November 1 – The California Medical Association House of Delegates has passed measures supporting marijuana rescheduling and decriminalization, and is considering another regarding medical marijuana use in hospital settings.
Resolution 103-12 “Petition the Governor to Petition the DEA Reschedule Cannabis,” authored by Dr. Donald Abrams and Dr. Larry Bedard, passed unanimously at the 141st annual meeting of the Delegates, held October 14, 2012.
The resolution notes that “medical decisions should be based on science, not politics”; that the US ignored its own 1972 report recommending rescheduling, and that the governors of Connecticut, Rhode Island and Vermont have petitioned the DEA and Administration for rescheduling.
The AMA called for review of marijuana’s schedule I status in 2009 and in 2008, the American College of Physicians also called for a reclassification of cannabis’ Schedule I status.
CMA Resolution 605-12 “The Use of Medicinal Marijuana in the Hospital Setting,” also authored by Drs. Abrams and Bedard, generated much discussion and was ultimately referred to the Board of Trustees for study and report back to the House of Delegates next year.
Unanimously defeated was resolution 101-12 “Cannabis and the Regulatory Void” which would have rescinded the current CMA policy in support of legalization, regulation taxation and control of cannabis.
Instead, Resolution 102-12 “Cannabis decriminalization, regulation and taxation,” which refers the CMA policy of legalization of cannabis to the AMA for adoption, also passed unanimously.
