Should Medical Marijuana be Federally Legalized?

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Twelve US states: Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington have now enacted laws protecting authorized medical cannabis patients from state prosecution. These laws are operating as voters and legislators intended and abuses by the public are minimal. According to a federal General Accounting Office (GAO) report examining the implementation of statewide medical cannabis laws in Alaska, Hawaii, Oregon, and a handful of California counties: Officials from over half of the 37 selected federal, state, and local law enforcement organizations we interviewed in the four states said that the introduction of medical marijuana laws had not greatly affected their law enforcement activities. In addition, none of the federal officials we spoke with provided information to support a statement that abuse of medical marijuana laws was routinely occurring in any of the states, including California. Reviews by the National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine and others have also concluded that state medical cannabis laws have not altered adolescents¹ perceptions of the risk associated with the recreational use of marijuana.
 
Federal law already allows the medical use of many controlled substances, such as cocaine and morphine, which can be abused in a non-medical setting. Likewise, it should also properly differentiate between medicinal cannabis and other controlled substances. As opined by the New England Journal of Medicine: [A]uthorities should rescind their prohibition of the medical use of marijuana for seriously ill patients and allow physicians to decide which patients to treat.