cannabisnews.com: Federal Stance on Medical Marijuana Law Protested
Federal Stance on Medical Marijuana Law Protested
Posted by CN Staff on September 24, 2002 at 07:58:09 PT
By Chris Rizo, Capitol Correspondent
Source: Oroville Mercury-Register
Declaring the war on drugs has unjustly been extended to the seriously ill in California who use marijuana on the advice of their physicians, hundreds protested at the state Capitol on Monday, calling on the federal government to leave people's medicine alone. The estimated 500 demonstrators, who included public officials from around the state, came by the busloads to urge federal officials to respect California's landmark, voter-approved medical marijuana law.
Aboard one of those buses, Marie Santiago, 56, said she made the eight-hour trip from Los Angeles to protest the federal government's recent crackdown against medical marijuana growers and those seriously ill and injured patients who, like herself, smoke pot "so life is worth living." "Before I got cancer, I had never even taken a drag off a cigarette," Santiago said. "But the chemo made me so sick that I had to do something. I'm in pain. I am not a criminal." But the grandmother of five is a criminal in the eyes of the federal government, and she knows it. Also picketing on the Capitol's south lawn was Roger Moore of South Pasadena, who said he has been smoking pot since 1996. He credits his daily toke with helping him to offset the side effects of his chemotherapy treatments for an illness he declined to disclose. "I can take a hit - or two - of marijuana, and not have to get up the first thing in the morning to puke my brains out, like I did for years," said Moore. He got his medical marijuana from the Los Angeles Cannabis Resource Center until federal officials raided the West Hollywood facility on Oct. 25, 2001, confiscating nearly 900 plants and the records of its members. Santiago and Moore are among the hundreds of medical marijuana users caught in the middle of an intensifying turf battle between state officials and the federal government. The discord centers on whether the federal government should continue to enforce its unequivocal ban on marijuana, or whether it should turn a blind eye to certain cases, since Californians overwhelmingly approved a 1996 ballot initiative that allows for the use of marijuana with a physician's signed recommendation. California is one of nine states where voters have allowed physicians to prescribe marijuana to patients suffering from such conditions as AIDS, cancer and multiple sclerosis. Earlier this month, California Attorney General Bill Lockyer sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft and Drug Enforcement Administration chief Asa Hutchinson, requesting a meeting to discuss recent actions against growers by the DEA. Until recently, the DEA adhered to a Clinton administration guideline that stated federal agents would not pursue cases of marijuana cultivation if fewer than 100 plants were involved. But so far under the Bush administration, several small-scale medical marijuana growers have faced federal indictment. Among those caught up in larger busts is Bryan James Epis, co-founder of the Medical Marijuana Caregivers in Chico, who now faces up to 40 years in federal prison for conspiring to manufacture at least 1,000 pot plants in his home, located about a block from Chico High School. Advocates on Monday lashed out at federal officials for the conviction and upcoming sentencing of Epis, 35, who is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 7. Steph Sherer, a spokeswoman for Americans for Safe Access, said Epis is an unfortunate casualty from the conflict between the federal law banning marijuana use and California's law, which allows patients to grow their own medicine. "This should have been a fight between state officials and the federal government," Sherer said. "But it's patients who are fighting the federal government." Carrying a sign reading "My dad isn't a criminal," Epis' 8-year-old daughter, Ashley, said, "The only criminal thing I see is that they are taking him away from me, and I don't appreciate that," she said, leading a candlelight march around the Sacramento County Jail, where her father has been held since a jury found him guilty in June. Monday's protest follows an all-but-officially-sponsored Sept. 18 marijuana giveaway in front of Santa Cruz City Hall, by which protesters - including city officials - objected to the Sept. 5 raid on the Wo/Men's Alliance for Medical Marijuana. During the raid, federal agents seized 130 pot plants and arrested Michael and Valerie Corral, the couple that founded the dispensary and helped write Proposition 215. "We are talking about people who don't smoke marijuana to get high," said Dr. Philip Denney, a general practitioner who specializes in providing medical marijuana consultations. "We are talking about people who are taking an alternative to more dangerous medications," he said. "Marijuana is not the only drug; and it's not always the best one," the Loomis-based physician said. "But it is an alternative