Marijuana’s time
THREE senators, two Democrats and a Republican introduced a bill on Tuesday that would allow patients to use marijuana for medical purposes in states where it is legal, without fear of federal prosecution for violating narcotics laws.
The most important change would reclassify marijuana from a Schedule I drug under the Controlled Substances Act, which is intended for drugs, like heroin, that have no accepted medical use in the US, and place it instead in Schedule II, the classification for drugs that have a legitimate medical use but also have a “high potential for abuse”.
The Schedule I classification made no sense because there is a medical consensus that patients with HIV/Aids, cancer, epilepsy and serious degenerative conditions can benefit from marijuana. And millions of patients have used marijuana to relieve pain, nausea, appetite loss, insomnia and seizures associated with various illnesses.
The bill would not legalise medical marijuana in all 50 states. But it would amend federal law to allow states to set their own medical marijuana policies and prevent federal law enforcement agencies from prosecuting.
The bill would also allow doctors in the Department of Veterans Affairs to prescribe medical marijuana to veterans. And it would ease the overly strict procedures for obtaining marijuana for medical research and require the Food and Drug Administration to more readily allow its manufacture.
An encouraging development last year may bode well for enactment of the legislation this year. A surprisingly strong bipartisan majority in the House voted for a one-year provision barring the Justice Department from using its funds to prevent states from legally authorising the use, distribution, possession or cultivation of medical marijuana.
The provision was approved by a vote of 219 to 189, with 49 Republicans and 170 Democrats voting in favour. The Senate adopted the same provision and President Obama signed it into law.
Polls show a majority of Americans are in favour of legalising medical marijuana. It is long past time for Congress to recognise the need to change course.