Medical Marijuana IS Legalized Marijuana (caduceus art by Dave Bram, Oregon NORML)
Houston, TX (ASA)– The American Medical Association (AMA) voted today to reverse its long-held position that marijuana be retained as a Schedule I substance with no medical value. The AMA adopted a report drafted by its Council on Science and Public Health (CSAPH) entitled, “Use of Cannabis for Medicinal Purposes,” which affirmed the therapeutic benefits of marijuana and called for further research. The CSAPH report concluded that, “short term controlled trials indicate that smoked cannabis reduces neuropathic pain, improves appetite and caloric intake especially in patients with reduced muscle mass, and may relieve spasticity and pain in patients with multiple sclerosis.” Furthermore, the report urges that “the Schedule I status of marijuana be reviewed with the goal of facilitating clinical research and development of cannabinoid-based medicines, and alternate delivery methods.”
The change of position by the largest physician-based group in the country was precipitated in part by a resolution adopted in June of 2008 by the Medical Student Section (MSS) of the AMA in support of the reclassification of marijuana’s status as a Schedule I substance. In the past year, the AMA has considered three resolutions dealing with medical marijuana, which also helped to influence the report and its recommendations. The AMA vote on the report took place in Houston, Texas during the organization’s annual Interim Meeting of the House of Delegates. The last AMA position, adopted 8 years ago, called for maintaining marijuana as a Schedule I substance, with no medical value.
The AMA’s about face on medical marijuana follows an announcement by the Obama Administration in October discouraging U.S. Attorneys from taking enforcement actions in medical marijuana states. In February 2008, a similar resolution was adopted by the American College of Physicians (ACP), the country’s second largest physician group and the largest organization of doctors of internal medicine. The ACP resolution called for an evidence-based review of marijuana’s status as a Schedule I controlled substance to determine whether it should be reclassified to a different schedule.
So does this mean we get a change of heart from Rep. John Boozman, Rep. Dennis Cardoza, House Minority Leader John Boehner, and all the other Politicians on Pot who rely on the old excuse that the American Medical Association says that “crude” marijuana is not medicine?
This is huge. An entire plank in the War on (Certain American Citizens Using Non-Pharmaceutical, Non-Alcoholic, Tobacco-Free) Drugs™ has just crashed and burned. Resistance to medical marijuana from roadblocks governors like John Lynch and Tim Pawlenty and Jodi Rell in New Hampshire, Minnesota, and Connecticut will be more difficult now that nobody can deny that smoked cannabis is medicine. It’s a lot harder politically to veto medicine.
Rescheduling will be interesting. Marinol — a pure 100% Not Your Father’s Woodstock Weed™ dose of THC — was originally entered as Schedule II, but was then moved down to Schedule III. So how do you rate cannabis as any more dangerous than dronabinol pills? Does cannabis end up in Schedule III like anabolic steroids and ketamine (Special K), or does it end up in Schedule IV with Ambien, Xanax, Valium, and rohypnol (Roofies)>
