Thread by @CathJSweeney

I'm at the joint legislative working group on #SQ788. In addition to two doctors, more than 15 residents have signed up to speak. They are allotted 5 minutes each.

Dr. Mike Mullins will testify first. He said he's representing no one but himself. He graduated from both pharmacy and medical school.

Mullins: "We have a very limited role. It is a role that is very short. It's not anything we have experienced before as physicians with our patients." We might never see the patients again. "It probably is more along the lines of a consumer-physician relationship."

Mullins: There needs to be more discourse required between patient and doctor. We need to talk with patients about risks. My own doctor and I had a robust conversation.

Mullins: "I don't feel like this is an appropriate role for the physicians." Some of that can be attributed to federal regulations, which keep us from discussing the product's use in depth. We have to say OK, here you go.

Mullins: "We're brokering licenses." We need to be doing more than that.

Mullins, anesthesiologist: "I deal with brain chemistry every day ... It is not a benign chemical." It's more harmful than some would have you believe and less harmful than others would have you believe.

Next up is Dr. Doug Cox. He's a former lawmaker who termed out and a retired emergency room and family medicine physician. He is the co-medical director of the Wyandotte tribe, but he isn't here to represent the nation, only himself.

Cox: He was the first to start intro'ing bills to legalize non-high inducing marijuana extracts. "That's true science, and to me, that's what medical marijuana should be." I'll be the first to admit "But legislation should be passed based on facts and science."

Cox: We have all kinds of anecdotes about marijuana's beneficial uses. We used to hear that spraying WD40 on your joints would ease pain, but the science didn't prove it.

Cox: You need to tour our state prisons and drug rehab centers. "I ask every single person in drug rehab ... hundreds if not thousands, what was your entry level drug? 99.99 percent say smoking marijuana." One woman said diet pills, but everyone else said marijuana.

Cox: "Chronic pot users tend to develop a lack of motivation." "We all know pot heads that lay around and smoke pot all the time." People are boo'ing. "Don't get me wrong. I passed the first medical marijuana bill."

Cox: There's a lot of talk about how this will save the state budget. "Indeed, we may. I would predict ... that after 10 years, give it ten years, you will be spending more tax dollars addressing the problems associated ... with mood-altering marijuana."

Cox: Tobacco companies told us cigarettes aren't harmful, and now they're one of the most deadly products in the country. Opioid manufacturers did the same, and we're in an epidemic. "I'm also fearful of the folks that say smoking marijuana is not that bad."

Cox: #SQ788 organizers were smart to call it medical. "So many of my previous constituents said, 'Well, I want to get people out of pain.'" But the bill is recreational. The Board of Health tried to make it medical. "I was disappointed when they backed down and changed it."

Co-chair Jon Echols: Dr. Mullins, I don't understand your concern about the lack of doctor discussion. Patients talk with doctors about it and decide whether to come back. "How is that any different?"
Mullins: It's schedule 1. We can't talk about it. We're barred from that

Echols: We passed CBD legalization in 2014. We had pediatricians from all over the state, heads of Dallas hospital wings testify. "Those doctors were having an identical patient relationship... Those patients were able to find physicians that were detailed, who talked with them."

Mullins: That scenario is different. Child epilepsy is narrow area of medicine, so there was more leeway for doctors. Echols, who passed that bill for his niece Katie: If it weren't for these medications, we would have my niece. "She'd be dead right now."

Echols: That bill wasn't narrow. It treats 10 other conditions. We could go back and forth all day but I have questions for Cox.

Echols: You're telling us we need to divine the will of the people, what they really meant and change the law accordingly. "As somebody who has sat in my chair, to me, that's dangerous."
Cox: "The language of 788 is so broad, it's up to the Legislature to fill in the blanks."

Cox: We need non-mood altering access, but the Legislature needs to figure out how to adjust the broad law. "I don't want to go against the will of the people but ... it's going to be willy nilly with very little guidance or rules."

Rep. Fetgatter: In the past, I was very against marijuana use because I've seen some of its side effects. But I had to put those feelings to the side because of this process. Dr. Mullins said it changed dynamic. "I think it's up to you whether it changes the relationship."

Cox: "Maybe it's where I live and the type of practice I had." But I'm seeing a lot of demand. My left arm is numb, etc. You have so much anecdotal evidence. "This is going to help everything from headaches to hemorrhoids."But show me the science.

Fetgatter: "You control those follow up appointments. You don't want the legislature legislating how you interact with your patients. Isn't that correct?"
Mullins: We don't need legislation, we need common sense.

Mullins: I won't be recommending licenses. I'm a hospital anesthesiologist. But it will affect our practice. "There is some data from the mental health agencies in California and Colorado about the issues they're having."

Sen. Jech:SQ788 says no qualifying conditions, and that all board-certified positions can make recommendations. That seems broad. What are your thoughts? Also monitoring.
Cox: I suppose, just like our PNP for opioids, doctors should have access. Dispensaries too.

Sen. Daniels: "I have not yet spoken with a physician who plans to participate." They all have concerns. But you're saying doctors and patients can't even speak openly about marijuana. "I'm troubled about the attempt to give good advice. ... I don't see a way out of it."

Rep. Rosecrants: We keep hearing about anecdotal evidence, but we have that on both sides. Like the lazy stoner on the couch. "I'm becoming a believer in this as a medicine." The non-mood altering medicines you recommend are much more expensive. Shouldn't we have wide access?

Rosecrants: My mother passed away, but she used MMJ for pain at the end.
Cox: We have great meds for end of life. Fentanyl patches, slow release morphine. "I fear opening up another pandora's box without having a better way of controlling the middle ground. How much, how often."