that some people should explore." San Francisco County District Attorney Terence Hallinan, an ardent proponent of medical marijuana, said Monday that the federal government should take a hands-off approach when it comes to medical marijuana dispensaries. While the federal government is resolved that marijuana serves no useful medical purpose, so have the people of California concluded that marijuana "saves lives, eases pain and reduces suffering," he said. "I urge the federal government to stay out of our business, and leave health and safety to those best able to deal with it - the people of the state of California," Hallinan continued. "We have a lot of compassion for those who are suffering from pain," said DEA Special Agent Richard Meyer, spokesman for the administration's San Francisco field office. "But we cannot disagree with the protesters' position more. "There is no medical association or scientific organization that has come out to say that marijuana is a medication," he continued, adding that the DEA has a policy of pursuing traffickers and not users - including medical marijuana patients. While federal authorities have largely left alone physicians who suggest or advocate the use of marijuana to alleviate such complaints as pain and nausea, the DEA has stepped up pressure on individuals, pursuing small-scale medical marijuana growers, advocates say. In recent months, they point to several raids on growers with no connection to marijuana trafficking, which is explicitly prohibited by Prop. 215. On Aug. 15, DEA agents destroyed a six-plant garden belonging to Diane Monson of Oroville, even after Butte County District Attorney Mike Ramsey urged them to leave her personal-use crop alone, which complied with the county's six-plant limit. On the same day, a similar scene erupted when federal drug agents raided the garden of Alan MacFarlane, a cancer patient who was earlier acquitted in a Sonoma County courtroom of growing 100 plants for his personal use. In the second raid against him, authorities confiscated 128 plants, which MacFarlane said he was cultivating for 10 others - all in compliance with Sonoma County's medical marijuana guidelines. To avert future medical marijuana busts, Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., introduced legislation in July that would re-schedule marijuana, allowing physicians to prescribe pot to patients. His proposal has gained little support in Washington. "I really don't know what the big deal is here," said Mark Woo, a 30-year-old East Los Angeles engineer. "I am just trying to live without unbearable pain. Why can't people understand that?"Complete Title: Federal Stance on State's Medical Marijuana Law ProtestedSource: Oroville Mercury-Register (CA)Author: Chris Rizo, Capitol Correspondent Published: Tuesday, September 24, 2002 Copyright: 2002 Oroville Mercury RegisterContact: biano cncnet.comWebsite: http://www.orovillemr.com/Related Articles & Web Sites:WAMMhttp://www.wamm.org/LACRChttp://www.lacbc.org/Americans For Safe Accesshttp://www.safeaccessnow.org/Medical Marijuana Activists are Arrestedhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14224.shtmlProtesters Rally For Medical Marijuana Usehttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14218.shtmlOdd Bedfellows Join Fight for Medical Marijuana http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread13531.shtmlMarijuana Grower Convicted in Jury Verdicthttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread13383.shtml
Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help
Comment #7 posted by afterburner on September 24, 2002 at 10:16:57 PT:
PonziScheme - UN?
Ha, Ho, PonziScheme. What about the 1988 UN convention against illicit traffic in narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances? Any leads?
[ Post Comment ]
Comment #6 posted by PonziScheme on September 24, 2002 at 09:53:48 PT
Afterburner
Thank you Afterburner. By the way, marijuana's current federal prohibition is due to it's classification as a Schedule I substance under the 1970 Controlled Substances Act (CSA). The 1937 law no longer applies, and I believe it was also struck down in 1969 by the Supreme Court as unconstitional in a case involving Timothy Leary. (Really!)
[ Post Comment ]
Comment #5 posted by afterburner on September 24, 2002 at 09:22:28 PT:
Thank you PonziScheme - unequivocal ban on marijua
Thank you PonziScheme. Their lies are falling like a house of cards. And by the way does anyone have a link to the 1937 Marijuana Tax Act and any other revelevant federal prohibition? What does it actually say?
[ Post Comment ]
Comment #4 posted by PonziScheme on September 24, 2002 at 08:47:02 PT
Part 3
British Medical Association
"Present evidence indicates that [cannabinoids] are remarkably safe drugs, with a side-effects profile superior to many drugs used for the same indications. ... [The BMA] will urge the government to consider changing the Misuse of Drugs Act to allow the prescription of cannabinoids to patients with certain conditions causing distress that are not adequately controlled by existing treatments."
