N.M Health Secretary rejects new uses for medical pot

[left-of-center2012]

Health Secretary Lynn Gallagher has no medical or health related background. She is a GOP political appointee.
Prior to her career in public service, Gallagher lived in New York City, working for US Bank in the wealth management, corporate and municipal bond market fields.
She also worked for the Home Shopping Network in Florida, providing state and federal compliance and contract management.

She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the State University of New York at Stony Brook and a Juris Doctor from Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

https://nmhealth.org/about/asd/ots/

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The state’s top health official (Health Secretary Lynn Gallagher) on Wednesday rejected state Medical Cannabis Advisory Board recommendations to add opiate dependence and Alzheimer’s disease to the list of conditions that qualify someone to legally buy medical cannabis from a state-licensed producer.

The board had voted 5-1 on Nov. 4 to recommend adding opiate-use disorder to the list of 21 medical conditions that allow a patient to qualify for the New Mexico medical cannabis program.
That recommendation would have allowed people addicted to heroin or narcotic painkillers to legally purchase marijuana.

The board also voted 5-0 in November to recommend adding Alzheimer’s disease, a form of dementia, to the list of qualifying conditions.

Gallagher responded that a former health secretary, the late Retta Ward, had rejected a 2014 recommendation by the advisory board to add dementia to the list of qualifying conditions, citing a lack of scientific research about the effects of cannabis on people with dementia.

“I share the concerns raised by Secretary Ward and add that the Advisory Board has not provided any subsequent evidence to change that determination,” Gallagher wrote. She also cited her concern about possible drug interactions between cannabis and medications prescribed to treat dementia.

https://www.abqjournal.com/1017927/doh-rejects-opiate-dependence-as-a-medical-cannabis-qualifying-condition.html