Prosecutors balk at marijuana extract

Parents with ill children seeking legalization of cannabidiol

By MAUREEN HAYDEN CNHI 
INDIANAPOLIS — Concerned that lawmakers will act hastily in allowing the medicinal use of a marijuana extract, prosecutors are calling for more research into a controversial treatment.

At a four-hour hearing Wednesday, officials with the Indiana Prosecuting Attorneys Council urged a legislative committee to abandon efforts to legalize cannabidiol — a non-psychoactive marijuana extract — until more mainstream science weighs in.

“As prosecutors, we think we need to base decisions on evidence,” said Aaron Negengard, the prosecuting attorney for Dearborn and Ohio counties, who told lawmakers it would be “reckless and careless” to follow other states that have allowed use of cannabidiol with little regulation.
His comments came after several health experts testified that medicinal uses of marijuana extracts are still in experimental stages, due in part to federal law that criminalizes marijuana.
“We need to accelerate the research,” said Dr. Kelly Knupp, a pediatrician leading a study of the impact of cannabidiol oil on children with epilepsy in Colorado, where voters legalized marijuana for recreational use in 2013.
Knupp, testifying via webcam, said neurologists at Colorado Children’s Hospital hesitate to endorse cannabidiol treatment until the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approves it as safe and effective — a process that could take years.
Her testimony, coupled with opposition from prosecutors, prompted concern from lawmakers who noted that they've been studying the matter for three years, even as other states have acted.
Seventeen states that ban marijuana have legalized the use of cannabidiol for children with seizure disorders. But, in the absence of federal guidance, states have crafted varying rules on the use of the drug, which can be obtained easily over the Internet without oversight of its contents or origin.
The Legislature has twice killed proposals to exempt non-psychoactive marijuana extracts from the state's pot laws provided they are used in certain medical treatments.


State Rep. Bill Friend, a conservative Republican from Macy and a member of the Agriculture Interim Study Committee, said parents of children with severe epilepsy have begged for approval to use cannabidiol, despite the potential risks.
“As a committee and a Legislature, we are wanting to help those parents and kids in some way,” he said. State Sen. Jim Tomes, R-Poseyville, said many parents of children with severe epilepsy have exhausted other remedies and don’t trust the FDA to act quickly.
“Can you understand why these families of desperately ill children are trying to get access to medication not FDA-approved?” he asked one health expert who counseled lawmakers to await federal approval of the drug.
The committee is expected to recommend potential legislation next month. Its chairman, Sen. Jean Leising, R-Oldenburg, warned that the task will not be easy, given still evolving views on the use of cannabidiol.