Regarding the article “Pa. Department of Health sues to keep medical marijuana program data secret” (Feb. 20, TribLIVE), on Spotlight PA’s open records request about how often physicians approve patients for medical marijuana use: Privacy and transparency often are at odds but don’t have to be. Pittsburgh’s Management Science Associates (MSA) created DE-IDentification years ago, used by thousands of hospitals and medical institutions to preserve the identity of patients while providing meaningful data.
Pennsylvania lags behind most states using marijuana to reduce use of opioids that kill patients. Dr. Cyril Wecht years ago said that using marijuana has never killed a person, and MSA studies have now shown using marijuana reduces opioid use 30%.
NFL player contracts require they use opioids and not marijuana; at the first Pittsburgh Cannabis Conference, retired NFL players said they rushed to marijuana upon retiring.
MSA has studied cannabis for 10 years. Pennsylvania could be an R&D industry leader by legalizing marijuana as many states have done. Whatever is done, the Pennsylvania Department of Health is wasting money and delaying progress.
Alfred A. Kuehn
Cheswick
The writer is founder and CEO of Management Science Associates.