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)>

Oregon Senate Bill 728 passed the Senate by a vote of 26-2, the House passed it 58-1, and the Senate concurred on amendments 26-3.  It now awaits Gov. Kulongoski’s signature.  The measure adds new sections to Oregon’s law on controlled substances:

SECTION 2. The State Board of Pharmacy shall classify marijuana as a controlled substance in Schedule II, III, IV or V.

SECTION 4. (1) The State Board of Pharmacy shall classify marijuana in accordance with section 2 of this 2009 Act no later than 180 days after the effective date of this 2009 Act.

Oregon’s drug scheduling definitions mirror those of the federal government, so what this means is that Oregon no longer considers marijuana to be a drug with “a high potential for abuse” that “has no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States” and no “accepted safety for use of the drug or other substance under medical supervision.”

Instead, no matter where Oregon places marijuana on the scale from II to V sometime in early 2010, the state recognizes that marijuana “has a currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States.”

This doesn’t mean that Oregon doctors will begin prescribing marijuana; the federal Schedule I classification will still be in effect and doctor’s ability to prescribe narcotics usually requires a federal license.  However, it does mean that the entire sentencing structure for “crimes” involving marijuana changes in Oregon.  It also provides another point for those who challenge the federal assertion that marijuana has no recognized medical use in the United States – one of your states has written it into the law!

Oregon activist Laird Funk notes:

While the bill’s author, Sen Prozanski, opined at hearings that mj should probably end up in schedule 3, the Board will make its decision based on the result of evidence presented at a hearing or hearings. There is significant evidence that mj should be lower than schedule 3 and part of that evidence is contained in SB 728 itself, where it discusses schedule 4 substances which cause death. If schedule 4 substances can cause death, and cannabis has never caused death, (a fact I pointed out in the House hearings on 728) then logically it should be in schedule 5, given the mandate of the bill to place it in 2 thru 5.

I am asking all folks involved in cannabis reform efforts nationwide to take advantage of this opportunity and help Oregonians prepare the needed convincing evidence to place mj as low as possible. To that end, I am asking all who read this, who are on other lists to please re-post this to those lists so that all might be best prepared to make this opportunity to reschedule work best for us all.

I will be contacting the Board of Pharmacy soon to ascertain their thoughts on the scheduling of the hearings and other parts of the process and will keep all informed as to the results of that contact. With a collaborative approach, we may be in a position to guide the Board to the right conclusion.