State’s Physicians to Discuss Recreational Marijuana

June 6, 2019

The Minnesota Medical Association (MMA) will hold a forum on recreational marijuana for physicians and physicians-in-training on Thursday, June 6, from 5 to 8 p.m. at 317 on Rice Park (317 Washington St.) in downtown St. Paul.

The forum will help the association form policy on the prospect of legalizing recreational marijuana. The MMA currently has no policies regarding the drug.

In May, the association sent a survey to its membership soliciting opinions.

“The survey showed that there is a lot of interest in the topic,” said MMA President Doug Wood, MD. “More and more discussion is taking place in clinics about the drug. We want to be prepared if legislation to legalize recreational marijuana ever gains traction. Do Minnesota’s physicians oppose it? Favor it? Or maybe they’re neutral on the issue. The survey and this forum should provide us with the data we need.”

The forum will be an opportunity for attendees to learn more about the health effects of marijuana, and what legalizing recreational marijuana could mean for Minnesota.  It will include a 45-minute panel discussion, followed by table discussions in which attendees will have the opportunity to dive deeper into the issue.

Table topics will include:

• Youth Access to Marijuana: How does marijuana affect youth health?
• Marijuana and Pregnancy: What are the potential health effects of using marijuana during pregnancy?
• Race and Marijuana: How does the criminalization of marijuana use disproportionately harm (health and social effects) people of color?
• Marijuana and Mental Health: What are the effects of marijuana use on mental health?
• The Legalization Debate: What is the role of medicine and science in this debate?

The speaker panel will include:

• Darin J. Erickson, PhD, Associate Professor, Division of Epidemiology and Community Health, University of Minnesota
• Sheila Specker, MD, Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry and Director of Addiction Medicine Fellowship, University of Minnesota
• David Thorson, MD, Entira Family Clinics

Sponsors include:

• Minnesota Academy of Family Physicians
• Minnesota Academy of Ophthalmology
• Minnesota Psychiatric Society
• Minnesota Chapter, American College of Emergency Physicians
• Minnesota Chapter, American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists