After a public hearing in December, the Medical Advisory Board for New Mexico's medical cannabis program
adding three new qualifying conditions:
migraine headaches, ankylosing spondylitis (a joint inflammation disease) and bipolar disorder.
But today, the state Health Department announced that
only ankylosing spondylitis will qualify
patients for medical cannabis.
“There is
insufficient evidence
in the medical literature that medical cannabis is clinically effective for these conditions,” Health Secretary Alfredo Vigil said today in a statement. "[T]he Department will not approve conditions without such evidence.” Great, but then what's the Medical Advisory Board's role?
It's not exactly a bunch of dilettantes
;
state epidemiologist
DOH physician Steve Jenison is its leader.
It's
Vigil's opinions have diverged from the Board's advice, and he almost seems to anticipate this criticism:
So the advisory board just considers...what?
Who makes the best pot brownies?
The DOH says it will incorporate ankylosing spondylitis into the larger category of "Inflammatory Auto-immune mediated Arthritis," which may also include rheumatoid arthritis but will be limited in how it's approved since Vigil is "concerned that the category could be misused." Not that it matters: These days e
ven cancer patients can't seem to get medical cannabis.