Reference: BMA report: "Therapeutic Uses of Cannabis:" November 1997
------------------------------------------------------------------------California Academy of Family Physicians
"[The CAFP] supports efforts to expedite access to cannabinoids for use under the direction of a physician."
Reference: position statement adopted by the Academy's Congress of Delegates: February 1994
------------------------------------------------------------------------California Nurses Association
"The California Nurses Association supports AB (Assembly Bill) 1529 which would eliminate California's prohibition against possessing marijuana or growing marijuana for individuals using marijuana for medical purposes. ... This measure is a compassionate alternative for patients ... to obtain relief."
Reference: letter from CNA President Kurt Laumann, RN, to Gov. Pete Wilson (September 21, 1995)
------------------------------------------------------------------------California Pharmacists Association
"[The CPA] support pharmacy participation in the legal distribution of medical marijuana."
Reference: AP Financial News article, May 26, 1997
------------------------------------------------------------------------Colorado Nurses Association
"The Colorado Nurses Association recognize[s] the therapeutic use of cannabis [and] support efforts to end federal policies which prohibit or unnecessarily restrict marijuana's legal availability for legitimate health care uses. ... Marijuana must be placed in a less restrictive Schedule and made available to patients who may benefit from its use."
Reference: Colorado Nurses Association 1995 Conventional Directory and Book of Reports
------------------------------------------------------------------------Dean Edell, M.D.
"Cannabinoids and THC also have strong pain-killing powers, which is one reason medical marijuana should be readily available to people with cancer and other debilitating diseases."
Reference: statement of Dean Edell: March 2, 2000
------------------------------------------------------------------------Federation of American Scientists
"Based on much evidence, from patients and doctors alike, on the superior effectiveness and safety of whole cannabis compared to other medications,
the President should instruct the NIH and the Food and Drug Administration to make efforts to enroll seriously ill patients whose physicians believe that whole cannabis would be helpful to their conditions in clinical trials, both to allow data-gathering and to provide an alternative to the black market while the scientific questions about the possible utility of cannabis are resolved."
Reference: FAS Petition on Medical Marijuana, November 1994
------------------------------------------------------------------------Florida Governor's Red Ribbon Panel on AIDS
"Recommendations for care: The state should facilitate greater access to drug therapies for treatment as well as preventive therapy. This should include access to marijuana when medically indicated."
Reference: Florida Governor's Report: January 1993
------------------------------------------------------------------------Florida Medical Association
"The FMA urge the state and federal governments and U.S. Public Health Service to open limited access to medical marijuana by reopening the investigational new drug program to new applicants."
Reference: FMA Resolution #97-61: adopted June 1997
------------------------------------------------------------------------French Ministry of Health
"Obviously, it should be possible to prescribe [cannabis.] For a doctor, that could be a real benefit."
Reference: statements of French Health Minister Bernard Kouchner: Independent on Sunday, December 7, 1997
------------------------------------------------------------------------Hawaii Nurses Association
"[The HNA] support legislation to remove state level criminal penalties for both bona fide medical marijuana patients and their healthcare providers."
Reference: HNA Resolution: adopted October 21, 1999.
------------------------------------------------------------------------Health Canada
"There is no problem, basically, with marijuana as a medicine. ... Marijuana is no different than morphine, no different than codeine, no different than Aspirin."
Reference: statements of Health Canada spokesman Dann Michols: Ottawa Citizen, December 19, 1997
* The Canadian government legalized the use of medical marijuana on July 31, 2001.
------------------------------------------------------------------------Kaiser Permanente
"Medical guidelines regarding [marijuana's] prudent use should be established... Unfortunately, clinical research on potential therapeutic uses for marijuana has been difficult to accomplish in the United States, despite reasonable evidence for the efficacy of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and marijuana as anti-emetic and anti-glaucoma agents and the suggestive evidence for their efficacy in the treatment of other medical conditions, including AIDS."
Reference: Kaiser Permanente study: "Marijuana Use and Mortality," American Journal of Public Health, April 1997
------------------------------------------------------------------------Lymphoma Foundation of America
"Be it resolved that this organization urges Congress and the President to enact legislation to reschedule marijuana to allow doctors to prescribe smokable marijuana to patients in need; and, Be it further resolved that this organization urges the US Public Health Service to allow limited access to medicinal marijuana by promptly reopening the Investigational New Drug compassionate access program to new applicants."
