Legal and medical status of cannabis

Cannabis is in Schedule IV of the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, making it subject to special restrictions. Article 2 provides for the following, in reference to Schedule IV drugs:

A Party shall, if in its opinion the prevailing conditions in its country render it the most appropriate means of protecting the public health and welfare, prohibit the production, manufacture, export and import of, trade in, possession or use of any such drug except for amounts which may be necessary for medical and scientific research only, including clinical trials therewith to be conducted under or subject to the direct supervision and control of the Party.

This provision, while apparently providing for the limitation of cannabis to research purposes only, also seems to allow some latitude for nations to make their own judgments. The official Commentary on the Single Convention indicates that Parties are expected to make that judgment in good faith.

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Albania

In spite of laws prohibiting growing and possessing cannabis, enforcement has been virtually none. There have been fewer than ten arrests in five years.

Australia

After politicians in the Australian Capital Territory voted to allow doctors to determine when cannabis was appropriate for their patients, intense lobbying by the federal government resulted in the legislation being overturned.

In May 2003 the then Premier of New South Wales (Australia's most populous state), Mr Bob Carr, promised patients a four-year trial into the medical uses of cannabis - but nothing ever happened.

Northern Territory use of Cannabis is decriminalized, and in Western Australia and Northern Territory you can grow your own plant subject to height restrictions.

Belgium

Though the drug is still illegal, the Belgian government has recently initiated trials to determine the effectiveness of medical cannabis, and may soon decriminalize possession of small amounts.pen

Cameroon

Growing cannabis for any reason is illegal, though AIDS and cancer patients are allowed to use the drug to treat their symptoms.

Canada

In Hitzig v. Canada (2003), a court again declared Canada's Marijuana Medical Access Regulations unconstitutional "in not allowing seriously ill Canadians to use marijuana because there is no legal source of supply of the drug." In effect, this means that Canadians cannot be prosecuted for using marijuana medically because the Marijuana Medical Access Regulations gives patients the right to do so, but does not set up any legal apparatus for obtaining cannabis.

Back in July 2000, in the "Parker" (epileptic Terry Parker) decision, another judge had made a declaration of invalidity of Canada's drug laws as they relate to the "simple possession" of marijuana due to the lack of a reasonable exemption from the law for medicinal use. The Canadian government was given one year (a suspension of the declaration of invalidity) to remedy the situation, and created the Marijuana Medical Access Regulations. These regulations have been repeatedly deemed unconstitutional in a series of court decisions including "Hitzig."

In a similar case based upon these decisions, lawyer Brian McAllister argued on behalf of a sixteen-year-old that because the Canadian government, after setting up the MMAR, never reenacted the relevant section of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, Canada effectively has no prosecutable laws prohibiting the "simple possession" of any amount of cannabis.

Representatives of the United States federal government have claimed that decriminalizing cannabis in Canada may disrupt border trade and relations between the two countries; many Canadians believe that this remains the primary obstacle to decriminalization in Canada.

Canada produces about 400 kg of medical cannabis annually, in an abandoned mine in Flin Flon, Manitoba. On April 19, 2005, the Canadian government additionally licensed the prescription sale of a natural marijuana extract - effectively liquid marijuana - called Sativex. [1]

The federal department Health Canada now provides detailed advice (for its own citizens), including not only the medical information needed to make an informed choice, but the law enforcement aspects, and how to apply for authorization to possess marijuana for medical purposes. There is also information that may be of help to the patient's health professional. ^[1]

Germany

Consumption is legal, possession of small amounts is treated differently between federal states. In most cases possession of less than 5g Cannabis herb or resin is not prosecuted. There are no special laws for medical Cannabis. In November 2007 some patients get a exception approval for using medical marihuana from the public health authority.

Honduras

Use is illegal for both medical and recreational use and severe punishments are predicted in the law. Despite this however, enforcement for consumption is lax.

Israel

A small number of people have been granted special permission to use cannabis for medical uses by the Health Ministry.

In 2004, the Israeli military began using THC, the active ingredient in cannabis for experimental treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder of soldiers. [2] [3] [4]

Jamaica

Cannabis possession remains illegal for any reason, though enforcement is scarce. A recent panel recommended legalizing possession for adults for medical use

Japan

All THC-producing forms of cannabis have been illegal since 1948, when the occupying forces of the United States enacted the Hemp Control Law after World War II.

Luxembourg

In Luxembourg the law passed in April 2001 decriminalizes cannabis consumption, as well as its possession for personal use. The law classifies substances into two categories: A (other substances under control) and B (cannabis).

