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NATIONAL ORGANIZATION FOR THE REFORM OF MARIJUANA LAWS |
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1001 CONNECTICUT AVENUE NW |
T 202-483-5500 F
202-483-0057 E-MAIL NATLNORML@AOL.COM
Internet http://www.norml.org
. . . a weekly service for the
media on news items related to Marijuana Prohibition.
March 20, 1997
Long-Term Marijuana Users Suffer Few Health Problems, Australian Study Indicates
March 20, 1997, Sydney,
Australia: The health of long-term marijuana users
is virtually no different than that of the general population,
according to the latest findings by the National Drug and Alcohol
Research Centre in Australia. The study, which involved
interviews with 268 marijuana smokers and 31 non-using partners
and family members, is one of the first ever conducted in
Australia to determine the effects of long-term marijuana
use. Its findings were reported by the Sydney Morning
Herald last month.
"We don't see evidence of high
psychological disturbance among the [long-term users,]" said
chief investigator David Reilly. "The results seem
unremarkable; the exceptional thing is that the respondents are
unexceptional."
Reilly did note that regular
marijuana users complained of mild respiratory problems such as
wheezing at about twice the rate of non-users. He warned
that this result may be because nearly all of the marijuana users
were also current or former tobacco smokers.
"The greatest danger to health
posed by marijuana is prohibition," stated NORML's
Deputy Director Allen St. Pierre.
The findings of the Australian
study echo statements made approximately one-year ago by the
premiere British medical journal, The Lancet, which
proclaimed, "The smoking of cannabis, even long term, is not
harmful to health." The Lancet article
further went on to recommend decriminalizing marijuana.
For more information, please
contact either Allen St. Pierre of NORML
@ (202) 483-5500 or Jamnes Danenberg of HEMP SA of Australia @
(+61) 8 297-9442 or via e-mail at: hempSA@va.com.au.
AMA Revises Medical Marijuana Guidelines For Doctors
March 18, 1997, San
Francisco, CA: New guidelines issued by the
American Medical Association (AMA) and its California affiliate
(CMA) support a physician's right to freely discuss the use of
marijuana as a therapeutic agent to his or her patient. The
guidelines were issued, in part, to encourage area physicians to
settle a federal lawsuit against Clinton administration officials
who have threatened to sanction doctors who recommend marijuana
to their patients under California state law. Many medical
marijuana proponents feel the new guidelines represent a shift
toward a growing acceptance of medical marijuana by America's
leading medical establishment.
"For the AMA, this is a very,
very strong position to take," said Dr. Marcus Conant of San
Francisco, one of the nation's most prominent AIDS physicians and
lead plaintiff in the complaint against the government.
"I don't think organized medicine can make it any
clearer. ... The AMA has articulated ... the position that
the federal government should get out of the business of
dictating doctor-patient relationships."
NORML Board Member
Dr. Lester Grinspoon of Harvard Medical School was even more
optimistic. "These new guidelines are one more small
step toward the AMA's inevitable, complete acceptance and support
of cannabis as a remarkably useful, safe, and inexpensive
medicine," he said.
Under the proposed guidelines,
which would be the basis for the settlement, physicians would be
able to:
* Freely conduct a good faith discussion with a patient about the "risks and benefits of any potential medical treatment," including marijuana;
* Document the discussion in the patient's medical record;
* Testify about that discussion in court.
"The guidelines address our
fundamental concern that a physician be able to provide an
honest, individualized opinion about the medical advisability of
marijuana," stated Graham Boyd, attorney for the plaintiffs
in the California suit.
NORML's Deputy Director Allen St.
Pierre sees the guidelines as a step in the right direction, but
cautioned that the language still fell well short of the
provisions of Proposition 215. He noted that doctors are
still encouraged to avoid taking any "intentional"
steps to help a patient obtain the drug, such as deliberately
"cooperate[ing] with a cannabis buyers club" or
"issuing a written 'recommendation' whose ostensible purpose
is to provide the patient with a defense against state
prosecution."
"Although the new guidelines
provide support for the sanctity of the relationship between a
physician and a patient, it fails to wholeheartedly endorse the
needs of seriously ill patients in California who are relying on
a doctor's 'recommendation' to legally possess medical
marijuana," said St. Pierre.
For more information, please
contact either Allen St. Pierre of NORML
@ (202) 483-5500 or Dave Fratello of Americans for Medical Rights
@ (310) 394-2952.
Connecticut Lawmakers Discuss Medical Marijuana Legislation
March 20, 1997,
Hartford, CT: Hearings took place today before the
Joint Committee on Public Health to debate legislation (S.B.
1263) that would license physicians to possess and supply
marijuana for the treatment of neurological disorders, AIDS
wasting syndrome, glaucoma, or the side effects of
chemotherapy. State law in Connecticut already allows
physicians to prescribe marijuana to seriously ill patients, but
fails to provide guidelines regarding supply.
The legislation also permits
seriously ill patients and/or their caregivers to possess and
cultivate marijuana for medical use. If an individual's
marijuana is wrongly seized by law enforcement, the measure
mandates that the marijuana or drug paraphernalia be returned to
the owner.
S.B. 1263 also protects physicians
under state law. Although issuing a prescription for marijuana
remains in positive conflict with federal law, the measure
exempts physicians licensed in Connecticut from any state
criminal charges. Currently, a federal lawsuit filed in
U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia is challenging
whether the federal government can legally sanction physicians
who prescribe marijuana in compliance with state law.
NORML Board Member
Dr. John P. Morgan of City University of New York (CUNY) Medical
School testified on behalf of the bill. Morgan testified in
favor of similar legislation in both Maine and Virginia earlier
this year.
The Joint Committee on Public
Health is chaired by Sen. Tony Nathaniel Harp (10th District).
For more information, please
contact either Paul Armentano or Allen St. Pierre of NORML
@ (202) 483-5500 or visit NORML's website for an
up-to-date listing of all pending state marijuana legislation at:
http://www.norml.org.
Sen. Tony Nathaniel Harp may be contacted by writing to the
Connecticut Legislative Office Building, Room 3000, Hartford, CT
06106, or calling (860) 240-0560.
For more information on the federal
lawsuit filed in Washington, D.C., please contact Attorney Rufus
King of Berliner, Corcoran, & Rowe @ (202) 293-5555.
Colorado Hemp Bill Struck Down By Appropriations Committee
March 20, 1997, Denver,
CO: Legislation introduced by Rep. Kay Alexander
(R-Montrose) to permit Colorado State University to cultivate
test plots of industrial hemp for research purposes was struck
down today by the House Appropriations Committee by a vote of
6-4. The bill had previously passed the House Agriculture
Committee and proponents had not expected to face significant
opposition in Appropriations. The vote was a major setback
for local hemp advocates who have lobbied on behalf of the
measure for the past three years.
Similar industrial hemp legislation
is still pending in at least seven states.
For more information, please
contact Laura Kriho of the Colorado Hemp Initiative Project @
(303) 784-5632 or via e-mail at: cohip@welcomehome.org.
For information on pending hemp legislation in other states,
please contact Paul Armentano of NORML @ (202)
483-5500 or
visit NORML's website at: http://www.norml.org.
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