LA TIMES: California Medical Assn. calls for legalization of marijuana

California Medical Assn. calls for legalization of marijuana
The doctor group questions the medical value of pot and acknowledges some health risk from its use but urges it be regulated like alcohol. A law enforcement official harshly criticizes the new stance.

The California Medical Association, the state’s largest doctor group, on Friday adopted a resolution to support the legalization of marijuana for medical uses, according to the Los Angeles Times.

The group’s support of medical marijuana comes after U.S. prosecutors in California threatened to seize the properties of licensed California marijuana dispensaries if they don’t close up shop within 45 days. U.S. attorneys in California have also threatened to target newspapers, radio stations and other media outlets that advertise for dispensaries.

The California Medical Association said the discrepancy between state and federal law created an untenable situation for physicians. The use of marijuana for medical purposes is legal under California law, but the drug is still classified as a Schedule I substance under federal law, a classification reserved for dangerous drugs with no real medicinal value.

“It’s an uncomfortable position for doctors,” said Dr. Donald Lyman, the physician who wrote the new policy. “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.”

MORE:
http://www.latimes.com/la-me-doctors-marijuana-20111016,0,179189.story

After all, part of the CHANGE we wanted was to intensify the War on Drugs. Right?

what do they know?! ;)

The Big Three of cannabis users -

Hungry, Happy and Sleepy!

Sometimes I think that dosing elected officials with cannabis or LSD ought to be requirements of their jobs.

And my hunch is that he supports full legalization/rescheduling too. He's not stupid, so he knows it has to happen after his reelection in 2012.

Do you really believe we are that stupid when he sends the IRS after them, the DOJ, and has accelerated the war on medical marijuana by two fold over Bush?

If you wish to spread misinformation perhaps you can do so in a way less insulting to our intelligence, you never even try to prove your lie. just post some bullshit that was said once in 2009 (and thoroughly disputed by his actions against state legal dispensaries).

your star for that year.

But I won't hold my breath.

He said so.

Ask any gay soldier.

Bookmark this post, Cannabis will be legal before the next President takes office.

because CA and CO have legalization on the ballot in their states, so the claim that it will be legal at the state level doesn't really have anything to do with Obama.

so, just to clarify - you are stating here that you think Obama will legalize at the federal level before 2013?

And fully legalized before 2016.

Don't forget that there is a hemp legalization bill on Gov Brown's desk right now.

and why do you think this will happen?

When tax revenues start flowing the other states will beg for federal legalization.

Why? Because it's logical, and Obama is a logical man. After 2012 he'll suffer no political consequences from the inevitable Republican attacks. They will label him a "Drug dealer who is killing our children" and the "First pothead president".

they're taking money out of the communities that have set up dispensaries, are intimidating landlords to make them force out tenants with dispensaries, not allowing "illegal" operations to pay taxes, then charging them with back taxes...

sorry, but I don't see Obama doing anything worthwhile on this issue unless he is forced to.

no one believes him anymore about this or a host of other issues.

I mean, he will lose support in the upcoming election based upon the actions of the feds in regard to cannabis.

if he wants people to vote for him, - he cannot (and you cannot) hold out a carrot and say... oh, sure, in 2013 it will happen, because too many people remember too many things Obama said that he did not follow through on during the 2008 campaign.

iow, anyone who is part of his campaign is STUPID if they think anyone will believe any such statement.

especially considering the way he has ignored this issue when it has been THE issue that the netroots have called for.

I see NOTHING to indicate Obama would do anything other than what he is doing now: maintaining the corrupt status quo in regard to cannabis policy in the U.S. People see actions, rather than words, and base their opinions on those b/c those are predictors for future behavior - not a campaign statement or even one from the Attn. Gen.'s office that gets altered to reflect a pro war on drugs pov.

He still officially supports legal MMJ.

Bookmark the thread. I'm sticking with my prediction.

I'm hoping CA and CO will legalize in their states.

that's how alcohol prohibition ended - states just ignored stupid federal law.

a good week ago..

http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2011/10/jerry-brown-vetoes-industrial-hemp-pregnant-inmate-bills.html

That you're not even aware of that fact is very telling...sheds some light on the root of some of your other wild claims.

Btw, suggesting Obama is going to reschedule pot is just plain ridiculous....

And you are now on ignore genius.

thanks!

go back to your Phish tapes and take a bath, you.... ah... doctors!

:kick:

If the state does not have the power to make pot leagal and protect it's citizens against the feds then they should have told people.

If you make something legal in your state and it isn't federally legal then you haven't made it legal have you??!!!

The state should get agreement from the Feds and then ask the voters to vote

OR

get the voters to vote and petition the Fed to make it leal before allowing the people to stick their necks out

This is just as stupidly broken as all the other simple crap that is happening in this country.

Who do we go to to get someone to start making sense of all this shit???!!!!!

We could get 6th graders to make a better system than we have now!!!!

THAT is what is stupid, Jack.

And the VAST majority of that money, contrary to what they might have you believe, is directed at pot smoking, pot growing, etc.

That does not include costs of incarceration.

http://www.drugsense.org/cms/wodclock

Philly saved 2 million on softer cannabis laws

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/07/09/softer-pot-laws-saved-philadelphia-2-million-in-2010/

Here's a report from economist Jeffrey Mirons, a libertarian at Harvard and a senior fellow at the Cato Institute.

http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=12169

500 economists sign a petition in support of legal cannabis

http://economics.about.com/od/incometaxestaxcuts/a/legalize_pot.htm

Time Magazine - Why Legalization Makes Sense

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1889166,00.html

...there are big issues here, issues of economy and simple justice, especially on the sentencing side. As Webb pointed out in a cover story in Parade magazine, the U.S. is, by far, the most "criminal" country in the world, with 5% of the world's population and 25% of its prisoners. We spend $68 billion per year on corrections, and one-third of those being corrected are serving time for nonviolent drug crimes. We spend about $150 billion on policing and courts, and 47.5% of all drug arrests are marijuana-related. That is an awful lot of money, most of it nonfederal, that could be spent on better schools or infrastructure — or simply returned to the public.

At the same time, there is an enormous potential windfall in the taxation of marijuana. It is estimated that pot is the largest cash crop in California, with annual revenues approaching $14 billion. A 10% pot tax would yield $1.4 billion in California alone. And that's probably a fraction of the revenues that would be available — and of the economic impact, with thousands of new jobs in agriculture, packaging, marketing and advertising...

In 2009, the American Medical Asso. called for rescheduling hearings.

http://www.theweeklyconstitutional.com/news/headlines/334-ama-calls-for-marijuana-rescheduling

iow, Obama is IGNORING the advice of medical professionals who are far more educated about the possible costs/benefits of this substance than the DEA. He ignores this by REFUSING to have his administration hold rescheduling hearings.

you can click on the link to my DU journal here - I've been keeping track of this issue for a while. lots of good links to learn about medical, economic and other issues related to this one.

Kudos to the California Medical Association.

Thanks for the thread, kpete.:thumbsup: