House and Senate members agreed upon a medical marijuana bill that sets THC dosage limits at up to 30 percent. Larry Walker, a pharmacologist and associate director of a federal marijuana growing program at the University of Mississippi says the dosage is very high, even 20 percent is a lot.
“Often this is sold as ‘well my grandmother is dying of cancer and why can’t she smoke marijuana to relieve her pain?’ I’m fully supportive of that. But your grandmother doesn’t need 30 percent of THC joint to relieve her pain, nobody does,” Walker said.
Walker says marijuana on the street has anywhere from 12 to 15 percent THC. He’s one of the experts at a Mississippi Legislative Black Caucus hearing where lawmakers are learning what may need tweaking in the proposed bill. Dr. Elias Jackson of Texas, heads research and development for a biopharmaceutical firm. He thinks there should be a certification program that includes clinical trials. There would be a seal of approval on products.
“When I say certification, think of it as the UL symbol. You know if you go buy electronics you’ll have the UL symbol you know it follows these standards. There could be a symbol, a Mississippi symbol, for every legalized cannabinoid product put on our shelves,” Jackson said.
Some experts testifying here say they want to see medical marijuana treated like medicine from production to patient outcomes. They say the only medical element in the bill is patients getting certified by a doctor to obtain the product.
The issue of funding also came up during the hearing. The Mississippi Department of Health is charged with administering the medical marijuana program with help from the Department of Agriculture and Commerce. Both agencies said it would take an additional $3.5 million each, per year, to implement the program.