The use of cannabis is illicit but the punishment will not include prison sentences. Thus, a cannabis user may be sentenced to pay a fine (€250 – €2,500). However, prison sentences from eight days to six months can still be applied, if cannabis use happens in front of minors, in schools, or at the workplace. Penalties increase up to two years of imprisonment in case of adults using cannabis with minors, and up to five years in case of medical doctors or pharmacists using cannabis in specific settings (e.g. prison, school, social services). Additionally, use or possession, acquisition, and transport for personal use of illicit substance(s) other than cannabis incurs between eight days to six months imprisonment and/or a fine of €250 – €2,500; Nevertheless, between one and five years imprisonment and/or a fine of €500 – €1,250,000 are foreseen in case of illicit cultivation, production, fabrication, extract, import, export, sale, and offer of type A and B drugs.

Mozambique

Cannabis is widely grown and tolerated. Possession is technically illegal but possession of small amounts can lead to a small fine in the worst case when a user is smoking in public, but mostly the user is warned to use cannabis in a private area.

Netherlands

Cannabis has been available for recreational use in coffee shops for several years. Thus it has also been available without a prescription for medical uses. In addition, since 2003 it is a legal prescription drug known as "Mediwiet", available at the pharmacy. There it costs more than in the coffee shop: ca. €9 per gram. It is important to note that laws remain on the books classifying possession and sale as illegal, but due to a non-enforcement policy, it has been de facto legalized. See Drug policy of the Netherlands.

New Zealand

Health Minister Annette King has stated that she is not "unsympathetic to using cannabis in a medicinal form, but that's different to saying we should let everybody smoke it." Her official position is that more conclusive studies are needed, and a method of regulating dosage is necessary before she support medical access to cannabis.

Scott David Findlay, a paraplegic, was convicted of cannabis charges. The judge, Robert Spear (Dunedin District Court) offered to allow community service instead of imprisonment, but Findlay does not recognize the validity of New Zealand's cannabis laws and would not perform community service. Judge Spear claimed this was a "hollow protest" that he was nonetheless allowed to make, and sentenced him to three months imprisonment.

On the 15th of June, 2006, Green MP Metiria Turei had her Misuse of Drugs (Medicinal Cannabis) Amendment Bill drawn from the ballot, which could lead to medicinal usage.

Norway

Possession and cultivation of any THC substance is illegal and even small amounts can lead to heavy fines or jail. There is, of course, a black market, and even some semi-organized pot rings for medicinal purposes.

Portugal

Since 2001, possession of any drug for personal use has been legal, though sale and trafficking are still criminal offenses. One can still be arrested and fined for using cannabis in public, or be accused of drug trafficking if in possession of more than 25 grams.

Spain

In October 2005, the autonomous government in the region of Catalonia launched a program of therapeutical use of Sativex for 600 patients of a wide set of illnesses, from multiple sclerosis to cancer, in order to avoid nauseas or to relax tense muscles. The project involves six hospitals, forty researchers and sixty drugstores. The product is presented as an atomizer to be taken orally, and it will be delivered at drugstores inside some hospitals. The full text of the research initiative can be seen here, in Catalan, from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona.

South Africa

Prof. Frances Ames completed her research in 1958. The full text of the study can be seen here. Further medical research is currently being performed by the University of the Western Cape by Dr John Thomas.

Switzerland

Though all possession and cultivation remains illegal in most parts of the country, coffee shops can still be found in Bienne and Interlaken.

Thailand

Cannabis is illegal in Thailand. Even so, large numbers of cannabis consumers continue to be reported, probably due to the ease of growing low potency marijuana.

United Kingdom

In 1999, a House of Lords inquiry recommended that cannabis be made available with a doctor's prescription. Though the government of the U. K. has not accepted the recommendations, new long-term clinical trials have been authorized. Sometimes juries have returned verdicts of "not guilty" for people charged with marijuana possession for medical use though there are many people in jail for the offence of possession, cultivation or supplying medical marijuana.

In 2003, the U. K. company GW Pharmaceuticals, which has been granted the exclusive licence to cultivate cannabis for medicinal trials, had hopes of obtaining regulatory approval for the manufacture and sale of a cannabis-based medicine in the United Kingdom starting in 2004. Such approval has not yet been forthcoming. In April 2005, however, its Sativex marijuana extract, which is produced in the United Kingdom, was licensed for prescription sale in Canada. Although it is not similarly licensed in the United Kingdom, it can be imported, back to the United Kingdom from Canada, for named-patient prescription use. (Named-patient prescription is a prescription process which registers the patient's name with the Home Office.)

