Utah philanthropist and cancer survivor says cannabis is much less destructive than opioid-based painkillers.
Four-time
cancer survivor and philanthropist Jon Huntsman Sr. said Wednesday he
would try medical marijuana if given the chance.
In a televised interview with Fox 13 in Salt
Lake City, Huntsman said he was "a very strong advocate for medical
marijuana. I think some folks have it terribly confused with smoking
marijuana."
Huntsman also has suffered for a decade from
polymyalgia rheumatica, which causes severe pain in the shoulder and hip
joints — one of the reasons he supports medical marijuana.
"I won't take the opioids," he told Fox 13. "I'll take the pain."
Huntsman, whose charitable giving to the
University of Utah helped found and grow the Huntsman Cancer Institute,
said he's never tried medical marijuana, but he'd "love to."
"I've had such severe pain at times and the opioids haven't done the job," he told the TV station.
In a statement to The Salt Lake Tribune,
Huntsman said, "If medical marijuana was known by another name, it would
have been utilized as a pain medication many years ago.
"From national research and understanding," he
said, "the side effects of medical marijuana are considerably less than
virtually all opioids and therefore less destructive to the body."
Huntsman's remarks come shortly after the Utah
Patients Coalition delivered a proposed initiative to the lieutenant
governor's office with patients, caregivers and supporters in tow. If
the wording of the initiative is approved, backers must hold a series of
public hearings throughout Utah and collect 113,143 signatures from
registered voters around the state to get the question of legalizing
medical marijuana on the November 2018 ballot.
A coalition representative said Huntsman "has
been a pioneer in advocacy and philanthropy for patient care, so it's no
surprise to us that he supports medical cannabis as another treatment
option for physicians and patients.
"Like so many other patients, he recognizes the
dangers of opiates and wants an alternative," the coalition said in a
statement. "We appreciate his public support and look forward to giving
Utah voters a chance to decide in 2018."
If the initiative wins voter approval, smoking
marijuana would still be prohibited. So, too, would driving while
intoxicated with medical cannabis. And there would be limitations on the
number of cannabis facilities in the state and on physicians permitted
to prescribe medical marijuana.
Topicals, oils, edibles and vaping would be
allowed, but no use of medical marijuana could occur in public view.
Some of the qualifying illnesses already included in the initiative
include Alzheimer's disease, cancer, multiple sclerosis, post-traumatic
stress disorder, chronic pain and autism.
If accepted, the initiative will be sent to the
governor's Office of Management and Budget to create a fiscal estimate
of the impact of the law. After the estimate is complete, organizers
must hold seven public hearings across Utah before collecting petition
signatures.
Medical marijuana advocates say they were
forced to take the initiative approach after Utah lawmakers balked at
legalizing medical marijuana earlier this year, partly due to
uncertainty of whether President Donald Trump's administration will
enforce federal marijuana laws.
Instead, they passed measures to fund research in Utah into marijuana's potential benefits.
State lawmakers debated two dueling bills, but a
compromise proposal failed in the Legislature's final hours, when
lawmakers discovered that there was no money to implement the program.
Legislators did, however, pass a law in 2014
that allows Utahns with severe epilepsy to import whole-plant
cannabidiol extracts from states where medical marijuana is legal.
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