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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
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State
Rep. Mark Cohen |
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Cohen announces medical marijuana bill
HARRISBURG, April 29 – At a news conference at the state Capitol today, state Rep. Mark Cohen, D-Phila., announced he's introducing legislation (H.B. 1393) that would allow for use of medical marijuana in Pennsylvania.
"As time goes on, citizens and governmental officials throughout our country increasingly recognize the need to expand options for health care. Allowing physicians to legally prescribe medical marijuana to help alleviate the suffering of their patients is an idea whose time has come," Cohen said.
Cohen was joined at the news conference by a patient who said he would benefit from the use of medical marijuana, a former corrections officer who has seen the difficulty of caring for ill inmates serving time for illegal marijuana possession, and medical marijuana advocates. Cohen noted that modern medical research has discovered a beneficial use for marijuana in treating or alleviating the pain or other symptoms associated with certain debilitating medical conditions.
"Many of today's prescribed pain medications have severe side effects and reactions that can be so horrible some patients would rather have the pain. Many of today's pain medicines are strongly addictive, leaving people with terrible withdrawal difficulties," Cohen said. "Legal medical marijuana is a pain management medication that is known to be effective in relieving pain and is not physically addictive for most people. Patients are asking for this bill."
Cohen noted that a survey on his Web site – www.pahouse.com/Cohen - found 80 percent supported the legalization of marijuana for medical purposes. Internet polls in Wilkes-Barre for television station WYOU and in Philadelphia for the Philadelphia Metro found 79 percent and 96 percent support, respectively. In a statewide poll on the issue, a sampling in the 2006 Casey-Santorum U.S. Senate race taken by Franklin and Marshall College Center for Politics and Public Affairs found 76 percent of the sample, disproportionately weighted with Republicans, in favor of medical marijuana with 20 percent against.
"Opposition to this bill seems to be based on fear and misinformation, with too many legislators and others holding on to the old image that marijuana has," Cohen said. "It is time to create a new image for marijuana – one as a medicine that when prescribed by responsible doctors could help thousands of patients across this Commonwealth. The new image should be that of the senior citizen with cancer, the middle-aged person with HIV, the young person with multiple sclerosis, a grandparent with glaucoma, or a father with Crohn's disease."
Cohen said that in addition to providing patients and their doctors with an option to treating pain, medical marijuana would increase state revenues by at least $25 million a year in three ways: all purchases of marijuana would be subject to a sales tax, all people who want to legally use medical marijuana would have to pay a $50 per year fee and all medical marijuana dispensaries would pay an annual fee to be established with the Pennsylvania departments of Health and Revenue.
Medical marijuana is now legal in 13 states and is being actively considered in several others including New Jersey and New York.
Attention Radio News Directors: an actuality from Rep. Cohen on his medical marijuana bill is available by calling 1-800-452-3001. Enter PA202 (7-2-2-0-2) and the pound sign (#) at the menu prompt to get today’s sound. You can also download the sound in .mp3 format by visiting www.pahouse.com/mediacenter.
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