Reefer Madness: The Federal Response to California's Medical-Marijuana Law (From Drugs: Should We Legalize, Decriminalize or Deregulate? P 120-129, 1998, Jeffrey A. Schaler, ed. -- See NCJ-172364)

• NCJ Number: 172376
• Author(s): G J Annas
• Date Published: 1998
• Length: 10 pages
• Sale Source: Prometheus Books
• Publication Type: Legislation/Policy Analysis
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: *This document is currently unavailable from NCJRS. DCC.

Annotation

The Federal Government should relent in its effort to undermine California's passage of the Compassionate Use Act of 1996, which gives Californians the right to possess and cultivate marijuana for specified medical purposes.

Abstract

The act states that such possession and cultivation of marijuana for medical purposes is only allowed "where that medical use is deemed appropriate and has been recommended by a physician who has determined that the person's health would benefit from the use of marijuana in the treatment of cancer, anorexia, AIDS, chronic pain, spasticity, glaucoma, arthritis, migraine, or any other illness for which marijuana provides relief." Nothing in the act permits persons using marijuana for medical purposes to engage in conduct that endangers others, condones "the diversion of marijuana for nonmedical purposes," or permits the buying or selling of marijuana. Federal officials oppose the California law and have adopted a strategy to undermine it, even to the extent of having the Attorney General announce that physicians who follow the terms of the California law will be the new targets of Federal law enforcement and threaten physicians with the loss of their registrations with the Drug Enforcement Administration and exclusion from participation in Medicare and Medicaid. Two basic issues are raised by the administration's position. One involves government regulation of doctor-patient conversations, and the other the quality of evidence necessary to make marijuana available by prescription. Marijuana should be available to all patients who need it to help them undergo treatment for life-threatening illnesses. There is certainly sufficient evidence to reclassify marijuana as a Schedule 2 drug (potentially addictive but having medical uses). As long as marijuana therapy is safe and has not been proved ineffective, seriously ill patients and their physicians should have access to whatever they need to fight serious debilitating diseases. 43 notes