Reference: Resolution approved by Lymphoma Foundation President Belita Cowan: January 20, 1997.
------------------------------------------------------------------------Mississippi Nurses Association
"The Mississippi Nurses Association support all reasonable efforts to end federal policies which prohibit or unnecessarily restrict marijuana's legal availability for legitimate medical uses; and be it Resolved that the Mississippi Nurses Association provide education to the nurses of Mississippi about the therapeutic use of marijuana and federal prohibition of its use; and be it Resolved that the Virginia Nurses Association encourage other health care provider organizations to supp ort medical access to marijuana."
Reference: Resolution for Marijuana Access for Therapeutic Use, adopted by the MNA House of Delegates: October 27, 1995
[ Post Comment ]
Comment #3 posted by JHarshaw on September 24, 2002 at 08:45:51 PT
Lies and more lies
"There is no medical association or scientific organization that has come out to say that marijuana is a medication," Who does he think he's kidding? I'm not going to list the organizations here since they can be found easily enough on the 'net if you care to look. But that is sort of the point isn't it? You have to look.
Walters and Hutchinson and their ilk not only don't want to know but are paid to remain ignorant.Peace and pot
[ Post Comment ]
Comment #2 posted by PonziScheme on September 24, 2002 at 08:44:38 PT
Part 2
National Association for Public Health Policy
"We
recommend the following
actions: The federal government should re-classify marijuana
out of the Schedule 1 category and allow their prescription where medically appropriate."
Reference: Position paper adopted by the National Association for Public Health Policy: November 15, 1998.
------------------------------------------------------------------------National Nurses Society on Addictions
"The National Nurses Society on Addictions urges the federal government to remove marijuana from the Schedule I category immediately, and make it available for physicians to prescribe. NNSA urges the American Nurses' Association and other health care professional organizations to support patient access to this medicine."
Reference: "Position Paper: Access to Therapeutic Cannabis," approved by the NNSA Board of Directors: May 1, 1995
------------------------------------------------------------------------New England Journal of Medicine
"Federal authorities should rescind their prohibition of the medical use of marijuana for seriously ill patients and allow physicians to decide which patients to treat. The government should change marijuana's status from that of a Schedule I drug ... to that of a Schedule II drug ... and regulate it accordingly."
Reference: Editorial by NEJM editor Dr. Jerome Kassirer, January 30, 1997
------------------------------------------------------------------------
New Jersey State Nurses Association
"The NJSNA recognizes the therapeutic value and safety of medically recommended marijuana and ... supports legal access to medically recommended marijuana for patients in New Jersey who are under the care of a licensed health care provider."
Reference: New Jersey State Nurses Association Press Release (March 25, 2002) ------------------------------------------------------------------------New Mexico Medical Society
The New Mexico Medical Society ... supports the medical use of marijuana for patients suffering from cancer, AIDS, and other serious or terminal conditions.
Reference: Letter from Society President Allan Haynes (January 21, 2002)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
New South Wales (Australia) Parliamentary Working Party on the use of Cannabis for Medical Purposes
"The Working Party is in sympathy with the motivation and spirit of the recommendations in the Institute of Medicine and House of Lords reports. Accordingly, it recommends the introduction in NSW of a compassionate regime to assist those suffering from [a] range of illnesses
to gain the benefits associated with the use of cannabis without facing criminal sanctions, pending the development of safer and more efficient methods to deliver cannabinoids."
Reference: "Report of the Working Party on the Use of Cannabis for Medical Purposes," Executive Summary, Recommendation 9: August 2000
------------------------------------------------------------------------New Mexico Nurses Association
"NMNA has voted to endorse the concept of allowing the therapeutic use of marijuana in a variety of disease states ... when conventional treatments are ineffective."
Reference: Letter from NMNA President Ginny Guido (July 28, 1997)
------------------------------------------------------------------------New York State Nurses Association
"Marijuana has been found to be effective in the treatment of glaucoma by reducing intraocular pressure and in reducing nausea and vomiting caused by chemotherapy. Marijuana has also been effective in stimulating the appetite of AIDS patients suffering from the wasting syndrome, controlling spasticity in spinal cord injury patients, and in controlling seizures for persons suffering from epilepsy and for persons with multiple sclerosis. ...The NYSNA Peer Assistance Committee agrees with the intent and content of the resolution 'Legalizing Marijuana for Medical Purposes.'"