United States

See also: Decriminalization of cannabis in the United States

See also: Legal history of marijuana in the United States

As a Schedule I drug under the federal Controlled Substances Act of 1970, marijuana (cannabis) is considered to have "no accepted medical use" and is illegal for any reason, with the exception of FDA-approved research programs. The Act allows mis-controlled substances to be reclassified by petition by any member of the public, but federal agencies have so far denied each such petition on behalf of cannabis. (See cannabis rescheduling in the United States.)

A successful "medical necessity" defense by patient Robert Randall led the FDA to create an "Investigational New Drug Program", which provides medical cannabis grown under a NIDA contract at the Research Institute for Pharmaceutical Science at the University of Mississippi to a small number of patients since 1978. The program was closed to new patients in 1992 when many AIDS patients applied.

Six living patients continue to receive federal marijuana, including, since 1983, Irvin Rosenfeld [5] (for bone spurs), a 52-year-old stockbroker who has been featured in numerous print articles and on the Penn & Teller: Bullshit! cable television series; Elvy Musikka (for glaucoma); and George McMahon (who authored Prescription Pot, a book detailing the federal program, which contains the only existing medical study performed on the legal patients. The marijuana is grown on a farm at the University of Mississippi in Oxford and each person receives 300 joints a month. These patients are required by the U. S. Government to smoke the marijuana through a "rolled paper tube" (they are not allowed to eat it or use pipes or vaporizers). All the patients and their doctors report significant medical benefits from their use of marijuana.^{[citation needed]}

There is a split between the U. S. federal and many state governments over medical marijuana policy. On June 6, 2005, the Supreme Court, in Gonzales v. Raich, ruled in a 6-3 decision that Congress has the right to outlaw medicinal cannabis, thus subjecting all patients to federal prosecution even in states where the treatment is legalized. Currently, there are at least eleven states with effective medical marijuana laws on the books: Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington. Maryland's law does not legalize possession of medical cannabis, but rather makes it a non-incarcerable offense with a maximum penalty of a $100 fine.[6]

The case brought into tension two themes of the Rehnquist court: the limits it has imposed on the federal government and the latitude it has afforded law enforcement officers. Those issues produced an unusual breakdown among the nine justices.

Joining Justice John Paul Stevens's majority decision were Justices Anthony M. Kennedy, David H. Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen G. Breyer. Justice Antonin Scalia wrote separately to say he agreed with the result, though not the majority's reasoning. Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist and Justices Sandra Day O'Connor and Clarence Thomas dissented.

DEA and NIDA opposition prevented any scientific studies of medical marijuana for more than a decade, but in the 1990s, activists and doctors were energized by seeing marijuana help dying AIDS patients. A study of smoked marijuana at the University of California, San Francisco, under Dr. Donald Abrams was approved after five years. Further research followed, particularly due to a ten million dollar research appropriation by the California legislature. The University of California coordinates this research. [7]. However, there are still significant barriers, unique among Schedule I substances, to conducting medical marijuana research in the US^[2]. Many years of work remain before sufficient research could be approved and conducted to meet the FDA's standards for approving marijuana as a new prescription medicine.

Public opinion surveys find most Americans support legalization of medical marijuana, even as they reject broader legalization of the drug. A November 2003 Gallup survey found 75% said they would favor use of marijuana under a doctor's prescription, but nearly two-thirds rejected full legalization. [8][9] While Congress has consistently rejected legislation to allow medical use of marijuana, 33 states and the District of Columbia have authorized it in some form. [10] Most require that it be "prescribed", which is problematic when federal agencies control doctors' power to prescribe. Twelve states have made laws which permit doctors to instead "recommend" marijuana, starting with California Proposition 215 (1996). The most recent such state was Rhode Island on January 3, 2006, when its state legislature overturned a gubernatorial veto of a bill legalizing medical marijuana. In 2004, Montana legalized medical marijuana by a statewide referendum. Hawaii, Maine and Maryland have legalized medical marijuana by legislative action, and the California legislature expanded patient protections in 2003. District of Columbia voters also passed several medical marijuana initiatives, but Congress first denied the funds to count the vote, then when that was declared unconstitutional, voted to overturn the initiative.^{[citation needed]} Even in these states, law enforcement agencies and individual officers sometimes continue to arrest users. For example, the official position of the California Narcotics Officers Association is that medical marijuana activists "misled" the public which voted to change the law [11]. Legal and social support groups such as Americans for Safe Access [12] have sprung up in defense.

