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Hutch Post

HUTCHINSON – The Kansas Court of appeals has reversed a lower court ruling regarding a motion to suppress evidence granted in Reno County District Court.

The reversal of the decision by Judge Trish Rose to suppress the blood evidence involves the case against Troy Meitler, 42, Halstead.

He is charged with involuntary manslaughter in connection with a two-vehicle fatality accident west of Hutchinson in 2011.

Judge Rose granted the defense motion in the case ruling that law enforcement didn’t have consent from the defendant to take blood while he was at a Wichita hospital because he was unconscious.

The state argued that the Highway Patrol troopers took the blood, citing state statute that requires blood be taken when there is an accident resulting in serious injury or death.

After the ruling by Judge Rose, the State immediately filed an appeal.

The blood sample tested positive for meth.

The Court of Appeals ruled that any exclusionary rule argued by the defense does not apply to evidence obtained by law enforcement officers.

It went on to say that the Kansas Highway Patrol trooper’s conduct in ordering the blood draw was in objectively reasonable reliance on then-existing authority provided by law.

With the reversal in the ruling, the district court’s order suppressing the blood-draw evidence is reversed, and the case is remanded for further proceeding

By Andy Marso

For the past month, Rep. John Wilson has told everyone who will listen that his medical marijuana bill is different. Wilson, a Democrat from Lawrence, proposed a bill to allow low-THC cannabis oil to be used specifically to treat seizure disorders. He was inspired to do so by parents in his district who moved to Colorado the treatment for their young son.

“I’ve done everything I can to make this an uninteresting medical bill,” Wilson said in an interview this week.

That approach was successful in getting a committee to pass the bill, a first for medical marijuana legislation in Kansas.

But that’s as far as it has gone. Wilson’s bill and another related to sentencing for marijuana possession have become bogged down by the politics of pot.

Both are still alive, but both face reluctance from legislators worried about the larger national movement to decriminalize or legalize marijuana possession.

Patchwork of laws frustrates researchers

Twenty-three states and Washington, D.C., have passed laws allowing the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes, although the safety and effectiveness of the plant in treating disease remains largely unproven.

Anecdotal evidence suggests low-THC oil with high amounts of cannabidiol may have some benefits for children with certain seizure disorders, but controlled studies to determine proper dosing and potential risks are lacking. At the national level, the patchwork of state and federal laws has complicated the issue for medical researchers.

Orrin Devinsky and Daniel Friedman, physicians with New York University’s Comprehensive Epilepsy Center who are working on a controlled trial to study cannabis oil, last year questioned the wisdom of states allowing children to use it before the evidence is in. But the doctors also criticized the federal government for keeping marijuana on the Schedule 1 list of controlled substances, which has prevented study and data collection.

“It is troubling that while few barriers exist for parents to give their children marijuana in Colorado, there are significant federal roadblocks preventing doctors from studying it in a rigorous scientific manner,” they wrote in a New York Times opinion article. Until more research can be done, the doctors said that for children who have not benefited from traditional medications and who live in states where cannabis oil is legal, “compassionate use is reasonable.”

‘Fear of full-scale legalization’

Wilson’s bill is restricted to legalizing only cannabis products with too little THC to produce the “high” coveted by recreational users. Hearings on it have focused on families who have exhausted treatment options in trying to quell the dozens or even hundreds of seizures their children suffer every day.

It’s a marked difference from much broader bills introduced the last several years that would allow almost any form of marijuana to treat potentially any ailment. It’s even further removed from legislation passed in Colorado, Washington, Oregon and Alaska to legalize small amounts of marijuana for recreational use.

But any marijuana-related bill carries with it the possibility of amendments for broader legalization if it reaches the House floor. Wilson said he would oppose such amendments and has been working to get assurances from his House colleagues that they would not offer them. But it’s a specter he said is still holding back his bill. “It’s just the fear of full-scale legalization, I think,” Wilson said.

