cannabisnews.com: Medicinal Marijuana Laws Far Too Hazy Medicinal Marijuana Laws Far Too Hazy Posted by CN Staff on September 12, 2007 at 07:01:25 PT By The Daily Illini Editorial Board Source: Daily Illini Illinois -- In an interview with the Associated Press last week, Illinois Senator Dick Durbin came out in favor of changing federal law to allow physicians to prescribe medicinal marijuana to their patients. While Durbin reiterated that this is not exactly high on his priority list and that he has no specific plans to bring it up in Washington, one wonders how much the federal government needs to be involved in the first place.For some time now, states have been fighting with the feds over whether there are any medical benefits to marijuana at all, never mind who is responsible for enforcing one law or another. Currently, 12 states allow doctors to prescribe cannabis to patients. Generally, most of these cases involve illnesses with debilitating symptoms like AIDS and multiple sclerosis. However, despite this being legal on a state level, any medical marijuana user with a valid prescription is still subject to prosecution under federal statutes by the Drug Enforcement Agency and the United States Attorney General.In Gonzales v. Raich (2005), the United States Supreme Court held in a 6-3 decision that the federal government is empowered to prosecute medical marijuana users regardless of any state law because the drug trade is subject to the Interstate Commerce clause of the Constitution.But in her dissent, retired Justice Sandra Day O'Conner trumpeted the virtue of state experimentation within the bounds of federalism: "This overreaching stifles an express choice by some States, concerned for the lives and liberties of their people, to regulate medical marijuana differently."In fact, Illinois decriminalized medical marijuana in 1978, not long after the much criticized "War on Drugs" was launched by President Nixon. But for one reason or another, the Illinois Public Health department has sat on the matter, refusing to rule on whether to give doctors the authorization to prescribe it.But in other states like California, citizens are caught in the middle of a legal tug of war between state police and federal enforcement agents who quite literally decide what laws they want to enforce at any given time.The issue's stagnation in Congress begs for states to take the lead in what is increasingly becoming a health care problem, not just a drug problem. What is for sure is that neither states nor federal officials nor American citizens benefit from the status quo of legal purgatory that this country finds itself in regarding marijuana use.Ironically, this debate boils down to whether or not states should experiment with new things, be it medicinal marijuana or a better approach to federalism.Source: Daily Illini, The (IL Edu)Published: September 12, 2007Copyright: 2007 Illini Media Co.Contact: opinions dailyillini.comWebsite: http://www.dailyillini.comRelated Article: Durbin Supportive of Medical Marijuanahttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread23314.shtmlCannabisNews Medical Marijuana Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/medical.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #7 posted by NikoKun on September 12, 2007 at 18:42:42 PT good news I guess Thats good news for my state... thank god we have someone reasonable... lol [ Post Comment ] Comment #6 posted by FoM on September 12, 2007 at 16:56:42 PT whig I'm sorry it did work when I found it on google. [ Post Comment ] Comment #5 posted by greenmed on September 12, 2007 at 16:49:31 PT excerpt "The logical place to begin with regard to addressing the question of what constitutes a medically reasonable supply range is to investigate current dosing/supply precedents in American cannabinoid medicine. First and foremost, the WA DOH should draw from the experience of the longest running medical marijuana supply program in the United States, this being the ongoing, now 3-decades-old, Compassionate Single Investigational New Drug Program. The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and the FDA jointly administer this. This program has supplied enrolled patients with nearly half a ton of marijuana throughout its cumulative history! The cannabis plants are grown at a federally funded farm in Oxford, Mississippi. After curing (air-drying), the cannabis is rolled into cigarettes at the Research Triangle Institute outside of Durham, North Carolina. Grey metal tins are used to package the cannabis cigarettes, which are then shipped monthly to 5 secured pharmacies in the United States for delivery and consumption by the 5 individuals whose healthcare providers long ago attested in writing to the vital health and medical benefits that consumption of cannabis affords them. The director of the Mississippi farm has stated on the public record that they have been able to produce, stock, and supply medicinal cannabis with strengths as high as 14% THC.[27] The marijuana is produced and supplied for consumption with the full financial backing and imprimatur of the US federal government, the NIDA, and the FDA, as part of a program that was reluctantly started 3 decades ago on the order of a federal judge who ruled that "medical necessity" to use marijuana was an unalienable right possessed by one man whose vision was deteriorating from glaucoma, and which the US government is legally obligated to respect, protect, and fulfill.One of us (Sunil K. Aggarwal [SKA]) can attest to personally meeting with the horticulturalist who has been growing medical marijuana for the federal government's marijuana supply program for nearly 3 decades, Dr. Mahmood El Sohly. In addition, he (SKA) has met with 3 of the qualifying patients in the program who have chosen to go public: George McMahon, who suffers from nail-patella syndrome; Irv Rosenfeld, who suffers from multiple congenital cartilaginous exostoses; and Elvy Musikka, who suffers from congenital cataracts and glaucoma. Russo and colleagues[28] summarized the supply that 4 of the 5 remaining patients in the program are receiving. On the basis of those reported figures, Conrad[29] summarized the average supply for each patient in the federal program, assuming roughly equal strain strength. According to Conrad, the annual dose is between 5.6 and 7.23 lb of cannabis bud mixed with leaf. Thus, the documented federal single-patient dosage averages 8.24 g/day, or about one fourth ounce per day, which amounts to 6.63 lb smoked per year." [ Post Comment ] Comment #4 posted by whig on September 12, 2007 at 16:42:28 PT greenmed Thanks, very interesting. [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by greenmed on September 12, 2007 at 16:09:31 PT whig Try freethepress as login and password.Thanks to whoever registered. [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by whig on September 12, 2007 at 15:29:06 PT FoM Medscape link doesn't seem to work without a login.As far as dosing medical marijuana, use what works. [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by FoM on September 12, 2007 at 13:19:35 PT Dosing Medical Marijuana from Medscape.com Dosing Medical Marijuana: Rational Guidelines on Trial in Washington StateSeptember 11, 2007http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/562451 [ Post Comment ] Post Comment