California Doctors Say They Doubt Benefits of Medical Marijuana
- Oct 16, 2011
- Marcus Hondro
- California Doctors Doubt Benefits of Marijuana - Photo by Goodnight London.
The California Medical Assoc. questions the benefit of using marijuana for medical reasons. Because of that they've taken an unexpected stance on the drug.
The largest association of doctors in the U.S. state of California has questioned the value of using marijuana for medical purposes and says their doubts, coupled with the state allowing the drug to be used as medicine, has lead them to advocate for the legalization of marijuana.
At an Oct. 14, 2011 meeting of the group's trustees in Anaheim, the California Medical Assoc. (CMA), representing 35,000 California doctors, voted for legalizing the drug. A CMA spokesperson told the L.A. Times that being forced to prescribe it medically when they doubt it's value, and given it is against the law federally, puts them in an awkward position and motivated their decision.
"It's an uncomfortable position for doctors," Dr. Donald Lyman, who wrote the new policy, said. "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."
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Use of Medical Marijuana in the U.S.
Unlike in Canada, federal laws in the U.S. do not support the use of medical marijuana and it falls to each U.S. state to make the decision. The ability to get a medical marijuana card and use marijuana for medical conditions exists now in 15 U.S. states, the last one getting the right was Arizona, which narrowly passed a bill to grant medical marijuana licenses in the November 2010 elections.
California passed a bill allowing medical marijuana in 1996. However, the State went to the polls in 2010 to vote on Proposition 19, a controversial bill to legalize the possession and growing of marijuana for recreational, personal use. That bill was defeated though proponents have vowed to resurrect it.
The American Society of Addiction Medicine, a group of U.S. physicians focusing on addiction and its treatment, have come out against allowing marijuana to be used as a medical treatment and urged states to drop their programs. Failing proof of marijuana's efficacy when used medically, that appears to be the ultimate position of the CMA.
Medical Marijuana: "Folk Remedy"
As the Times reported, the CMA calls the usage of marijuana a "folk remedy." They reject the notion there is evidence to support its benefits medically and do not feel it has any proven health benefits. While calling for legalization seems in opposition to those opinions, they say their decision is in part based upon the belief that legalizing it would be better than the current laws, which Lyman told the Times have "proven to be a failed public health policy."
There have been studies showing a connection between marijuana and serious mental health issues in teenagers, such as a 2007 U.K. study, among many others. Further, marijuana and driving have come under fire, with studies claiming to show that operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of pot results in a much higher risk of accidents.
The CMA is already coming under criticism for their newly taken stance. "I wonder what they're smoking," John Lovell, spokesman for the California Police Chiefs Assn. said in a statement to the press. "Given everything that we know about the physiological impacts of marijuana - how it affects young brains, the number of accidents associated with driving under the influence - it's just an unbelievably irresponsible position."
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