Should Michigan Make Medical Marijuana Legal?

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Numerous prominent organizations have publicly endorsed medical marijuana laws, and many others have called for the protection of medical marijuana patients from the threat of arrest and jail.

These include the Michigan Nurses Association, the AIDS Action Council, the American Academy of HIV Medicine (AAHIVM), the American Nurses Association, the American Public Health Association, the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, the Lymphoma Foundation of America, and the National Association of People With AIDS. Other major groups like the Institute of Medicine and the American College of Physicians – the second largest physician group in the country with over 125,000 members – have noted marijuana’s medical benefits and added their voices to the chorus demanding compassion and protection for seriously ill patients who use medical marijuana on their doctors’ recommendations.

Indeed, every year the research mounts and brings with it additional support from prominent medical organizations and individuals. The fact is, as former U.S. Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders, M.D., noted in 2004:

“The evidence is overwhelming that marijuana can relieve certain types of pain, nausea, vomiting and other symptoms caused by illnesses like multiple sclerosis, cancer and AIDS – or by the harsh drugs sometimes used to treat them. And it can do so with remarkable safety. Indeed, marijuana is less toxic than many of the drugs that physicians prescribe every day.”  

In a recent U.S. Supreme Court brief, the Lymphoma Foundation of America and the HIV Medicine Association of the Infectious Diseases Society of America joined with other medical groups to declare:

"For certain persons the medical use of marijuana can literally mean the difference between life and death. At a minimum, marijuana provides some seriously ill patients the gift of relative health and the ability to function as productive members of society."