Illinoisans with chronic postoperative pain, or C-POP, may soon be eligible for Illinois medical cannabis pilot program.
Cook County Circuit Court Judge Neil Cohen ruled Tuesday that Illinois Department of Public Health Director Nirav Shah improperly used his own study to deny the condition affecting thousands of Illinoisans to the states cannabis program. Cohen struck down the denial and ordered Shah to reconsider the condition using only the recommendations from his advisory board, which voted to include CPOP.
Cohen and other Cook County judges have ruled that the department must reconsider other conditions such as migraines and irritable bowel syndrome for the pilot program as well.
Plaintiffs attorney Michael Goldberg said thousands of Illinoisans could have an alternative to opioid-based painkillers to ease what is often debilitating pain.
There are thousands of people in Illinois that are addicted to opioids who have no choice but to use them for their pain, and thats all they are allowed to have according to the state, he said. These are people that will have pain for years. This nerve damage causes my client to not even take a step without pain.
Goldberg said his client has concerns about the addictive nature of opioids and sees cannabis as a safer way to manage debilitating pain from nerve damage in his foot.
The New England Journal of Medicine said that more than 30 percent of Americans have some sort of chronic pain. The journal said more than a third of the 44,000 drug-overdose deaths that were reported in 2013 were attributable to pharmaceutical opioids. According to the International Association for the Study of Pain, common operations such as a Cesarean Section birth or a mastectomy related to breast cancer have a more than 50 percent chance of causing chronic postoperative pain.
Spokeswoman Melaney Arnold said the Public Health department is reviewing the ruling. The department has 30 days to act on the ruling. It could appeal to a higher court.
News Moderator: Katelyn Baker
Full Article: Chronic Postoperative Pain Could Soon Be Eligible For Medical Cannabis Program
Author: Staff
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