LET STATES, DOCTORS DECIDE

Imagine there was a nontoxic medication available that provided symptomatic
relief for a litany of serious and life-threatening diseases, including
cancer, AIDS and multiple sclerosis. Imagine that thousands of ill
Americans were successfully using this medicine under the supervision of
their physician. Now imagine that the US government was withholding this
medication and threatening to incarcerate those patients who benefit from
its use.

We don't have to imagine such a scenario. The medicine is cannabis, and for
those tens of thousands of Americans who use it therapeutically,
Washington's recalcitrance on this issue is a grim reality.

Fortunately, this attitude may be changing. US Representatives Barney
Frank, D-Mass., Sam Farr, D-Calif., Maurice Hinchey, D-N.Y., Ron Paul,
R-Tex. and Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif. sponsored bi-partisan legislation
this week to provide for the medical use of cannabis in accordance with the
laws of various states. The bill, HR 2087, would reclassify marijuana under
federal law to recognize its medical utility and enable physicians to
legally prescribe it under controlled circumstances.

Most importantly, this legislation would afford patients legal protection
under federal law by rescheduling marijuana from a Schedule I (criminally
prohibited drug) to a Schedule II (prescription-only substance) and permit
those states that wish to establish medical marijuana distribution systems
the legal authority to do so. Congressional passage of this legislation is
long overdue.

Since 1996, voters and legislatures in 11 states have passed laws exempting
patients who use cannabis under a physician's supervision from state
criminal penalties. These laws do not legalize the recreational use of
marijuana; they merely provide a narrow exemption from state prosecution
for defined patients who possess and use medical cannabis under their
doctor's supervision. So far, available evidence indicates that these laws
are functioning as voters intended and abuses are minimal.

As the success of these statewide campaigns suggest, the American public
clearly distinguishes between the medical use and the recreational use of
cannabis and a large majority support legalizing medical use for seriously
ill patients. A CNN/Time Magazine poll found that 80 percent of Americans
support making marijuana legally available for doctors to prescribe.
Similar support has been demonstrated among both Democrat and Republican
voters in every state and nationwide poll that has been conducted on the
issue since 1996. Arguably, few other policy issues share the unequivocal
support of the American public as this one.

The medical community is also solidly behind the medicinal access to
marijuana. According to a recent national survey of US physicians conducted
for the American Society of Addiction Medicine, nearly half of all doctors
with an opinion on the subject support legalizing marijuana as a medicine.
Moreover, more than 80 state and national health care organizations,
including the American Nurses Association, American Public Health
Association and The New England Journal of Medicine, support immediate,
legal patient access to medical cannabis.

Inexplicably, the federal government has responded to this reality by
threatening doctors with arrest, prosecuting seriously ill patients and
stonewalling research of cannabis' medicinal value. This federal
obfuscation must come to an end.

House Bill 2087 is not a mandate from Washington and does not require any
state to amend its current laws. It is a states' rights bill that reflects
the will of the American people as well as the scientific and medical
communities and would allow states to determine for themselves whether
cannabis should be legal for medicinal use. It is a common sense solution
to a complex issue and deserves Congressional hearings and support. For
those thousands of seriously ill patients who rely on the medicinal use of
cannabis, it is unconscionable for Congress to do otherwise.