After a unanimous vote Thursday, the Massachusetts Hospital Association Board of Trustees announced that it would join an ongoing list of Massachusetts organizations that oppose the regulation and taxation of marijuana in the commonwealth, according to a Thursday press release.
The release also stated that the MHA is opposing the bill due to a possible increase in public health risks and the inevitable increased accessibility of marijuana to the youth in Massachusetts.
MHA President and CEO Lynn Nicholas said in the release that the legalization of marijuana has proven controversial for health care professionals.
“Massachusetts hospitals have always been at the forefront of promoting public health, and the question of whether our commonwealth should legalize recreational marijuana use poses a number of significant healthcare-related problems,” Nicholas said in the release.
Nicholas also said that the MHA is unwavering in its opposition to legalization of the drug.
“Clinicians and healthcare leaders from around the state have a clear message — this ballot question is the wrong prescription for Massachusetts,” Nicholas said in the release. “Based on the clear evidence and concern for our patients and our communities, the hospital answer to whether recreational marijuana use should be legalized in Massachusetts is a resounding ‘no.’”
The ballot measure, titled “The Regulation and Taxation of Marijuana Act,” would allow commercialization and government regulation of recreational marijuana.
“The purpose of this Act is to control the production and distribution of marijuana under a system that licenses, regulates and taxes the businesses involved in a manner similar to alcohol and to make marijuana legal,” the measure states. “Its intent is to remove the production and distribution of marijuana from the illicit market and to prevent the sale of marijuana to persons under 21 years of age by providing for a regulated and taxed distribution system.”
The act also includes the development of a cannabis advisory board “to study and make recommendations on the regulation of marijuana and marijuana products,” the measure stated. The board will not consist of government employees from the commonwealth.
Jim Borghesani, a spokesperson for the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol, expressed strong opposition to the hospital’s decision.
“We don’t think it will happen at all,” Borghesani said. “We are confident Massachusetts voters will see past the stale, discredited arguments from the 1930s while they are considering a new approach for a substance”
According to an email from Gabrielle Farrell, a spokesperson for Boston Mayor Martin Walsh, Walsh is opposed to the legalization of marijuana.
Residents of Boston had mixed opinions on the regulation of marijuana in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts as a whole.
Lynne Begier, 41, of Back Bay, said Boston residents are likely to favor legalization.
“It’s understandable why the hospital wants to vote against the legalization of marijuana, but I don’t think that it’s the be-all-end-all,” she said. “I know it’s a topic of discussion here in Boston, and I think the residents are liberal enough to vote yes.”
Rebecca Nelson, 32, of Back Bay, said she supports the MHA’s decision.
“I don’t think [legalization] is a good idea, and I think the hospital has the right reasoning behind it,” she said. “I don’t want my kids to grow up surrounded by pot. I know that it’s inevitable that they’ll be exposed to it, but I don’t want it to be readily available any more than it is. Maybe decriminalized, but not available for recreational use.”
Vincent Lavigne, 22, of the South End, said he was surprised hospitals are not adapting to the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes.
“Everyone seems to smoke pot nowadays, especially here in Boston,” he said. “I’m actually surprised that the hospital denied it because of its medicinal uses. I feel like it would actually be beneficial to them, maybe make them some money.”
Kyler Sumter contributed to the reporting of this article.
Kennedy serves as a city associate for the Daily Free Press. A freshman, she studies English with a minor in philosophy. As a journalist, Kennedy shows special interest in crime and local politics. You can follow her on Twitter at @stellarkenn.
When a loved one is in pain, wasting away unable to eat, and needs this marvelous herb in order to increase their appetite, reduce the overwhelming pain, and live as as healthy and happily as they can with the time they have left, let’s have the compassion to allow them to have it.
Stop treating Medical Marijuana Patients like second rate citizens and common criminals by forcing them to the dangerous black market for their medicine.
Risking incarceration to obtain the medicine you need is no way to be forced to live.
Support Medical Marijuana Now!
“[A] federal policy that prohibits physicians from alleviating suffering by prescribing marijuana for seriously ill patients is misguided, heavy-handed, and inhumane.” — Dr. Jerome Kassirer, “Federal Foolishness and Marijuana,” editorial, New England Journal of Medicine, January 30, 1997
“[The AAFP accepts the use of medical marijuana] under medical supervision and control for specific medical indications.” — American Academy of Family Physicians, 1989, reaffirmed in 2001
“[We] recommend … allow[ing] [marijuana] prescription where medically appropriate.” — National Association for Public Health Policy, November 15, 1998
“Therefore be it resolved that the American Nurses Association will: — Support the right of patients to have safe access to therapeutic marijuana/cannabis under appropriate prescriber supervision.” — American Nurses Association, resolution, 2003
“The National Nurses Society on Addictions urges the federal government to remove marijuana from the Schedule I category immediately, and make it available for physicians to prescribe. NNSA urges the American Nurses’ Association and other health care professional organizations to support patient access to this medicine.” — National Nurses Society on Addictions, May 1, 1995
“[M]arijuana has an extremely wide acute margin of safety for use under medical supervision and cannot cause lethal reactions … [G]reater harm is caused by the legal consequences of its prohibition than possible risks of medicinal use.” — American Public Health Association, Resolution #9513, “Access to Therapeutic Marijuana/Cannabis,” 1995
“When appropriately prescribed and monitored, marijuana/cannabis can provide immeasurable benefits for the health and well-being of our patients … We support state and federal legislation not only to remove criminal penalties associated with medical marijuana, but further to exclude marijuana/cannabis from classification as a Schedule I drug.” — American Academy of HIV Medicine, letter to New York Assemblyman Richard Gottfried, November 11, 2003
Nobody can deny the Medical effectiveness of Medical Marijuana.