Sentencing bill caught up in Wichita vote

Fear of bolstering decriminalization efforts also is delaying a bill to make marijuana possession a felony after the third offense rather than the second.

Rep. John Rubin, a Republican from Shawnee, introduced the bill as a way to slow the state’s burgeoning prison population. The state’s prisons are almost at capacity and, at a time when money to build and staff more prisons is tight, Rubin said the state needs to prioritize its inmates.

But Rubin’s bill ran up against a Wichita ballot initiative that would decriminalize marijuana possession, making it instead a civil violation punishable by $50 fine. That city vote is scheduled for April 7, and Rubin said action on his sentencing bill has been delayed until after that. “Some representatives from Wichita asked that until the ballot initiative is resolved, we not move forward on (House Bill) 2459,” Rubin said.

“The concern is that if the state approves anything lessening penalties at the state level, that lends support to the initiative.” Rubin said he opposes the Wichita measure and noted that Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt has issued an opinion stating that the ballot question contradicts state law and his office would sue on behalf of the state if it passes.

Delaying action on the bill until after April 7 means the Legislature would have to take it up during the “veto session” that ostensibly is reserved for finalizing the budget and addressing bills vetoed by the governor. Rubin said House leaders have told him they plan to do that. “It is still very much alive,” he said.

Another sentencing bill passed out of Rubin’s House Corrections and Juvenile Justice Committee is dead, though. House Bill 2052 would have allowed prosecutors to seek diversion for drug offenders who agree to participate in a treatment program. It was recommended by the Kansas Sentencing Commission as another way to stem the prison population and reduce reoffense rates.

But House leadership did not bring it up for a vote before the “turnaround” deadline or send it to a committee exempt from that deadline.

Rubin said he did not think the bill died because of marijuana-related politics but said it was “just a victim of limited time.” “I support it. I think it’s a good bill,” Rubin said. “But there are a lot of higher-priority items I need to fight for this year.”

Andy Marso is a reporter for Heartland Health Monitor, a news collaboration focusing on health issues and their impact in Missouri and Kansas.

WASHINGTON – Thursday, the U.S. Senate unanimously passed an amendment (#356) to the Budget Resolution (S. Con. Res. 11) authored by U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) that makes clear the Senate’s strong support for requiring the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to implement the Veterans Access, Choice and Accountability Act of 2014 (the Choice Act) as Congress intended. By passing Amendment #356 by a vote of 100 to 0, the Senate has called on the VA to provide veterans access to non-VA health care when the nearest VA medical facility within 40 miles drive time from a veteran’s home is incapable of offering the care sought by the veteran. The VA is currently forcing thousands of veterans to choose between traveling hours to a VA medical facility, paying out of pocket, or going without care altogether.

The amendment passed by the Senate today mirrors Sen. Moran’s Veterans Access to Community Care Act of 2015 (S. 207), legislation cosponsored by a bipartisan group of 18 Senators. Sen. Moran is hopeful that the strong support conveyed by the Senate’s passage of his budget amendment will encourage a passage of S. 207 out of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee and a vote on the Senate Floor.

S. 207 has been endorsed by numerous veterans’ organizations including the American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars, AMVETS, Vietnam Veterans of America and the National Guard Association of the United States as well as the National Rural Health Association.

Sen. Moran spoke on the Senate floor prior to the vote on Amendment #356, describing the ongoing problem veterans’ face accessing the care they were promised through the Choice Act because the VA is not considering whether the VA facility within 40 miles of where a veteran lives actually offers the care a veteran needs.

By Mary Agnes Carey, KAISER HEALTH NEWS

The troubled payment formula for Medicare physicians is one step closer to repeal. The House on Thursday overwhelmingly passed legislation to scrap Medicare’s troubled physician payment formula, just days before a March 31 deadline when doctors who treat Medicare patients will see a 21 percent payment cut.

