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Support for States Rights to Medical Cannabis |
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NAPERVILLE, IL - Illinois NORML and Americans for Safe Access (ASA) asked Drug Enforcement Administration Director Asa Hutchinson to end the government???s war on patients who use marijuana as medicine.
Representatives Barney Frank (D-MA) and Ron Paul (R-TX) have sponsored bi-partisan legislation: H.R. 2592, the "States' Rights to Medical Marijuana Act," to provide for the medical use of marijuana. The bill has 36 co-sponsors, including Illinois Representative Janice Schakowsky (D-9th). This legislation would reclassify marijuana under federal law to properly recognize its medical utility and enable physicians to legally prescribe it under controlled circumstances while maintaining restrictions on recreational use. Most importantly, this legislation would afford patients legal protection under federal law by rescheduling marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule II, and permit those states that wish to establish medical marijuana distribution systems the legal authority to do so. Passage of this legislation is long overdue.
Since 1996, voters in eight states - Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Maine, Nevada, Oregon and Washington - have overwhelmingly voted in favor of ballot initiatives exempting patients who use marijuana under a physician's supervision from state criminal penalties. As the votes in these states suggest, the American public clearly distinguishes between the medical use and the recreational use of marijuana, and a majority support legalizing medical use for seriously ill patients. A March 2001 Pew Research Center poll reported that 73 percent of Americans support making marijuana legally available for doctors to prescribe, as did a 1999 Gallup poll. The medical community is also unified in support of medicinal access to marijuana. A 1999 review by the National Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medicine (IOM) concluded that marijuana has therapeutic value as a pain reliever, anti-emetic and appetite stimulant. Currently, more than 70 US and international health organizations, including the American Public Health Association, Health Canada and the Federation of American Scientists, support granting patients immediate legal access to medicinal marijuana under a physician's supervision.
House Bill 2592 is not a mandate from Washington and does not require any state to amend its current laws. It is a states' rights bill that reflects the will of the American people and the scientific and medical communities, and would allow states to determine for themselves whether marijuana should be legal for medicinal use. It is a common sense solution to a complex issue, and deserves Congressional hearings and support. For those thousands of seriously ill patients who rely on medicinal marijuana, it is unconscionable for Congress to do otherwise.
For more information, contact Bryan Brickner at 773.395.9708. |
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 14 February 2007 )
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