Medical Marijuana-Related Links

Highlights from the hearing February 11, 2008 before the Senate Health Care Strategies Committee on SB 556

Links to of all the testimony are below the text.

The committee did not give the bill a fair hearing. A 'fair' hearing would have meant each side was given equal amount of time to present testimony. The committee chair, Senator Wagle (R-Wichita), rushed each of the supporters through their testimony and then gave the opponents the remaining time - or twice as much time as the supporters.

Committee chair Susan Wagle and Senate Minority Leader Haley both voted for the medical marijuana bill several years ago. They were most interested in the testimony submitted by KSCCC Director Green on the other House members who approved the bill back in 1995. At the end of the hearing Wagle thanked General Stephan for the card he sent her when she was diagnosed with cancer - she then went on to tell him that 'they have new drugs now.' This seems to be the story Wagle is telling herself. In the past she supported homeopathic medicine, but not now. Wagle won't even call a vote on the bill.

Due to bad weather, only 4 people from KSCCC were able to attend the hearing in person. General Stephan; Bette Hulser, mother of medical marijuana patient Michael Malonee; Dr. Jon Hauxwell, retired physician from Hays; Laura Green, KSCCC Director. In a fair hearing they would have received as much time as the opposition, but this hearing was far from fair.
Dr. Eric Voth, speaking for the opposition, claimed that many organizations were opposed to the bill, including the Kansas State Nurses Association. In fact, the KSNA was NOT opposed to the bill at all. Voth also stated that Sativex, the drug made from the whole marijuana plant and distributed in Canada for MS and Cancer pain, "caused severe psychosis." He stated that the bill would cause "medicine by popular vote." Interesting because we can't have a popular vote on the issue in Kansas, and if we did - medical marijuana would certainly win out.

Karl Freudth, the director of the Kansas taxpayer-funded Kansas Family Partnership, testified that if the bill passed "how would we as parents tell our kids that marijuana is harmful as the research shows?" He also repeated that KSNA was opposed to the bill - which they aren't. This organization is run by the wife of Dr. Voth His testimony was so full of hysteria, you would have thought the bill before the committee was to legalize cocaine, not provide a defense to prosecution for seriously ill Kansans.

The entire opposition seemed to have created their testimony from the same template, repeating the words, 'medical excuse marijuana.' Dr. Hauxwell, testifying in support of the bill, pointed out that no one uses their cancer or HIV-positive status as an excuse to get high from marijuana.

All the proponents said that this bill would lead to legalization of marijuana. Nevermind that people are getting arrested and prosecuted for using marijuana with their doctor's approval - next week there will be vending machines on the streets if the bill passes!

It is interesting to note that most of the opposition to the bill was in one way or another connected to either Dr. Voth, or to law enforcement. The KS Public Health Association or Health Care Association nor any other large medical organization weighed in on the matter - with the exception of the Kansas Medical Society. In their testimony they never directly mentioned the bill at all. One has to think the medical society is OK with patients getting arrested for using marijuana as a last resort.

When we asked the opponents for copies of their testimony for our website, the head of the KS Narcotics Officer's Association tried to intimidate the KSCCC Director by stating she could not have the documents (which are public record) unless she disclosed where her funding came from and how much General Stephan was being paid. For the record, he is not paid anything, and the funding comes from our members and supporters.