Week in Weed: October 9th-22nd

There was a slight delay due to the website relaunch, but the latest episode of “This Week in Weed” is now streaming on NORMLtv.

After a decidedly negative installment last week, we bring you good news! Our stories this week include a new Gallup poll that shows over 50% of Americans support marijuana legalization for the first time ever and one of the largest physicians’ groups in the country calls to legalize and regulate cannabis.

Be sure to tune in to NORMLtv each Thursday afternoon to catch up on the latest marijuana news. Subscribe to NORMLtv or follow us on Twitter to be notified as soon as new content is added.

California’s Largest Physician Group Calls for Full Legalization

Despite the recent attempts by the ATF, IRS, and four California-based US Attorneys to put a damper on the state’s medical marijuana program, the California Medical Association formally endorsed a new policy calling for the full legalization of cannabis.

The CMA represents more than 35,000 physicians statewide and is the largest industry group for doctors in the state. Last Friday, at the association’s annual meeting in Anaheim, they made official their support for the full legalization of marijuana. The group cited racial inequalities in arrests, the collateral damage to families of those incarcerated on simple marijuana charges, and growing prison costs as signs that marijuana prohibition has “proven to be a failed public health policy.”

This stance seems to have been prompted by the precarious position California doctors find themselves in under the state’s current medical law. This position forces a physician to decide whether or not to recommend a substance to a patient that is still illegal at the federal level. While their stance on the medical benefits was lukewarm to say the least (the group compared cannabis to a “folk remedy”) the CMA sees legalization for all adults as the only way to truly discover the potential medical application of cannabis and cannabinoids.

“It’s an uncomfortable position for doctors,” stated Dr. Donald Lyman, a physician from Sacramento who helped author the new policy, “It is an open question whether cannabis is useful or not. That question can only be answered once it is legalized and more research is done. Then, and only then, can we know what it is useful for.”

You can read more in-depth coverage on this issue from LA weekly here.

The full paper published on the topic by the California Medical Association can be viewed here (PDF).

Post updated to correct “Attorney Generals” [sic] to “US Attorneys”

California Medical Association Says Pot Prohibition Is A “Failed Public Health Policy”

[Editor's note: This post is excerpted from this week's NORML weekly media advisory. To have NORML's media advisories delivered straight to your in-box, sign up for NORML's free e-zine here.]

Members of the California Medical Association’s (CMA) House of Delegates have endorsed a resolution stating that the criminal prohibition of marijuana is a “failed public health policy.”

As enacted, Resolution 704a-09, the “Criminalization of Marijuana” states: “[The] CMA considers the criminalization of marijuana to be a failed public health policy, … and encourage[s] … debate and education regarding the health aspects of changing current policy regarding cannabis use.”

The California Medical Association has more than 35,000 members statewide.

The newly adopted resolution coincides with the scheduling of legislative hearings regarding Assembly Bill 390, the Marijuana Control, Regulation, and Education Act, which seeks to tax and regulate the commercial production and retail sale of cannabis to those age 21 or older.

The California Assembly Committee on Public Safety is anticipated to vote on AB 390 by late January.

Last week, the American Medical Association resolved that “marijuana’s status as a federal Schedule I controlled substance be reviewed with the goal of facilitating the conduct of clinical research and development of cannabinoid-based medicines.” The organization had previously called for cannabis to be “retained in Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act,” a legal classification that defines the substance and its natural compounds as possessing “no currently accepted use in treatment in the United States.”