Senate action could come this week as well, but probably not until the chamber completes a lengthy series of votes on the GOP’s fiscal 2016 budget package.

According to a summary of the bill, unveiled by Republican and Democratic committee leaders earlier this week, the current system would be scrapped and replaced with payment increases for doctors for the next five years as Medicare transitions to a new system focused “on quality, value and accountability.”

There’s enough in the wide-ranging deal for both sides to love or hate.

Senate Democrats have pressed to add to the proposal four years of funding for an unrelated program, the Children’s Health Insurance Program, or CHIP. The House package extends CHIP for two years. In a statement Saturday, Senate Finance Democrats said they were “united by the necessity of extending CHIP funding for another four years” but others have suggested they may support the package.

Some senators have also raised concerns about asking Medicare beneficiaries to pay for more of their medical care, the impact of the package on women’s health services and cuts to Medicare providers. In a letter to House members before Thursday’s vote, the seniors group AARP said the legislation places “unfair burdens on beneficiaries.

AARP and other consumer and aging organizations remain concerned that beneficiaries account for the largest portion of budget offsets (roughly $35 billion) through greater out-of-pocket expenses” on top of higher Part B premiums that beneficiaries will pay to prevent the scheduled cut in Medicare physician payments. Some Democratic allies said the CHIP disagreement should not undermine the proposal.

After the House approved the SGR package by a vote of 392-37, Ron Pollack, executive director of the consumers group Families USA, urged the Senate to “adopt a CHIP funding bill as soon as possible. Families USA believes that a four-year extension is preferable to two years.

We also know that time is of the essence, and it is crucial that the Senate act quickly.” Some GOP conservatives and Democrats are unhappy that the package isn’t fully paid for, with policy changes governing Medicare beneficiaries and providers paying for only about $70 billion of the approximately $200 billion package.

The Congressional Budget Office Wednesday said the bill would add $141 billion to the federal deficit. For doctors, the package offers an end to a familiar but frustrating rite.

Lawmakers have invariably deferred the cuts prescribed by a 1997 reimbursement formula, which everyone agrees is broken beyond repair. But the deferrals have always been temporary because Congress has not agreed to offsetting cuts to pay for a permanent fix.

In 2010, Congress delayed scheduled cuts five times. In a statement Sunday, the American Medical Association urged Congress “to seize the moment” to enact the changes. Here are some answers to frequently asked questions about the proposal and the congressional ritual known as the doc fix.

Mary Agnes Carey is a reporter working in conjunction with Heartland Health Monitor, a news collaboration focusing on health issues and their impact in Missouri and Kansas.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A science experiment gone awry has injured three high school students in Topeka.

The Topeka Capital-Journal  reports that liquid from the experiment spilled onto the floor and ignited during class Wednesday afternoon at Highland Park High School. District spokesman Ron Harbaugh said in an email Thursday that the fire spread to the feet of three students.

Harbaugh said the students were taken for medical treatment, but he didn’t elaborate on the degree of their injuries. The email said two of the students were in school Thursday and that the third student was expected to be at school Friday.

Harbaugh also didn’t go into much detail about the science experiment, except to say it “had been done numerous times in the class.”

DENVER (AP) — Colorado is defending its pot law for the first time Friday in a filing due to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Friday is the deadline for Colorado to respond to a legal challenge from Oklahoma and Nebraska.

The lawsuit challenges Colorado’s legalization of recreational marijuana and is one of four lawsuits that aim to dismantle the young industry.

Colorado’s neighbors claim that the 2012 pot legalization vote has sent the drug flooding across Colorado’s borders.

Three other lawsuits have been filed since Nebraska and Oklahoma sued.

Related story: Northwest Kansas sheriff among those suing over Colo. pot law.

One was filed by a hotel owner in Colorado who argues legal weed is hurting his business. Another is from a southern Colorado landowner who says legal weed is hurting property values. The fourth lawsuit comes from county sheriffs in Colorado, Nebraska and Kansas.