Dr. Stephanie Haridopolos: Amendment 2 is bad medicine, bad policy

 As a mother and physician, it’s important for me to shed light on Amendment 2 and how I feel it will hurt our communities, neighbors and, most importantly, our children — just like pill mills did in the all-too-recent past.

If Amendment 2 is successful, it unquestionably will be an open invitation for disreputable pot docs to open up shop in Florida.

I do not know any credible physicians who would recommend smoking pot to their patients. And if it passes, the language of the amendment is so loose, it will allow marijuana to be recommended to anyone, of any age for any medical condition. It is a thinly veiled step toward the full-blown legalization of pot.

There also will be zero restrictions on the locations that seedy pot shops can operate. Amendment 2 fails to set any criteria to prohibit the sale of pot near our children. Even alcohol sales are prohibited within certain distances of schools, but under this ballot language, not pot shops.

Further, I believe lenient pot regulations will be exploited by financial opportunists and recreational users, as pot docs will not be required to prescribe marijuana, but only give a recommendation for it.

This will provide them immunity from prosecution. Marijuana will be sold by pot shops and not in medically controlled facilities like pharmacies. Users will not be monitored by physicians after they receive the recommendation to obtain marijuana, and there will be no consumer protection when it comes to quality or dosage control. For instance, consumers could be inhaling mold and pesticides.

As parents and residents, we must make our children and their safety a top priority. Our children will not be better off with another legal mind-altering substance. Studies have shown that cannabis used in adolescence causes persistent impairments in neurocognitive performance and IQ, and its use is associated with increased rates of anxiety, mood and psychotic thought disorders.

Our children are sensitive to norms, so if they feel marijuana is harmful, their consumption goes down, according to the National Institute of Drug Abuse.

Legalization of marijuana sends the opposite message. In addition, recent studies have shown that calls to poison control centers for unintentional pediatric marijuana exposure have more than tripled in medical-marijuana states, as well as fatal car crashes involving marijuana.

A vote against Amendment 2 does not signify a lack of compassion, but an understanding of fact. To that end, the Legislature passed the Charlotte’s Web bill that allows certain patients to receive a strain of low-THC medical marijuana that appears to help children who suffer from seizures. This legislation was passed in a regulated, responsible fashion and I am not opposed to it.

However, this is a far cry from Amendment 2, which would legalize all forms of smokable medical marijuana, unlike Charlotte’s Web, which is administered orally and will be used by only a few patients.

The Brevard County Medical Society passed a resolution opposing Amendment 2 and submitted it to the Florida Medical Association.

Now, I am urging all Floridians to take a closer look at the loopholes in Amendment 2. My position is that science and experience say that “medicine” by popular vote is bad medicine and poor policy.

My duty as a mother is to protect my children from harm and my job as a physician is to empower patients with knowledge. I truly believe these loopholes will place Florida’s youth and all Floridians in danger.

Dr. Stephanie Haridopolos is president of the Brevard County Medical Society and a board-certified family practitioner. Column courtesy of Context Florida.