Why Medical Marijuana Isn’t the End of Reform but the Beginning.
By Russ Belville – NORML Outreach Coordinator
As we celebrate the ten years of the Oregon Medical Marijuana Program, let’s reflect on a decade of compassion and success. We’ve seen the program grow to protect over 20,000[1] seriously sick and disabled Oregonians’ use of the “safest therapeutically active substance known to man,” according to DEA Administrative Law Judge Francis Young[2]. 20,000 Oregonians no longer face harassment, arrest, and imprisonment by law enforcement for their medical use of marijuana as recommended by their doctor. The program is self-funded and has run a surplus that generated over $1 million for other state programs[3].
However, even with a medical marijuana program, patients still face enormous hurdles while trying to follow their treatment. There is no means of distributing marijuana – buying and selling it, whether they’re medical users or not, is still prohibited by state and federal laws. If a patient cannot grow their own, then they must acquire their medicine on the illegal black market, where it costs more per ounce than palladium or saffron[4]. The expense of growing medical marijuana is not covered by patients’ insurance. Marijuana’s illegality to the non-medical user means businesses will still urine test their employees, with no exception for the medical users. Landlords may discriminate against patients in housing and child custody is endangered any time a patient is taken to court.
The illegality of marijuana for the majority of its users also impacts the effectiveness of medical use. The US government recently denied a petition by Dr. Lyle Craker of UMass to grow a plot of marijuana for scientific and medical research[5], despite the recommendation by another DEA Administrative Law Judge, Mary Ellen Bittner, that he was qualified, the research is necessary, and he should be allowed to do it[6]. This stranglehold on medical research also prevents investigation of differing marijuana strains and how their cannabinoid ratios may be effective in treating different conditions.
US government statistics show nearly one in eight adult Oregonians use marijuana at least once per year[7], and so long as they represent a consumer demand for marijuana, there will always be entrepreneurs looking to provide the supply. The state spends an estimated $61.5 million per year[8] enforcing a marijuana prohibition that 354,000[9] Oregonians per year ignore. Yet adult Oregonians have still consistently used marijuana for non-medical purposes at a steady rate of 6.5%-8% monthly over the past decade.
Medical users of marijuana only represent a little more than 1 in 20 of all marijuana users in Oregon. Prohibition of marijuana to those 19 non-medical users is costing taxpayer dollars in a proven futile attempt to stop their use while Oregon looks to cut school days and programs in order to save money in this economic downturn[10]. Meanwhile that 1 medical user faces high medicine prices, lack of availability, job loss, home loss, family breakups, and a dearth of reliable scientific information about the medicine because we deem it illegal for the other 19 adult users.
The key to the illegality of marijuana for 95% of its Oregon users lies in marijuana’s Schedule I status. The federal government ranks drugs in ‘schedules” from I to V[11]. Drugs rated Schedule II, III, IV, and V, which include cocaine, methamphetamine, opium, PCP, and anabolic steroids, are all prescribable drugs anywhere in the United States, from the “dangerous” Schedule II drugs to the relatively safe Schedule V drugs. Marijuana is rated Schedule I, completely illegal even for doctors to prescribe, which means:
It is even more clear that marijuana is mis-scheduled when one considers the raw plant form of cannabis, which ranges from 4%-15% THC (the psychoactive chemical in marijuana), is considered Schedule I, yet the pharmaceutical version of THC, the Marinol pill, at 100% THC, is considered Schedule III.
Medical marijuana is a wonderful change in Oregon, but only a beginning. Until marijuana is legal for all responsible adults, medical marijuana patients will continue to face these hurdles and never truly receive the treatment they deserve.
Oregon Medical Marijuana Program Statistics as of 1/1/2009 ↑
US Federal Court, September 6, 1988. Docket No. 86-22. Francis L. Young, Administrative Law Judge ↑
Oregon Legislative Session 2005 = $920,000 appropriated from OMMP to DHS programs; 2007 = $128,000. ↑
US marijuana prices range between $300-$450 per ounce, according to prices submitted to High Times Magazine; price of palladium per ounce = $232/oz, New York Spot price 4/8/2009; price of saffron = $119/oz, Golden Gate Brands saffron importers. ↑
DEA rejection of petition by Dr. Lyle Craker, 1/12/2009 ↑
DEA Docket 05-16, Opinion and Recommend Ruling, Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law, and Decision of the Administrative Law Judge, 2/12/2007 ↑
US Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 2006 State Data ↑
Jeffrey Miron, “The Budgetary Implications of Marijuana Prohibition”, Harvard University 2005 ↑
US Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 2006 State Data ↑
“State budget shortfall: Now, a waiting game”, KTVZ, 4/6/2009 ↑
DEA Drug Scheduling, 21 USC Sec. 812 ↑
Marijuana and Medicine: Assessing the Science Base (1999), Institute of Medicine (IOM) ↑
US Patent 6630507 – Cannabinoids as antioxidants and neuroprotectants ↑
Federal Investigative New Drug Program, closed in 1992, but still supplying five remaining patients with medical marijuana from the University of Mississippi ↑
