Washington, DC: State laws legalizing the use and possession of medical marijuana under a doctor’s supervision are operating primarily as voters intended and have not led to widespread abuses, according to a General Accounting Office (GAO) report examining the implementation of state medi-pot laws in Alaska, Hawaii, Oregon, and a handful of California counties. Eight states have enacted medical marijuana legalization laws since 1996.
“Officials from over half of the 37 selected federal, state, and local law enforcement organizations we interviewed in the four states said that the introduction of medical marijuana laws had not greatly affected their law enforcement activities,” authors determined. “[In addition,] none of the federal officials we spoke with provided information to support a statement that abuse of medical marijuana laws was routinely occurring in any of the states, including California.”
NORML Executive Director Keith Stroup was not surprised by the GAO’s findings. “Available evidence has consistently shown that these state laws are working primarily as voters envisioned they would,” Stroup said. All but one of the eight states that have enacted medical marijuana laws have done so by voter initiative.
Preliminary data compiled by the GAO reported that the majority of patients using medical marijuana were males over 40 years of age. Only one state, Alaska, reported registering a medical marijuana patient under age 18.
“Obviously, the fear that these laws were going to be abused by adolescents seeking to gain access to marijuana is unfounded,” Stroup said.
Most patients qualified to use medical marijuana under the state laws used it to treat symptoms of chronic pain and/or multiple sclerosis, the GAO found.
For more information, please contact either Keith Stroup or Paul Armentano of NORML at (202) 483-5500. The GAO report, “Marijuana: Early Experiences With Four States’ Laws That Allow Use For Medical Purposes,” is available online.