CHICAGO (AP) - A judge has ordered Illinois
health officials to reconsider their decision not to include migraine headaches
on the list of conditions that qualify for use of medical marijuana in the
state.
A Cook County judge overturned Illinois
Department of Public Health Director Dr. Nirav Shah's denial of a petition to
add migraines to the list, the Chicago Tribune (http://trib.in/2alSY7m )
reported.
The judge ordered Shah to reconsider evidence
presented to the Medical Cannabis Advisory Board before its members voted to
recommend approving marijuana to treat migraines.
The court ruling was in response to a suit
filed by an unidentified man who has already been using marijuana to treat his
headaches. Attorney Robert Bauerschmidt said the middle-aged man has suffered
severe migraines since adolescence.
The man tried triptans, the most common
migraine treatment, and narcotic painkillers, but neither medical solution was
successful.
"He's been through everything,"
Bauerschmidt said. "Marijuana doesn't cure it, but he finds the pain less
severe and believes the headaches are less frequent when he's using it."
Federal law still prohibits marijuana
possession, but Illinois law allows it for patients who have any of about 40
specific medical conditions, including cancer, AIDS or multiple sclerosis.
The latest ruling comes after a different
judge last month ordered Illinois to add post-traumatic stress disorder as a
qualifying condition. Taken together, the separate rulings suggest that
judicial review may continue to expand the program.
"It's a potential game-changer for the
industry," said Attorney Mike Goldberg, whose firm handed the two prior
cases. He has pending lawsuits asking to add six other conditions to the list,
including irritable bowel syndrome, chronic postoperative pain, osteoarthritis,
intractable pain, autism and polycystic kidney disease.
But Illinois attorney general's office
spokeswoman Annie Thompson emphasized that the most recent ruling doesn't
require adding migraines to the list.
Joe Wright, the former director of the
state's medical cannabis program, also said adding migraines to the list isn't
guaranteed.
"I'm not sure that means you'd
necessarily have to add it," he said. "That means they have to look
at it again in light of what the advisory board considered."
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