer is clear.
The work session and Committee vote are Monday, May 2nd.
Please contact your legislator and urge them to say "yes" to patient rights and patient privacy.