Women may soon smoke away menstrual cramps. New Jersey could soon approve the use of medical marijuana to treat this common condition affecting women worldwide.
Reps. Angelica Jimenez, Tim Eustace and L. Grace Spencer will introduce the addition of menstrual cramps to the approved list of women's conditions that can benefit from medical marijuana.
Assemblyman Tim Eustace is the only male author of the "marijuana for menstruation law." He said he was inspired by Whoopi and Maya's new products designed to treat menstrual cramps.
"By denying women in New Jersey access to a means of treating dysmenorrhea, our state fails to acknowledge the serious impact it can have on their wellness and productivity," said Eustace.
Across the United States, New Jersey has one of the most limiting medical marijuana programs. Its Gov. Chris Christie had said many times that he is against the program introduced under then Gov. Jon Corzine in August 2012.
The state's medical marijuana program only has 10 approved conditions and has since authorized only 6,527 since the registry opened.
"We will expand the list to serve the population that needs it. We have a lot of people leaving the state for treatment and hopefully this will change that," said Eustace.
Using cannabis to treat menstrual discomfort dates back to the time of Queen Victoria in the 19th century, who alleged used it to deal with this female condition.
While the programs recognize "pain" as a condition, typically, menstrual cramps are not included in the list of approved illness.
There is an assumption that women are not interested in using cannabis, as men often outnumber women in surveys. Therefore, many of women's conditions such as endometriosis or dysmenorrhea has been overlooked.
Many entrepreneurs in the country are looking into the treatment of menstrual cramps with cannabis. Apart from Whoopi and Maya, which is co-owned by Whoopi Goldberg and Maya Elisabeth, there are other entrepreneurs fueling this growing multibillion dollar industry.
Goldberg and Elisabeth's synergy has won seven High Times Cannabis Cup awards and continues to enjoy a strong reputation as one of California's leading makers of medical marijuana products.
Photo: Chuck Grimmett | Flickr
