Colorado Refuses to Approve Tourette’s Syndrome

The Colorado Board of Health rejected a petition to add Tourette’s syndrome to the list of medical conditions approved for treatment with medical marijuana.

“The vote was unanimous,” said Mark Shelly of the Colorado Department of Health.

In fact, Colorado has refused to add any new conditions to the list of ailments treatable by marijuana since voters  originally passed Amendment 20 in November of 2000.

"I don't see what we add to the mix by actually adding Tourette's under these circumstances," the board's president, Glenn Schlabs, told the Denver Post.

That is a puzzling statement when you consider that there are at least 11 different positive worldwide studies regarding the use of marijuana in treating Tourette’s syndrome dating back as far as 1988.

Currently, Colorado only recognizes eight conditions as being suitable for treatment with marijuana: cancer, HIV/AIDS positive, severe pain, severe nausea, glaucoma, cachexia, seizures and persistent muscle spasms.

There is a petition before the board to include Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, but medical marijuana advocates are not excited about the petitions chances of success. Many in Colorado believe that the board is unlikely to approve any new conditions for the program.

Judging from the fact that there have been no new additions to the approved list since the amendment passed, is a pretty good indicator that advocates in Colorado are justified in this lack of enthusiasm.

The facts are, the citizens of the state of Colorado voted for the passage of a medical marijuana law in their state. The law gave the Colorado Board of Health to oversee the program, but that board is not doing their job.

With all of the medical research conducted over the last 10 years, it incomprehensible that they have not approved any of these new conditions.

This is just another case of the government trying to overrule the will of the people because apparently the fact that the people of Colorado voted to amend that states constitution, means very little to people the people elected to represent them.