8/14/2019 Medical Marijuana - natl policy agenda onepager

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Headquarters 1322 Webster Street, Suite 402, Oakland, CA 94612National Office 1730 M Street NW, Suite 611, Washington DC 20036

88-929-4367

www.SafeAccessNow.org

. Establish Federal Legal Protections for Medical

Cannabis Patients and their Providers

California and 10 other states have passed laws which permit

eriously or chronically ill patients to use cannabis without legal

anction while under the care and supervision of a licensed

physician.

owever, medical cannabis patients and their providers in

hese states and nationwide suffer pervasive discrimination inmployment, child custody, housing, public accommodation,

ducation and medical care because of misinformation about

he medical efficacy of cannabis and a lack of statutory legal

protections. Furthermore, patients and their care providers

re vulnerable to federal raids, arrest, prosecution, and

ncarceration.

Since June 2005, when the Supreme Court issued its decision

n Gonzales v. Raich, the federal government has conducted

dozens of raids on licensed medical cannabis patient collectives

nd dispensaries across the state of California, costing

axpayers more than $10 million. Currently, the Department

f Justice is seeking to prosecute nearly 100 licensed medicalannabis patients and care providers. Unfortunately, these

defendants will likely be forbidden from explaining that their

se of marijuana was therapeutic and in compliance with state

aw, limiting their ability to present a successful defense.

SA will work with its members, Congress, the Administration,

nd our coalition partners to establish comprehensive federal

egal protections for medical cannabis patients and their

providers.

.Implement the Institute of Medicine recommendations,

provided in its 1999 report, Marijuana and Medicine.

he Institute of Medicines (IOM) 1999 comprehensive reportn the therapeutic use of cannabis, Marijuana and Medicine:

ssessing the Science Base, specifically recommends that

numerous clinical trials be conducted to determine appropriate

herapeutic use of cannabis. Unfortunately, political and

bureaucratic obstacles inhibit clinical research that meets the

tandards required by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

ASA NATIONAL POLICY AGENDA

ASA will work with its members, Congress, the Administration,

nd our coalition partners to support the implementation of

he recommendations provided by the Institute of Medicine

nd to remove federal barriers for medical and scientific

research on cannabis for therapeutic use.

3. Create a National, Comprehensive and Safe Access

Plan for Chronic and Seriously Ill Patients

In 1978, the federal government created the Compassionate

Investigational New Drug program, which permitted patients

o use federally-cultivated cannabis provided by the National

Institute on Drug Abuse and grown at the University of

Mississippi. However, in 1992, facing an onslaught of new

pplicants, many of whom were suffering from HIV/AIDS, the

Public Health Service closed the program to all new applicants.

Today, while a handful of surviving patients continue to receive

monthly supply of cannabis from the federal government

o alleviate the symptoms of a wide variety of conditions and

housands of Californians enjoy safe and legal access throughregulated community-based dispensaries, collectives and

ooperatives thousands of patients across the country are

denied safe access to cannabis for therapeutic use. The next

tep is to create safe and legal access to cannabis for patients

nationwide.

Comprehensive access to cannabis is possible and improves

health care outcomes, including adherence to conventional

medical treatments. Research suggests that people living

with HIV/AIDS on HAART therapy and people affected by the

Hepatitis-C virus undergoing interferon and ribavirin treatments

who use cannabis to combat the side-effects of conventional

medical treatments are about three times more likely to remainn their prescribed drug therapies than non-users of cannabis.

ASA will work with its members, Congress, the Administration,

nd our coalition partners to support a national comprehensive

nd safe access plan for chronic or seriously ill patients who use

annabis to combat the symptoms of their clinical conditions

while under the care of a licensed physician.

10TH CONGRESS 2007-2009

he use of medical cannabis can improve health care outcomes, including adherence to conventional medical treat-ments. However, federal law prohibits the use of cannabis even for medical purposes. Americans for Safe Access(ASA) is working to change federal policy to meet the immediate needs of patients, their providers, physicians,

other health care providers and medical researchers. ASA and our members encourage Congress, the Adminis-tration, and others to support long-term solutions for safe and legal access to cannabis for therapeutic use andprograms that advance medical and scientific research.