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In October, Americans for Safe Access staff members traveled to Dallas, Texas for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society's 2007 National Conference, the second time ASA has participated in the MS Society's annual gathering. The meeting was an opportunity to continue building a coalition of condition-based groups and expand ASA's MS Patients' Union.
ASA had an educational outreach exhibit at the conference where staff discussed safe access to cannabis with people living with MS, their family-members, caregivers, and advocates. The ASA staff attending - Executive Director Steph Sherer, Director of Government Affairs Caren Woodson and Field Coordinator Sonnet Seeborg Gabbard - were able to broaden their knowledge about both the National MS Society and the innovations in Multiple Sclerosis research and treatment.
Many people remembered ASA from last year's conference. Others were introduced to medical cannabis as treatment for symptoms associated with MS for the first time. Building on the momentum generated from an article published earlier this year by InsideMS, "Considering Cannabis," ASA has been educating MS Society chapter leaders, members, and staff on the therapeutic benefits of cannabis for treating several symptoms associated wit MS, such as spasticity and other movement disorders, intractable nerve pain, and inflammation.
Since ASA participated in last year's conference, the National MS Society has implemented a Cannabis Task Force, led by MS expert, Dr. Alan J. Thompson, to, "review published studies on medical [cannabis] and make recommendations."
"There was a lot of interest about ways to ingest marijuana without smoking it, and people were generally surprised by how much progress we have made in 10 years," said Woodson. "We also heard some heartbreaking stories about loved ones with cancer and how much they would have liked another option for pain and wasting."
The broad-spectrum therapeutic nature of cannabis makes it a good choice for many people with a variety of conditions, such as arthritis, chronic pain, gastro-intestinal problems, and movement disorders such as Parkinson's.
With cancer more prevalent with aging, the well-established benefits of cannabis for coping with the devastating side-effects of chemotherapy are also of interest to older Americans.
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