By Cara Anderson
IG @carajojo
Laureen Cummings is the Health Commissioner of Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania. She’s adamantly against cannabis, and her misinformation could be detrimental to the communities upstate Pennsylvania.
Pennsylvania voted to legalize medical cannabis in 2017, and cities like Bethlehem have already experienced success with their dispensaries.
Cummings, who says she’s a nurse, spoke about cannabis at a Lackawanna County Commissioner’s meeting in May. Cummings concluded that after a whopping month of “Google research,” she found no medical benefit of cannabis, adding, “I do know what I’m talking about when I research something.”
Laureen droned on for a few minutes about how not everything on the internet is true. She continued, “People that believe some of these reports coming out about opioids going down because of marijuana use are stupid. I’m going to stand by that statement.”
After insulting the intelligence of people that believe in countless studies and empirical evidence, Cummings stated, “There’s no proof that this helps medically, other than with nausea.”
Apparently, Cummings never ran across Leafly’s list of Top Medical Cannabis Studies of 2017.
It’s a shame that public servants are given the mic to share misinformation and makes it even more important that the community shows up to put out the fire. If you live in Lackawanna County, do not miss Cummings “Marijuana is NOT Medicine Panel” on July 18th, 6 PM, at the Lackawanna County Center for Public Safety.
What a whirlwind.
Check out Laureen’s Facebook page for more of her deeply insightful politics.
As a physician, anyone who searches Google for medical information is terminally clueless. I don’t understand why you didn’t choose 1 of many medical journals online.
It seems to me, you picked and chose data that was just what you wanted to hear, not facts.
We need far more educated leaders in every region. I realize Amerikas drug of choice is opium, so while it’s abused more then used for medical purposed…It also kills. Cannabis has proven effective in so many areas one would need to search Google has long as you did for inaccurate information. Would you know what living with ptsd and brain injury is like? Please don’t insult my intelligence by searching Google. There are many great medical websites with great information that you prefer not to read. You’ve chosen Ignorance, we the people put you in that job…and we can take you OUT.
I would suggest looking up and reading patent 6630507. Make sure it is a credible site. God only knows where you got your misinformation