An estimated 30,000 Californians have physicians' recommendations to use marijuana as medicine according to a survey of patients' groups, registration programs, and physicians by California NORML.

The survey will be published in a forthcoming report in the Journal of Cannabis Therapeutics, Vol 3#1 ("The Acceptance of Medicinal Marijuana in the U.S." by Dale Gieringer).

Another 5,000 patients were estimated to reside in the seven other states with medical marijuana laws as of May, 2002. California has the highest concentration of medical marijuana patients in the country, 89 per 100,000 population. Elsewhere usage rates range from 79 per 100,000 in Oregon to a low of 3 per 100,000 in Colorado.

The concentration of legal patients is highest in Northern California, where local attitudes are most supportive. Of the state's 55 patients' groups identified in the survey, 48 are in Northern California. Elsewhere, patients complain about the lack of access to legal medicine. The highest rate of usage is in Mendocino County, where 1% of the population are currently registered as legal patients with the sheriff's department. Canadian surveys suggest illegal medical usage of marijuana as high as 2% - 4% in the general population.

The survey also found growing acceptance of marijuana in the medical community. Over 1,500 physicians have recommended marijuana in California, and some 5% of all licensed physicians in Oregon.

Under current federal law marijuana is classified as a Schedule One substance, meaning it has "no currently accepted medical use in the United States." However, the growing numbers of medical marijuana patients and physicians suggest this classification is obsolete.

Despite their growing number, medical marijuana patients remain a small minority. California's 30,000 patients represent only 1% of the state's total marijuana-using population. In this light, a disproportionate share of law enforcement resources are devoted to medical marijuana. A survey by California NORML found that nearly half of all federal marijuana cases filed in the Northern District of California since September 11th involve medical marijuana. Medical marijuana patients are an easy target for law enforcement because they believe they are acting legally and are less cautious about covering up their activities, which have been increasingly targeted by federal authorities.

Cal NORML Release 8-22-02