What’s in Alabama’s draft bill on medical marijuana?

Alabama’s Medical Cannabis Study Commission is voting by email this week whether to recommend legislation to legalize medical marijuana, a sweeping proposal that would regulate the products from cultivation to end user.

The commission’s report will not be the final say but could be a starting point for lawmakers debating the issue early next year.

Alabama would be the 34th state to allow marijuana to be used for medical purposes, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

The 18-member panel of doctors, lawyers, and other professionals has reviewed a draft bill on how patients would qualify for medical marijuana and how the products would be cultivated, processed, tested, transported, packaged, advertised, sold, and taxed.

The draft bill would allow the use of medical cannabis to treat pain, seizures, nausea, and other symptoms from about a dozen categories of diseases and disorders.

The list of conditions, which could change, includes agitation associated with dementia; Autism Spectrum Disorder; chemotherapy-induced nausea or vomiting; Crohn’s disease or irritable bowel syndrome; chronic pain, including from fibromyalgia and migraines; epilepsy or a condition causing seizures; HIV-AIDs-related nausea or weight loss; post traumatic stress disorder; sleep disorders; spasticity from diseases such as ALS and multiple sclerosis or from spinal cord injuries; a terminal illness in which the life expectancy is six months or less; and Tourette’s Syndrome. [Read more at AL.com]