“While the circumstances are certainly uneasy — since possession and use of medical marijuana remains a federal crime — we find that the District cannot require state level adherence to the federal prohibition.”
Category: Medical Marijuana
“This is common sense legislation that provides physicians, not lawmakers, the ability and discretion to decide what treatment options are best for their patients.”
When I started NORML in late 1970 I realized that our movement would need the support of some courageous doctors and other health experts to overcome the widely-held perception that existed at that time that marijuana must remain a crime to protect the public health. I found that support in Dr. Lester Grinspoon, Dr. Norman Zinberg, and others.
“Just as doctors are entrusted to make decisions regarding the use of opioids, the law should provide doctors with similar flexibility for recommending cannabis therapy to a bona fide patient.”
The proposed measure expands the discretion of physicians so that they can recommend cannabis therapy for “any condition” that they “consider debilitating…”
In his veto message, the Governor wrote: “The language in the bill makes substantial policy changes to the medical marijuana program that were not fully scrutinized through normal legislative procedures…”
House lawmakers have overwhelmingly passed a pair of bills to better expand and facilitate access to medical cannabis products.
An unlikely activist fighting for reform in the Commonwealth of Virginia and on Capitol Hill