Proposition 215
Medical Marijuana Initiative Section 1. Section 11362.5 is added to the Health and Safety
Code, to read: 11362.5. (a) This section shall be known and may be cited as the
Compassionate Use Act of 1996. (b) (l) The people of the State of California hereby
find
and declare that the purposes of the Compassionate Use Act of 1996 are as follows: (A) To
ensure that seriously ill Californians have the right to obtain and use marijuana for
medical purposes where that medical use is deemed appropriate and has been recommended by
a physician who has determined that the person's health would benefit from the use of
marijuana in the treatment of cancer, anorexia, AIDS, chronic pain, spasticity, glaucoma,
arthritis, migraine, or any other illness for which marijuana provides relief. (B) To
ensure that patients and their primary caregivers who obtain and use marijuana for
medical purposes upon the recommendation of a physician are not subject to criminal
prosecution or sanction. (C) To encourage the federal and state governments to
implement a plan to provide for the safe and affordable distribution of marijuana to all
patients in medical need of marijuana. (2) Nothing in this act shall be construed to
supersede legislation prohibiting persons from engaging in conduct
that endangers others, nor to condone the diversion of marijuana for nonmedical purposes.
With standing any other provision of law, no physician in this state shall be punished,
or denied any right or privilege, for having recommended marijuana to a patient for
medical purposes. (d) Section 11357, relating to the possession of marijuana, and
Section 11358, relating to the cultivation of marijuana, shall not apply to a patient, or
to a patient's primary caregiver, who possesses or cultivates marijuana for the personal
medical purposes of the patient upon the written or oral recommendation or approval of a
physician. (e) For the purposes of this section, "primary caregiver" means the
individual designated by the person exempted under this act who has consistently assumed
responsibility for the housing, health, or safety of that person. Sec. 2. If any
provision of this measure or the application thereof to any person or circumstance is
held invalid, that invalidity shall not affect other provisions or applications of the
measure which can be given effect without the invalid provision or application, and to
this en d the provisions of this measure are severable.
On November 5th, Californians approved Prop. 215, allowing patients to use medical
marijuana. Voter support of this historic new law was 55.7% in favor verses only 44.3%
opposed, a spread of 11.4 points.
The passage of Proposition 215 would give the people of California legal access to a
remarkably safe, highly versatile, and potentially inexpensive medicine. Patients find
marijuana helpful for nausea and vomiting, for glaucoma and as an appetite stimulant. It
is used for the relief of muscle spasms and seizures, as well as osteoarthritis,
menstrual cramps, migraine and other forms of chronic pain. It is safer than most
prescription
medicines and often works better, with less serious side effects.
If marijuana were not prohibited, it would also be less expensive than most conventional
medications. The cost of medical marijuana would be $20 to $30 an ounce, or about 30
cents per cigarette. Once cigarette usually relieves the nausea and vomiting produced by
cancer chemotherapy. So does a standard dose of Zofran, the best legally available
treatment, which costs $30 to $40 - at least 100 times the price of marijuana. According
to a 1995 poll conducted by the American Civil Liberties Union, 85 percent of Americans
think marijuana should be available as a medicine. Interest in medical marijuana is
becoming so great that physicians in California and elsewhere may soon be asked to assume
responsibilities for which they are unprepared. Nineteenth-century doctors were more
sophisticated about marijuana than contemporary ones. Between 1840 and 1900, more than
100 articles on the therapeutic use of the drug then known as Indian hemp were published
in European and American medical journals. When medical use in the United States was
effectively outlawed by the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937, the American Medical Association,
to its credit, opposed the ban. Since then, unfortunately, the medical community has
become largely ignorant about marijuana and has been a victim and an agent in the spread
of misinformation. This situation is finally beginning to change. Doctors are learning
about marijuana in an unusual way not from articles in medical journals or from drug
company advertisements, but from their patients. There have been many cases observed that
many patients who use marijuana to relieve symptoms from muscle spasms to severe
depression. Their doctors respond in different ways. A few condemn marijuana use, and
some pretend to ignore it or profess indifference, but most offer some encouragement or
moral support despite the fact that marijuana is classified under federal law as "unsafe
for use under medical supervision."
Obviously doctors confronted with medical need can recognize the foolishness of this law.
But most are either afraid to do anything more or unable to provide further help because
they know to little. Physicians will find that more and more patients are approaching
them with questions about marijuana. They will have to learn which
symptoms and disorders may be better treated with marijuana than with conventional
medications. They will also need to instruct patients who are unfamiliar with marijuana
in the best ways to use it. To accomplish that, they must listen more carefully to their
patients and educated themselves and one another about this medicine.
Physicians have long recognized the need for continuing medical education (CME) to keep
themselves up to date on new drugs and techniques. As Proposition 215 comes to
California, physicians should do their part in fulfilling its promise by organizing CME
courses on the medical use of marijuana.
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