MA Doctors Raise Issues On Marijuana, Liquid Nicotine, & Military Service of Transgender

Monday, May 04, 2015

Massachusetts Medical Society weighed in on a number of controversial public health and cultural issues at their annual meeting this past weekend. The Society is the oldest medical society in the United States.

The resolutions passed related to the reproductive risks of medical marijuana use, the dangers of liquid nicotine, the off-label use of FDA-approved medications and devices, maintenance of certification for physicians, and the prices of generic drugs were just some adopted by Massachusetts physicians. The Society is the publisher of the New England Journal of Medicine.

Resolutions Approved

Medical Marijuana: Prompted by studies indicating that babies born to women who used marijuana during pregnancies have shown problems with prenatal and neurological development, physicians adopted a policy stating that the Society will provide resources about the reproductive health risks related to the use of marijuana that doctors can use to counsel their patients.

Military Service of Transgender Individuals: Delegates also voted on a policy affirming that there is no medically valid reason for the U.S. military to exclude transgender individuals from service or to treat them to different medical standards from non-transgender personnel.

Maintenance of Certification: Physicians reiterated the MMS policy opposing Maintenance of Certification (MOC) adopted last December, stating that the MOC process is costly, time-intensive, and results in significant disruptions to the availability of physicians for patient care. The physicians also reaffirmed their opposition to mandatory MOC as a requirement for licensure, hospital privileges, and reimbursement from third-party payers.

Liquid Nicotine: With the soaring number of exposures to liquid nicotine as reported by U.S. Poison Control Centers, physicians adopted a resolution to advocate for state, local, and federal legislation and regulations to require child-resistant packaging and appropriate warnings of toxicity for liquid nicotine refill products. The physicians noted that nearly 4,000 exposures to liquid nicotine were reported by poison control centers in 2014, nearly double the number of 2013, and that these refills, which come in many flavors, can be attractive to children.

Generic Drug Prices: Recognizing that the prices of critical generic drugs have been rapidly rising, the MMS voted to urge the Food and Drug Administration to expedite the process for new manufacturers to enter the market for critical medications and to urge the FDA allow the importation of a genetic medication if production of that medication is a monopoly in the U.S.

Off-Label Use of FDA-Approved Products: The Society confirmed “its strong support for the autonomous clinical decision-making authority of a physician” and adopted a resolution stating that a physician may lawfully use an FDA-approved drug product or medical device for an off-label indication “when such use is based upon sound scientific evidence or sound expert medical opinion.”

Mouth Guards in Sports: Noting that the National Youth Sports Foundation for Safety reports that dental injuries are the most common type of orofacial injury from sports participation, particularly for youth between the ages of 7-11, the physicians voted to support the use of mouth guards in all contact and collision sports, particularly in children and adolescents, and to develop educational materials on the topic for public distribution.

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MA Doctors Raise Issues On Marijuana, Liquid Nicotine, & Military Service of Transgender

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