Will Humble, Arizona Top Health Officer, Hates Cannabis

Will Humble, Arizona’s State Health Director, is trying his damnedest to obliquely cripple the future of medical marijuana in his state. Humble is seeking to change the current protocols for adding authorized MMJ conditions.

Currently in Arizona, it takes a “consideration of a summary of the evidence” that medical cannabis would be effective in the the treatment of a condition or, at the least, it would alleviate some of the symptoms. Humble, for his part, wants to change those regulations to be based upon “clear and convincing evidence published in peer-reviewed scientific journals, that there is some benefit from the use of marijuana for the specified medical condition.” Humble reiterated that would likely mean multiple articles in support of cannabis as a treatment.

Jeffrey Kaufman, an attorney who often represents marijuana dispensaries, opposed this, stating, “The governments have constructed a complex and impossible program and maze for anyone to get medical marijuana studies funding. So, obviously, it’s going to be impossible for anybody to have any type of peer-reviewed literature or studies.”

This creates a bit of a Bermuda triangle for cannabis access. The federal status of cannabis means that any viable research is all but forbidden. So, in effect, Humble is attempting to require evidence from scientists who are themselves prohibited from performing research to get said evidence.

Make no mistake, Humble knows what he’s doing. This is little more than a poorly-disguised ploy to effectively disempower doctors from helping those who would benefit from cannabis and severely restrict any future discoveries of conditions for which medical cannabis may be of help.

For the sake of context, several months ago, Humble tried to disallow doctors from prescribing cannabis for PTSD. “He originally rejected the application [to PTSD] as being based largely on anecdotal evidence, but reversed himself when a state hearing officer pointed out his agency’s own rules require him to consider such evidence.” He flat out said that if his new proposed rules had been in effect, he never would have allowed cannabis for PTSD victims.

As the top State Health Official, Humble has a duty to consider what is best for the residents of his state. I argue that he is grossly violating that duty and supplanting it with his own anti-cannabis agenda. The only real “risk” of trying cannabis for a medical problem is that it simply doesn’t work. What’s the harm in letting sick people try to find relief?

Humble’s stance on PTSD truly disgusted me. He gets to sit up there in his comfy chair in a publicly elected office and dictate to wounded vets with PTSD that they can’t find relief from their horrors simply because he doesn’t think the evidence is strong enough. What every MMJ naysayer needs is a medical condition that can only be helped by cannabis. He is essentially just a man with crates of water telling thirsty people that they don’t seem thirsty enough for him to help. This guy is more or less Kevin Sabet with a worse haircut.

Why don’t you asshats try to find a better use for your time than raging against a substance whose legality and access literally does not affect your lives in the slightest? Barf.