Reference: "Position Statement on Medicinal Marijuana," passed by the NYSNA Board of Directors: June 7, 1995
------------------------------------------------------------------------North Carolina Nurses Association
"NCNA urges the Administration and Congress to make cannabis available as a legal medicine where shown to be safe and effective and to immediately allow access to therapeutic cannabis through the Investigational New Drug Program."
Reference: "Position Statement on Therapeutic Use of Cannabis," adopted by the NCNA: October 15, 1996 ------------------------------------------------------------------------San Francisco Mayor's Summit on AIDS and HIV
"Marijuana must continue to be available to persons living with AIDS and HIV and other diseases who wish to use it for pain management, appetite stimulation and other medicinal purposes."
Reference: "Mayor's Summit on AIDS & HIV," preliminary report released January 27, 1998
------------------------------------------------------------------------San Francisco Medical Society
"The SFMS takes a support position on the California Medical Marijuana Initiative."
Reference: Motion passed by SFMS Board of Directors: August 8, 1996
------------------------------------------------------------------------Virginia Nurses Association
"The Virginia Nurses Association support all reasonable efforts to end federal policies which prohibit or unnecessarily restrict marijuana's legal availability for legitimate medical uses; and be it Resolved that the Virginia Nurses Association provide education to the nurses of Virginia on the therapeutic use of marijuana and federal prohibition of its use; and be it Resolved that the Virginia Nurses Association encourage other health care provider organizations to supp ort medical access to marijuana."
Reference: Resolution passed by the VNA Delegate Assembly: October7, 1994
------------------------------------------------------------------------Andrew Weil, M.D.
"I consider the most important recommendation made by the IOM (Institute of Medicine) panel [to be] that physicians be able to prescribe marijuana to individual patients with debilitating or terminal conditions.
I believe such compassionate use is justified."
Reference: "Why I support Medical Marijuana," in Self Healing, July 1999.
------------------------------------------------------------------------Whitman-Walker Clinic
"Whitman-Walker Clinic supports the valid use of marijuana, under a physician's supervision, to help alleviate AIDS wasting syndrome and nausea associated with treatment regimens."
Reference: Whitman-Walker News, April 1998
------------------------------------------------------------------------Wisconsin Nurses Association
"The Wisconsin Nurses Association urges the Governor of Wisconsin and the Wisconsin Legislature to move expeditiously to make cannabis available as a legally prescribed medicine where shown to be safe and effective."
Reference: Resolution adopted by WNA: October 29, 1999
[ Post Comment ]
Comment #1 posted by PonziScheme on September 24, 2002 at 08:42:07 PT
"No" Medical Groups? How About 70! (Part 1)
"There is no medical association or scientific organization that has come out to say that marijuana is a medication," he continued, adding that the DEA has a policy of pursuing traffickers and not users - including medical marijuana patients. And now the TRUTH!!!!Health Organizations Supporting Immediate Legal Access to Medical MarijuanaAIDS Action Council
"AIDS Action Council supports the elimination of federal restrictions that bar doctors from prescribing marijuana for medical use by individuals with HIV/AIDS. ... AIDS Action Council supports reopening the U.S. Public Health Service's Investigational New Drug Compassionate Access program to provide access to medical-use marijuana for greater numbers of qualified patients.
Reference: "Resolution in Support of Access to Medical-Use Marijuana," adopted by the Public Policy Committee of AIDS Action Council: November 15, 1996
------------------------------------------------------------------------AIDS Treatment News
"The scientific case for medical [marijuana] use keeps growing stronger. Far more dangerous psychoactive drugs, like morphine, are successfully allowed in medical use. Somehow marijuana has become a symbolic or political hard line to be maintained by anti-drug believers regardless of human cost. The costs will mount until the public can organize itself to insist that those who urgently need this medicine can obtain and use it legally."
Reference: AIDS Treatment News, #287, January 23, 1998
------------------------------------------------------------------------Alaska Nurses Association
"The Alaska Nurses Association supports the passage of Ballot Measure #8 [which] ... allow[s] patients to use marijuana as a medicine if they have a debilitating disease and an authorization from their doctor."
