Washington, DC: The American Nursing Association (ANA) overwhelmingly adopted a resolution supporting the use of medical marijuana by qualified patients, and calling on Congress to reclassify the drug so that doctors may prescribe it. Delegates approved the resolution at the ANA’s annual meeting in June.
The ANA resolution states that the association “support[s] the right of patients to have safe access to therapeutic marijuana/cannabis under appropriate prescriber supervision.” It further resolves that the ANA “support[s] legislation to remove criminal penalties including arrest and imprisonment for bona fide patients and prescribers of therapeutic marijuana, [and] federal … legislation to exclude marijuana/cannabis from classification as a schedule I [prohibited] drug.”
The ANA represents some 2.7 million Registered Nurses nationwide.
By passing the resolution, the ANA joins more than a dozen national health organizations including the American Public Health Association and the National Nurses Society on Addiction that have taken similar positions in support of the medical use of marijuana. Eleven state nursing associations have also passed resolutions backing the therapeutic use of cannabis.
For more information, please contact either Allen St. Pierre or Paul Armentano of the NORML Foundation, at (202) 483-8751. A complete listing of state and national medical associations supportive of medicinal cannabis is available on NORML’s website at: http://www.norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=5106. Additional information is available from Patients Out of Time at: http://www.medicalcannabis.com