Pubdate: Sun, 16 Oct 2011
Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
Page: Front Page
Copyright: 2011 Los Angeles Times
Contact:  http://www.latimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/248
Author: Anthony York
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?115 (Cannabis - California)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)

DOCTOR GROUP WANTS POT LEGAL

California Medical Assn. Questions Marijuana's Medicinal Value but 
Urges It Be Regulated As Alcohol Is.

Reporting from Sacramento- The state's largest doctor group is 
calling for legalization of marijuana, even as it pronounces cannabis 
to be of questionable medical value.

Trustees of the California Medical Assn., which represents more than 
35,000 physicians statewide, adopted the position at their annual 
meeting in Anaheim late Friday. It is the first major medical 
association in the nation to urge legalization of the drug, according 
to a group spokeswoman, who said the larger membership was notified Saturday.

Dr. Donald Lyman, the Sacramento physician who wrote the group's new 
policy, attributed the shift to growing frustration over California's 
medical marijuana law, which permits cannabis use with a doctor's 
recommendation. That, he said, has created an untenable situation for 
physicians: deciding whether to give patients a substance that is 
illegal under federal law.

"It's an uncomfortable position for doctors," he said. "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."

The CMA's new stance appears to have as much to do with politics as 
science. The group has rejected one of the main arguments of medical 
marijuana advocates, declaring that the substance has few proven 
health benefits and comparing it to a "folk remedy."

The group acknowledges some health risk associated with marijuana use 
and proposes that it be regulated along the lines of alcohol and 
tobacco. But it says the consequences of criminalization outweigh the hazards.

Lyman says current laws have "proven to be a failed public health 
policy." He cited increased prison costs, the effect on families when 
marijuana users are imprisoned and racial inequalities in 
drug-sentencing cases.

The organization's announcement provoked some angry response.

"I wonder what they're smoking," said John Lovell, spokesman for the 
California Police Chiefs Assn. "Given everything that we know about 
the physiological impacts of marijuana - how it affects young brains, 
the number of accidents associated with driving under the influence - 
it's just an unbelievably irresponsible position."

The CMA's view is also controversial in the medical community.

Dr. Robert DuPont, an M.D. and professor of psychiatry at Georgetown 
Medical School, said the association's call for legalization showed 
"a reckless disregard of the public health. I think it's going to 
lead to more use, and that, to me, is a public health concern. I'm 
not sure they've thought through what the implications of 
legalization would be."

Dr. Igor Grant, head of the Center for Medicinal Cannabis at UC San 
Diego, defended the drug's therapeutic use.

"There's good evidence that it has medicinal value," he said. "Can 
you say it's 100% bulletproof? No. But the research we've done at the 
center shows it's helpful with certain types of pain."

The federal government views cannabis as a substance with no medical 
use, on a par with heroin and LSD. The CMA wants the Obama 
administration to reclassify it to help promote further research on 
its medical potential.

But Washington appears to be moving in the other direction. As 
recently as July, the federal government turned down a request to 
reclassify marijuana. That decision is being appealed in federal 
court by legalization advocates.

In recent weeks, the Obama administration has begun cracking down on 
California's medical marijuana industry, threatening to prosecute 
landlords who rent buildings to pot dispensaries.

California's marijuana laws have eased over the last 15 years. State 
voters passed Proposition 215 in 1996, decriminalizing it for 
medicinal purposes. Federal law still prohibits the sale or 
possession of the drug for any reason.

The CMA opposed Proposition 215, and it argues that doctors have been 
placed unwillingly in the center of the feud over the drug.

"When the proposition passed, we as an organized medical community 
got thrown into the middle of this issue, because the posture of the 
proposition and its proponents found that cannabis is a medicinal 
product that is useful for a long list of specific ailments," Lyman said.

The state has since softened its laws on even recreational use of the 
drug. In 2010, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a bill that 
reclassified possession of less than an ounce from a misdemeanor to 
an infraction.

At the same time, the number of marijuana dispensaries was 
skyrocketing, to between 1,000 and 2,000 statewide, according to 
estimates by law enforcement officials. In January, the Los Angeles 
City Council set strict limits on pot outlets, ordering the closure 
of hundreds of them.

Opinion polls show that state voters continue to be in favor of 
medical marijuana but are divided on the question of total 
legalization. A recent survey by the Public Policy Institute of 
California found 51% opposed to complete legalization and 46% in favor.

Last November, California voters rejected Proposition 19, which would 
have legalized the possession and cultivation of limited amounts of 
cannabis and permitted local governments to regulate it and tax 
sales. The CMA took no public position on the measure, its leaders said.

Across the country, physicians have called for more cannabis-related 
research. The CMA's parent organization, the American Medical Assn., 
has said the federal government should consider easing research restrictions.

Meanwhile, Lyman said, "there is considerable harm being done."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom