Patients in the 13 states where medical marijuana is legal can now light up without fear of federal reprisal, but they may still have to answer to local authorities.
The Justice Department this week announced that it will no longer seek to prosecute people using, prescribing, or distributing pot for medical purposes, as long as they?re in compliance with local law. However, regulations in some medical marijuana states remain murky.
For example, Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley recently announced a plan to crack down on all illegal medical marijuana dispensaries in his jurisdiction. In California, as well as several other medical marijuana states, laws governing distribution vary from city to city and county to county. Matters are simpler in Rhode Island and New Mexico, which formally license medical marijuana providers.
Nevertheless, advocates hail the news as a step in the right direction. They say the move will likely encourage more doctors to consider prescribing medical marijuana in states where it?s legal. And more patients may try using the drug, which can be prescribed for chronic pain, nausea, and other conditions.
The federal move could also embolden other states to make their own laws allowing medical marijuana use, they say.
?This is a very significant development,? says Bruce Mirken, the director of communications for the Marijuana Policy Project, which advocates the full-scale legalization of marijuana. ?This is the most significant and most positive development on federal medical-marijuana policy since the Carter administration.?
Yvonne Westbrook, of Richmond, Calif., is in her 50s and has been using marijuana for decades to help manage her multiple sclerosis (MS) symptoms.
?I think it will help people who don?t want to break the law but need the medication,? she says. ?I think it?ll open the doors for other states to decide how they want to get the medicine to the people, because it is really very effective.?
