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October 2, 2019

Chronic pain suffers could become eligible for medical marijuana

By Zachary F. Vasile | Journal Inquirer

The state Department of Consumer Protection on Friday made arguably its most consequential modification in years to Connecticut’s medical marijuana program as it added chronic pain to its list of qualifying conditions, potentially opening the floodgates to tens of thousands of new patients.

Following a public hearing, Commissioner Michelle H. Seagull accepted recommendations from the department’s Board of Physicians to make medical-grade cannabis available to certain chronic pain sufferers as well as residents diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, a rare connective tissue disorder that can lead to aortic dissection, osteoarthritis, and scoliosis.

Regulators added the caveat that chronic pain patients must have an ailment lasting six or more months associated with a specific “underlying chronic condition refractory to other treatment intervention.” That language could mean that residents afflicted with painful maladies not already included in the medical marijuana program eventually may become eligible, depending on their individual circumstances and the advice of their doctors.

Separately, the department accepted the Board of Physicians’ decision not to recommend cannabis or THC — the plant’s principal psychoactive component — for use in treating night terrors and other sleep disturbances.

The changes are still subject to final approval from the General Assembly’s Regulations Review Committee, which evaluates new rules put forward by state agencies before they are implemented. Lawmakers, however, generally defer to the doctors’ panel in making decisions on health-related consumer protection issues and there are no indications that elected officials plan to block or delay the latest round of recommendations.

If the chronic pain provision ultimately passes muster, it will mark a significant turning point for Connecticut’s medical marijuana initiative, which was once explicitly reserved for patients coping with diseases considered by regulators to constitute “the worst of the worst.”

When then-Gov. Dannel P. Malloy signed the bill legalizing and regulating medical cannabis into law in 2012, he specifically emphasized the drug’s value in palliative care and end-of-life settings. Only 11 illnesses were considered dire enough to warrant its use; cancer, HIV/AIDS, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, and spinal cord damage were among the first approved.

Since then, however, the state has added 22 more qualifying conditions, opening the program to more people with severe but not necessarily immediately life-threatening disorders, including neuropathic facial pain and severe rheumatoid arthritis.

With a chronic pain diagnosis, patients may now be able to obtain medicinal cannabis products for painful but relatively common ailments such as endometriosis, herniated spinal discs, migraines, and sciatica.

According to the Department of Consumer Protection, the state currently has nearly 40,000 patients receiving treatment through the medical marijuana program, with over 1,100 registered physicians participating.

Only a licensed doctor can initiate the diagnostic process needed for residents to obtain a medical marijuana certification card.

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