Reference: ANA Resolution: September 1998
------------------------------------------------------------------------American Academy of Family Physicians
"The American Academy of Family Physicians [supports] the use of marijuana ... under medical supervision and control for specific medical indications."
Reference: 1996-1997 AAFP Reference Manual - Selected Policies on Health Issues ------------------------------------------------------------------------American Medical Student Association
"The American Medical Student Association strongly urges the United States Government ... to meet the treatment needs of currently ill Americans by restoring the Compassionate IND program for medical marijuana, and ... reschedul[ing] marijuana to Schedule II of the Controlled Substances Act, and ... end[ing] the medical prohibition against marijuana."
Reference: AMSA House of Delegates Resolution #12 : adopted March 1993
------------------------------------------------------------------------American Preventive Medical Association
"Marijuana should be available for appropriate medicinal purposes, when such use is in accordance with state law, and that physicians who recommend and prescribe marijuana for medicinal purposes in states where such use is legal, should not be censured, harassed, prosecuted or otherwise penalized by the federal government."
Reference: "Medicinal Use of Marijuana" policy statement: December 8, 1997
------------------------------------------------------------------------American Public Health Association
"[The APHA] encourages research of the therapeutic properties of various cannabinoids and combinations of cannabinoids, and ... urges the Administration and Congress to move expeditiously to make cannabis available as a legal medicine."
Reference: Resolution #9513: "Access to Therapeutic Marijuana/Cannabis:" adopted November 1995
------------------------------------------------------------------------American Society of Addiction Medicine
"Approved medical uses for marijuana or [THC] for treatment of glaucoma, illnesses associated with wasting such as AIDS, the emesis associated with chemotherapy, or other uses should be carefully controlled. The drug should be administered only under the supervision of a knowledgeable physician."
Reference: ASAM "Statement on Marijuana," passed by ASAM Board of Directors: April 16, 1997
------------------------------------------------------------------------Arthritis Research Campaign (United Kingdom)
"We think people who use cannabis to the pain of arthritis should be able to do so."
Reference: ARC Statement to BBC News: October 23, 2001
------------------------------------------------------------------------Australian Medical Association (NSW) Limited
"The AMA (NSW)
encourage[s] the
Carr Government to introduce exemptions to current cannabis laws, which would allow the use of the currently prohibited drug, in specific medical cases to alleviate patient suffering and facilitate research."
Reference: Press release ("New Cannabis Exemption Laws Needed for Medical Use") of the AMA (NSW) Limited: September 30, 1999
------------------------------------------------------------------------Australian National Task Force on Cannabis
"Despite the positive appraisal of the therapeutic potential of cannabinoids ..., they have not been widely used. ... Part of the reason for this is that research on the therapeutic use of these compounds has become a casualty of the debate in the United States about the legal status of cannabis. ... As a community we do not allow this type of thinking to deny the use of opiates for analgesia. Nor should it be used to deny access to any therapeutic uses of cannabinoid derivatives that may be revealed by pharmacological research."
Reference: "The health and psychological consequences of cannabis use:" March 1994
------------------------------------------------------------------------Being Alive
"Being Alive has always supported a person's right to choose their own treatment modalities including ... efforts to legalize medical marijuana."
Reference: letter from Executive Director Gary Costas (January 3, 1996)
------------------------------------------------------------------------British House of Lords Select Committee on Science and Technology
"Cannabis can be effective in some patients to relieve the symptoms of MS, and against certain forms of pain. This evidence is enough to justify a change in the law.
The Government should allow doctors to prescribe cannabis for medical use: this is the conclusion of a report by the House of Lords Science and Technology Committee, published today."
Reference: Press release ("Lords Say: Legalise Cannabis for Medical Use") of the House of Lords: November 11, 1998.
------------------------------------------------------------------------British House of Lords Select Committee on Science and Technology (Second Report)
"We are concerned that the MCA [Medicines Control Agency] approach to the licensing of cannabis-based medicines
place the requirements of safety and the needs of patients in an unacceptable balance.
Patients with severe conditions such as multiple sclerosis are being denied the right to make informed choices about their medication. There is always some risk in taking any medication,
but these concerns should not prevent them from having access to what promises to be the only effective medication available to them."
Reference: Select Committee on Science and Technology, Second Report: "Therapeutic Uses of Cannabis:" March 14, 2001.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=3390
[ Post Comment ]
Post Comment