October 27, 1998

Medical Community United In Support Of Medical
Marijuana Reform

        Washington, D.C.:  A new directory compiled by The NORML Foundation identifies over 40 national and international medical organizations that support medical marijuana research or therapeutic use.

        "Over the past several years, the medical community has resoundingly spoken in favor of allowing certain patients legal access to medical marijuana," said Allen St. Pierre, executive director of The NORML Foundation.  "It remains politicians in Washington and law enforcement officials, not doctors and nurses, that continue to support policies prohibiting the use of marijuana as a legal medicine."

        A large portion of medical groups advocate allowing seriously ill patients legal access to medical marijuana.  "Our position as nurses is that we listen to what the patients tell us and patients tell us this works," said Ileen Self of the Alaska Nurses Association, which passed a resolution last month endorsing the passage of medical marijuana Ballot Measure #8.  The resolution further states that marijuana "has a wide margin of safety for use under medical supervision," and is effective in reducing nausea, stimulating appetite, controlling spasticity, treating glaucoma, and controlling seizures.   Additional groups supporting immediate supervised access to medical marijuana include: the AIDS Action Council, the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American Public Health Association, the American Society of Addiction Medicines, the National Nurses Society on Addictions, and the state nursing associations of California, Colorado, Florida, New York, North Carolina, and Virginia.

        Many other medical organizations admit that marijuana holds medical value and back efforts to facilitate further clinical research.   "Anecdotal, survey, and clinical data support the view that smoked marijuana ... provide[s] symptomatic relief in some patients," stated an American Medical Association December 1997 report that called on federal officials to encourage well-controlled human studies.  This spring, the group's California affiliate made an even stronger appeal.  "Due to the lack of scientific justification for Schedule I [prohibitive] classification of marijuana and the consequent virtual standstill in research on its medical benefits, ... we support efforts to reschedule marijuana," the CMA Board of Trustees concluded.   Medical organizations holding similar positions include the American Cancer Society, the British Medical Association, and the Federation of American Scientists.

        Writing in the January 30, 1997, issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, editor Jerome Kassirer, M.D. opined, "Federal authorities should rescind their prohibition of the medical use of marijuana for seriously ill patients and allow physicians to decide which patients to treat."  Next week's medical marijuana ballot measures give voters the opportunity to allow physicians the ability to discuss marijuana therapy with those who may benefit from it, and gives patients legal protections to use marijuana as a medicine when conventional medications prove unsuccessful.

        A complete listing of these and other medical groups stated positions regarding the use of marijuana as medicine is now available online at: www.norml.org/medical/mjorgs.html.

Listing of Medical Organizations By Position

Medical Organizations Supporting "Supervised Access" to Medical Marijuana

AIDS Action Council (1996)
AIDS Treatment News (1998)
Alaska Nurses Association (1998)
American Academy of Family Physicians (1995)
American Medical Student Association (1994)
American Preventive Medical Association (1997)
American Public Health Association (1994)
American Society of Addiction Medicine (1997)
Australian National Task Force on Cannabis (1994)
Being Alive: People With HIV/AIDS Action Committee (1996)
California Academy of Family Physicians (1994)
California Nurses Association (1995)
Colorado Nurses Association (1995)
Florida Medical Association (1997)
French Ministry of Health (1997)
Health Canada (1997)
Kaiser Permanente (1997)
Life Extension Foundation (1997)
Lymphoma Foundation of America (1997)
National Nurses Society on Addictions (1995)
New England Journal of Medicine (1997)
New York State Nurses Association (1995)
North Carolina Nurses Association (1996)
San Francisco Mayor's Summit on AIDS and HIV (1998)
Virginia Nurses Association (1994)

Medical Organizations Supporting "Legal Access to Marijuana Under a Physician's Recommendation"

Alaska Nurses Association (1998)
California Academy of Family Physicians (1996)
California Nurses Association (1995)
Los Angeles County AIDS Commission (1996)
Maine AIDS Alliance (1997)
San Francisco Medical Society (1996)

Medical Organizations Supporting a Physician's Right to Recommend or Discuss Marijuana Therapy With a Patient

American Medical Association (1997)
American Society of Addiction Medicine (1997)
Bay Area Physicians for Human Rights (1997)
Being Alive: People With HIV/AIDS Action Committee (1997)
California Academy of Family Physicians (1997)
California Medical Association (1997)
Gay and Lesbian Medical Association (1997)
Marin Medical Society (1997)
San Francisco Medical Society (1997)

Medical Organizations Supporting Medical Marijuana "Research"

American Cancer Society (1997)
American Medical Association (1997)
American Public Health Association (1994)
American Society of Addiction Medicine (1997)
Australian National Task Force on Cannabis (1994)
British Medical Association (1997)
California Medical Association (1997)
California Society on Addiction Medicine (1997)
Congress of Nursing Practice (1996)
Federation of American Scientists (1994)
Florida Medical Association (1997)
Gay and Lesbian Medical Association (1995)
Health Canada (1997)
Kaiser Permanente (1997)
Lymphoma Foundation of America (1997)
NIH Workshop on the Medical Utility of Marijuana (1997)
National Nurses Society on Addictions (1995)
North Carolina Nurses Association (1996)
San Francisco Medical Society (1996)

Medical Organizations Supporting "Other" Favorable Positions Toward Medical Marijuana

British Medical Association (1997)
    --prescriptive access to active chemicals in marijuana; relaxation of present
    marijuana-law enforcement
California Medical Association (1998)
    --federal rescheduling
California Society on Addiction Medicine (1997)
    --federal rescheduling
Congress of Nursing Practice (1996)
    --instructing RN's on medical marijuana
New Mexico State Board of Nursing (1997)
    --endorsement of a RN's right to discuss marijuana therapy with a patient

        To read complete position statements by each organization, please visit: www.norml.org/medical/mjorgs.html or call The NORML Foundation @ (202) 483-8751 for more information.

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