By Peyton Majors
Christian Action League
February 17, 2023
The head of the Christian Action League testified to a North Carolina Senate committee this week that neither science nor common sense supports the legalization of medical marijuana and that by passing a proposed bill, legislators would be performing an “end-run around the practice and the standards of modern healthcare and medicine.”
Rev. Mark Creech, executive director of the Christian Action League, made the comments Wednesday to the North Carolina Senate Judiciary Committee and urged legislators to oppose Senate Bill 3, which if passed and signed into law would set up a commission that would issue licenses to individuals and businesses who would then grow, cultivate, produce and sell marijuana for medicinal purposes.
The bill takes care not to use the word “marijuana” but instead calls it by its synonym, cannabis. The commission would be dubbed the Medical Cannabis Production Commission.
Although supporters call the bill the “NC Compassionate Care Act,” Creech told senators that the science behind medical marijuana is thin.
“I’m not a physician, but neither are the sponsors of this bill or most senators who might vote for it. Of course, some doctors will say that they support medical marijuana. Nevertheless, there is no consensus by qualified medical expert organizations that marijuana is medicine,” Creech said.
He then read from a paper published in the Journal of the American Medical Association by researchers Samuel T. Wilkinson and Deepak Cyril D’Souza. The paper, Creech said, “sums up” his position on the issue.
“If marijuana is to be used for medical purposes, it should be subjected to the same evidence-based review and regulatory oversight as other medications prescribed by physicians,” Creech said, reading from the Journal. “Potentially therapeutic compounds of marijuana should be purified and tested in randomized, double-blind, placebo-and active-controlled clinical trials.
“Toward this end, the federal government should actively support research examining marijuana’s potentially therapeutic compounds,” Creech said, still reading from the Journal. “These compounds should be approved by the FDA — not by popular vote or state legislature — produced according to good manufacturing practice standards, distributed by regulated pharmacies and dispensed via a conventional and safe route of administration such as oral pills or inhaled vaporization. Otherwise, states are essentially legalizing recreational marijuana but forcing physicians to act as gatekeepers for those who wish to obtain it.”
Although the bill limits the use of medical marijuana to about 14 medical conditions, it gives broad authority to a newly created board — the Compassionate Use Advisory Board — to add to the list.
“Smoked marijuana is not medicine,” Creech said. “This, fundamentally speaking, is an end-run around the practice and the standards of modern healthcare and medicine.”
The committee did not vote on the bill.
A similar bill passed the Senate last year before dying in the House. House Speaker Tim Moore told reporters in late January that the bill’s prognosis is unknown.
“We have polled our caucus,” he said. “We still have a few members that need to respond to those polls. So, what I would say is that there’s some support and we’ll see. I’d say that there’s a chance it may happen.”
In comments not delivered to the committee, Creech said medical marijuana legalization would “inadvertently result in addiction, increased risk of psychosis, mental or psychosocial impairment, negative drug interactions, physical illness and in complications for unborn children when used during pregnancy.” It also could, he said, “increase access to marijuana for minors.”
“Medical marijuana has historically been a stepping stone to legalization of recreational marijuana,” he said.
Last year, a landmark study also published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that marijuana “is no better at relieving pain than a placebo,” said Filip Gedin, a study co-author.
“Our meta-analysis showed that pain was rated as being significantly less intense after treatment with a placebo, with a moderate to large effect depending on each person,” Gedin wrote. “Our team … observed no significant difference between cannabis and a placebo for reducing pain.”