[Wall Street Journal's Health Blog] Ease off on marijuana, a national doctor group is telling the feds.The American College of Physicians, 124,000 members strong, has issued a 13-page position paper asking the federal government to drop marijuana from its classification as a substance considered to have no medicinal value and a high chance of abuse, reports the Baltimore Sun. (Read this Health Blog post for one doctor’s high opinion of medical marijuana.)“They’ve said essentially that the federal government has it all wrong,” Bruce Mirken, spokesman for the Marijuana Policy Project, tells the Health Blog. The ACP, which represents internists, is the largest physician group to date to ask for such a classification change, he says.

The Sun reports that the ACP’s declaration could pressure legislators and regulators to consider pushing for the schedule change. The federal government thus far has resisted fully exploring the medical benefits of marijuana, but a dozen states have legalized medical use. The ACP paper makes a broad case for easing restrictions on marijuana research and says that doctors and patients in these states shouldn’t be penalized under federal law.

But at least some in the government disagree vehemently with the idea of legalizing medical marijuana. “What this would do is drag us back to 14th-century medicine,” Berta Madras, the deputy director for demand reduction at the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy tells the Sun. “It’s so arcane.”

Somebody needs to tell Ms. Madras that marijuana is medicine no matter which century you’re talking about. Healers throughout time have recognized marijuana’s medicinal properties. Prior to the 1937 prohibition of the herb, cannabis was a major ingredient in most medicinal remedies available over the counter. Queen Victoria’s doctors gave her marijuana for menstrual cramps. There are references to medical use of cannabis in nearly every ancient civilization. All we’re trying to do is undo the 70 years of prohibition that has led to ignoring 5,000 years of medical use. We’re trying to bring our government into the 21st century where scientists and doctors know the plain truth — that marijuana is medicine.

The nation’s largest organization of doctors of internal medicine, the American College of Physicians has issued a 13-page paper calling on the government to remove marijuana from the Schedule I classification which declares the herb to have no medicinal value.The ACP position paper urges the use of non-smoked forms of cannabis as well as further research to identify the illnesses best treated with cannabis and the proper dosages for specific conditions.

It called for further research into cannabis as a pain reliever for conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis and as an aid in treatment of neurological and movement disorders such as spasticity, pain and tremor in patients with multiple sclerosis, spinal-cord injuries and other trauma.

The declaration could put new pressure on Washington lawmakers and government regulators who for decades have rejected attempts to reclassify marijuana.

Bruce Mirken, a San Francisco spokesman for the Marijuana Policy Project, said the ACP position is “an earthquake that’s going to rattle the whole medical-marijuana debate.”

The group, he said, “pulverized the government’s two favorite myths about medical marijuana — that it’s not supported by the medical community and that science hasn’t shown marijuana to have medical value.”

But officials at the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy said calls for legalizing medical marijuana were misguided.

“What this would do is drag us back to 14th century medicine,” said Bertha Madras, the agency’s deputy director for demand reduction. “It’s so arcane.”

No, what this would do is push us forward from the draconian, anti-scientific propaganda from the 20th century prohibitionists.  If marijuana had never been heard of, if it carried no societal baggage and was suddenly discovered growing in some remote rainforest, scientists and doctors would be hailing it as the new wonder drug.  Humans have used cannabis as medicine for our entire recorded history and the 70+ years of its prohibition are a historical anomaly.