Today at the American Public Health Association’s (APHA) Annual Meeting and Exposition in Washington, D.C., Esther Choo, M.D., M.P.H. of Rhode Island Hospital will present findings from a study exploring whether legalizing cannabis for medical use in Rhode Island increases its recreational use among Rhode Island’s youth. While many opponents of medical cannabis claim that medical cannabis programs “send the wrong message to those in our society who are the most impressionable“ or increase cannabis’s appeal and accessibility for teenagers, the study’s findings show that this is in fact not the case. Comparing the self-reporting results of 32,570 students in Rhode Island and Massachusetts between 1997 and 2009, Dr. Choo and her fellow researchers found no significant difference between youth use in the two states and concluded that there have been no “increases in adolescent marijuana use related to Rhode Island’s 2006 legalization of medical marijuana.”
The 2009 memo was drafted by then-Deputy Attorney General David Ogden and sent to all of the U.S. Attorneys in medical marijuana states. Since then, some of those same U.S. Attorneys have sent letters to local and state officials in at least 10 states, threatening some of them with criminal prosecution if they implement licensed production and distribution systems.
According to The Hill, Frank and Polis in their June 20th letter pointed to the stark divide between federal policy and practice:
Recent actions by United States Attorneys across the country have prompted states to deny patients safe and reliable access to their medicine.
Americans for Safe Access is mobilizing its base to seek specific clarification from Holder regarding the Ogden memo and the Department of Justice policy related to medical cannabis. Holder made comments at a press conference in Providence, Rhode Island on June 2, 2011 indicating that he would clarify federal law on this issue. Patient advocates across the country are urging Holder to listen to them and issue the following simple statement:
The federal government will not arrest and prosecute local and state officials and others who are lawfully complying with medical cannabis laws.
The patient community has been the most directly affected by the ambiguity of the Ogden memo, and want to be included in the conversation to clarify it. You too can take action, and suggest that Holder issue a policy statement to end federal interference with those who comply with state law.
At a press conference earlier today in Providence, Rhode Island, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder was peppered with questions about medical marijuana. This is understandable, given that a month ago U.S. Attorney Peter Neronha sent a letter to Rhode Island Governor Lincoln Chafee and other state officials threatening:
[C]ivil or criminal remedies against those individuals and entities who set up marijuana growing facilities and dispensaries.
Holder responded that the White House policy outlined in the Ogden memo, which de-emphasized federal interference, “made sense given…the limited resources that we have.” Addressing the obvious discord between policy and practice, Holder said he was working in Rhode Island and other parts of the country to “clarify what this policy means and how the policy can be implemented.”
In the past few months, United States Attorneys General in Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Montana, Rhode Island, and Vermont have issued letters threatening federal action against any entity, including state employees, participating in state sanctioned medical cannabis programs. While our community has seen these types of letters under previous administrations, it is disappointing to see President Obama sanction this behavior.
Americans for Safe Access (ASA) staged rallies yesterday in Sacramento, California and Washington, DC to bring attention to the unnecessary incarceration of more medical marijuana patients and to defy what has become an escalated federal attack on medical marijuana states. As part of its “Sick and Tired” campaign, ASA members and supporters also delivered “Cease & Desist” orders to federal authorities in 10 medical marijuana states.
(From YouTube) Co-founders of Patients Out of Time, host of the Sixth National Clinical Conference on Cannabis Therapeutics, coming up on April 15 – 17, 2010 in Warwick, Rhode Island, Mary Lynn Mathre, RN and Al Bryne highlight the organization’s goals and speakers at the April conference, including keynote speaker Raphael Mechoulam, PhD, of Hebrew University in Israel. Also of note, a teleconferenced presentation by noted author Andrew Weil, MD, at a Bensfit Dinner and auction.
Join ASA for “Preparing for Victory,” a special series of ASA workshops following conference April 17-18. At the National Clinical Conference, you will learn the science behind medical marijuana. At Preparing for Victory, you will help build the political skills and strategies to make safe access a reality. Please register in advance.
Nearly 200 supporters of safe access to medical marijuana testified Monday at a 12-hour hearing before the Colorado State Board of Health to oppose a proposal aimed at curtailing the centralized distribution of medical marijuana. Fortunately, the Board of Health took heed of the overwhelming objection and voted 5-4 to table a proposal that would limit caregivers to 5 patients.
The proposal also required caregivers to assist patients in ways that would be impractical for many medical marijuana providers. The decision, which paves the way for increased access to medical marijuana through safe and affordable distribution, was cheered by the roomful of hundreds of supporters. (more…)
The tiny state of Rhode Island took a big step last week when the House of Representatives passed a bill authorizing nonprofit associations to “acquire, possess, cultivate, manufacture, deliver, transfer, transport, supply, or dispense marijuana” to legal patients. The Senate has already adopted a similar bill, and the 63 to 5 margin in the House makes the bill veto-proof. Patients and caregivers in Rhode Island may be the first to acquire medicine from 100% legal dispensing associations.
The significance of this should not be lost on lawmakers in Washington, DC – or in cities and counties in California. More than twelve years have passed since California voters approved the nation’s first statewide compassionate use law. The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has raided hundreds of patients’ associations in California since then. Providers have been arrested, prosecuted, and even jailed. Despite a brief respite from DEA raids and indications of reform from the new Administration, there is still along way to go in defining the new “American policy” announced by Attorney General Eric Holder in February.
State and local representatives also have work to do. Too few of California’s cities and counties have adopted ordinances like the provisions that will soon become law in Rhode Island, despite the fact that research by Americans for Safe Access (ASA) indicates sensible regulations reduce crime and complaints around patients’ associations. Far too many jurisdictions have banned safe access altogether by prohibiting dispensing collectives and cooperatives outright. That flies in the faces of common sense and leaves legal patients at the mercy of a dangerous and unregulated illicit market. The example of Rhode Island should make it clear that regulating safe access is the path forward.
Patients and their loved ones can hope that Congress, other states, and local government follow in the trail blazed by our smallest state. Most Americans believe that cannabis is medicine. It is past time for their elected representatives to catch up and adopt the guidelines that make the voters’ will a reality for patients all over the country.
