Senators introduce medicinal marijuana bill

Bipartisan legislation was introduced yesterday in the U.S. Senate proposing to change federal law such that states could regulate the medical use of marijuana without fear of prosecution.

A somewhat unlikely team of Senators Rand Paul (R-Kentucky), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-New York), and Cory Booker (D-New Jersey) stood with parents and patients to discuss The CARERS Act: The Compassionate Access, Research Expansion, and Respect States Act.

The major aim of the six-part legislation (S.683) is to reclassify marijuana under the Controlled Substances Act to Schedule II, thereby changing the plant from a federally-criminalized substance to one that has recognized medical uses.

This “downscheduling” would put marijuana in the same class as opioid narcotic pain relievers such as morphine and oxycodone. Currently, marijuana is on the Drug Enforcement Agency’s Schedule I, the most restrictive classification of controlled substances, reserved for drugs with high addiction potential and no accepted medical use.

But in 23 states and District of Columbia, where medical marijuana is permitted, patients have been using whole herb and extracts to manage the nausea, vomiting, and wasting syndrome of cancer, the painful spasticity of multiple sclerosis, neuropathic pain, and other disorders. In addition, 12 states have active or pending laws that permit the use of marijuana derived cannabidiol (CBD) oil for children with epilepsy. This non-psychotropic component of marijuana has both anti-anxiety and anti-seizure activity.

But regardless of state approaches to decriminalizing marijuana, the primary concern of doctors, patients, and institutions is that federal law currently doesn’t reflect marijuana’s legitimate medical use.

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