Below is a small sampling of the Professional Medical Organizations Worldwide that attest to Medical Marijuana’s effectiveness and Support Legal Access to and Use of Medical Marijuana.
Along with over twenty U.S states that have already legalized medical marijuana.
Are they ALL wrong?
International and National Organizations
AIDS Action Council
AIDS Treatment News
American Academy of Family Physicians
American Medical Student Association
American Nurses Association
American Preventive Medical Association
American Public Health Association
American Society of Addiction Medicine
Arthritis Research Campaign (United Kingdom)
Australian Medical Association (New South Wales) Limited
Australian National Task Force on Cannabis
Belgian Ministry of Health
British House of Lords Select Committee on Science and Technology
British House of Lords Select Committee On Science and Technology (Second Report)
British Medical Association
Canadian AIDS Society
Canadian Special Senate Committee on Illegal Drugs
Dr. Dean Edell (surgeon and nationally syndicated radio host)
French Ministry of Health
Health Canada
Kaiser Permanente
Lymphoma Foundation of America
The Montel Williams MS Foundation
Multiple Sclerosis Society (Canada)
The Multiple Sclerosis Society (United Kingdom)
National Academy of Sciences Institute Of Medicine (IOM)
National Association for Public Health Policy
National Nurses Society on Addictions
Netherlands Ministry of Health
New England Journal of Medicine
New South Wales (Australia) Parliamentary Working Party on the Use of Cannabis for Medical Purposes
Dr. Andrew Weil (nationally recognized professor of internal medicine and founder of the National Integrative Medicine Council)
State and Local Organizations
Alaska Nurses Association
Being Alive: People With HIV/AIDS Action Committee (San Diego, CA)
California Academy of Family Physicians
California Nurses Association
California Pharmacists Association
Colorado Nurses Association
Connecticut Nurses Association
Florida Governor’s Red Ribbon Panel on AIDS
Florida Medical Association
Hawaii Nurses Association
Illinois Nurses Association
Life Extension Foundation
Medical Society of the State of New York
Mississippi Nurses Association
New Jersey State Nurses Association
New Mexico Medical Society
New Mexico Nurses Association
New York County Medical Society
New York State Nurses Association
North Carolina Nurses Association
Rhode Island Medical Society
Rhode Island State Nurses Association
San Francisco Mayor’s Summit on AIDS and HIV
San Francisco Medical Society
Vermont Medical Marijuana Study Committee
Virginia Nurses Association
Whitman-Walker Clinic (Washington, DC)
Wisconsin Nurses Association
Additional AIDS Organizations
The following organizations are signatories to a February 17, 1999 letter to the US Department of Health petitioning the federal government to “make marijuana legally available … to people living with AIDS.”
AIDS Action Council
AIDS Foundation of Chicago
AIDS National Interfaith Network (Washington, DC)
AIDS Project Arizona
AIDS Project Los Angeles
Being Alive: People with HIV/AIDS Action Committee (San Diego, CA)
Boulder County AIDS Project (Boulder, CO)
Colorado AIDS Project
Center for AIDS Services (Oakland, CA)
Health Force: Women and Men Against AIDS (New York, NY)
Latino Commission on AIDS
Mobilization Against AIDS (San Francisco, CA)
Mothers Voices to End AIDS (New York, NY)
National Latina/o Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual And Transgender Association
National Native American AIDS Prevention Center
Northwest AIDS Foundation
People of Color Against AIDS Network (Seattle, WA)
San Francisco AIDS Foundation
Whitman-Walker Clinic (Washington, DC)
Other Health Organizations
The following organizations are signatories to a June 2001 letter to the US Department of Health petitioning the federal government to “allow people suffering from serious illnesses … to apply to the federal government for special permission to use marijuana to treat their symptoms.”
Addiction Treatment Alternatives
AIDS Treatment Initiatives (Atlanta, GA)
American Public Health Association
American Preventive Medical Association
Bay Area Physicians for Human Rights (San Francisco, CA)
California Legislative Council for Older Americans
California Nurses Association
California Pharmacists Association
Embrace Life (Santa Cruz, CA)
Gay and Lesbian Medical Association
Hawaii Nurses Association
Hepatitis C Action and Advisory Coalition
Life Extension Foundation
Maine AIDS Alliance
Minnesota Nurses Association
Mississippi Nurses Association
National Association of People with AIDS
National Association for Public Health Policy
National Women’s Health Network
Nebraska AIDS Project
New Mexico Nurses Association
New York City AIDS Housing Network
New York State Nurses Association Ohio Patient Network Okaloosa AIDS Support and Information Services (Fort Walton, FL)
Physicians for Social Responsibility – Oregon
San Francisco AIDS Foundation
Virginia Nurses Association
Wisconsin Nurses Association
Health Organizations Supporting Medical Marijuana Research
International and National Organizations
American Cancer Society
American Medical Association
British Medical Journal
California Medical Association
California Society on Addiction Medicine
Congress of Nursing Practice
Gay and Lesbian Medical Association
Jamaican National Commission on Ganja
National Institutes of Health (NIH) Workshop on the Medical Utility of Marijuana
Texas Medical Association
Vermont Medical Society
Wisconsin State Medical Society
I am 100% positive that the hospital never denied the effects of medical marijuana. They are just worried about the affect it will have on the under-aged society when it becomes more accessible. And like all things on this world, man-made or no, medical marijuana does have some side effects. The fact that there are people who are studying marijuana as a therapeutic and medicinal means goes to show how far we have progressed to legalize it. Everyone just expects it to be legalized with no problems. It’s not like all the world is waiting on some miracle cure to everything. There are going to be side effects to the product as well as the decision and it’s going to take some time. If some people think that those side effects aren’t worth it, then that is totally okay.