Sale of medical marijuana is illegal or barely legal, even in states where patients have the right to grow or use it, due to public confusion between dispensaries and "drug dealers". However, medical marijuana dispensaries have been established in many locations, particularly in California, where they work openly with local government officials to resolve any difficulties. Many offer social services, medical consultations, and support groups as well as medicine. The first such dispensary, known as the Cannabis Buyer's Club (CBC), was opened by Dennis Peron in February, 1994. The club operated openly in San Francisco for years, even before medical marijuana was legalized. Local police and politicians did not want to be seen arresting suffering AIDS patients, or denying them any medicine that could help them. This gay community activism led directly to the "Compassionate Use Act" medical marijuana initiative, California Proposition 215 (1996), which voters approved.

Washington state Initiative 692, passed by the voters in 1998, also authorizes the medical use of marijuana. On November 2 2004, the voters of Ann Arbor, Michigan passed a similar resolution with 74% approval. In early 2005, Rhode Island's legislature was the first to legalize medical marijuana. Such an act was not sent to the voters.

In NYC, in 2001, well known local activist Kenny Toglia achieved a significant victory for medical cannabis when charges against him were dropped in the infamous "marijuana cookie case". Kenny Toglia in 2001 was involved in a historic drug policy case involving medical marijuana in NYS. He was arrested at "University of the Streets", a locally owned black community center on the corner of Tompkins Square at East 7th Street, with more than a pound of marijuana. Ultimately, all charges against him were dismissed following his complaint that the arresting officers had consumed a number of oatmeal cookies laced with marijuana which had been intended for use by patients with AIDS suffering from wasting syndrome. The events following his arrest led to the issue becoming important in the NYS gubernatorial campaign, and subsequently turned the statewide political tide in favor of the issue.[13]

Although the DEA states that they "don't target sick and dying people", [14], federal arrests of medical marijuana users and suppliers continue. Close to thirty federal criminal cases about medical marijuana are pending. Several jurisdictions, including Oakland, California and San Mateo County, California have announced plans to distribute medical marijuana to patients. Ed Rosenthal, author of dozens of books on marijuana cultivation, grew small "starter" plants for patients on behalf of the city government of Oakland. He was convicted in federal court of manufacturing marijuana, by a jury which was never told that his marijuana was for medical patients. Shortly after the trial, eight of the fourteen jurors (and alternates) who convicted him called a press conference and denounced their verdict, arguing that the trial was not fair because the evidence that Rosenthal was growing marijuana for medical use, working on behalf of the city, and was told by DEA agents and city officials that he was immune to prosecution, was all suppressed by the judge as "irrelevant under federal law". The jury discovered the real facts by reading newspapers, within hours after delivering their verdict. As a result of the intense public scrutiny, Rosenthal was given the most lenient possible sentence - only one day - since they had already found him guilty and could not change their verdict. He is appealing his felony conviction, and the federal government is appealing the short sentence.^{[citation needed]}

The late Peter McWilliams, a vocal supporter of medical cannabis who is terminally ill with AIDS and cancer, was arrested by the DEA and convicted for violating federal marijuana laws. Even as he vomited repeatedly during court proceedings, McWilliams was not allowed by the federal judge to explain his condition or its connection to the charges against him. His mother's house had been used to collateralize the bond on which he was allowed to remain free pending sentencing, a condition of which was that he refrain from using cannabis. Prior to his death, McWilliams stated

The federal prosecutor personally called my mother to tell her that if I was found with even a trace of medical marijuana, her house would be taken away. [15]

Richard Cowan and many other critics of U. S. drug policies have described his death as murder by the federal government, insofar as they denied him the use of the medical cannabis which might have prevented his death.

The federal government of the United States continues to argue that smoked cannabis has no recognized medical purpose (pointing to a definition of "medical purpose" published by the DEA, not the Food and Drug Administration, the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control, or the office of the U. S. Surgeon General and the U. S. Public Health Service) -- many officials point to the difficulty of regulating dosage (a problem for treatment as well as research) despite the availability (in Canada and the U. K.) of dosage-controlled Sativex. The United States has also pressured other governments (especially Canada, with which it shares a largely open border) to retain restrictions on marijuana.

Uruguay

It is illegal to possess more than five grams of cannabis and dealing is considered a crime. Recently the Frente Amplio Party has shown certain tendencies towards legalization and assuming a policy similar to that of the Netherlands.

See also

• Legal history of marijuana in the United States
• Legal issues of cannabis
• Decriminalization of cannabis in the United States
• Legality of cannabis by country

• EMCDDA ELDD European Legal Map on Possession of cannabis for personal use

References

1. ^ Health Canada Medical Use of Marihuana. Retrieved 2006-10-21
2. ^ Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (2006). "Written evidence submitted to UK House of Commons Science & Technology Select Committee".