ASA NATIONAL POLICY AGENDA

110TH CONGRESS 2007-2009

The use of medical cannabis can improve health care outcomes, including adherence to conventional medical treat-
ments. However, federal law prohibits the use of cannabis even for medical purposes. Americans for Safe Access
(ASA) is working to change federal policy to meet the immediate needs of patients, their providers, physicians,
other health care providers and medical researchers. ASA and our members encourage Congress, the Adminis-
tration, and others to support long-term solutions for safe and legal access to cannabis for therapeutic use and
programs that advance medical and scientific research.

1. Establish Federal Legal Protections for Medical

Cannabis Patients and their Providers
California and 10 other states have passed laws which permit
seriously or chronically ill patients to use cannabis without legal
sanction while under the care and supervision of a licensed
physician.
ASA will work with its members, Congress, the Administration,
and our coalition partners to support the implementation of
the recommendations provided by the Institute of Medicine
and to remove federal barriers for medical and scientific
research on cannabis for therapeutic use.

However, medical cannabis patients and their providers in
these states and nationwide suffer pervasive discrimination in
employment, child custody, housing, public accommodation,
education and medical care because of misinformation about
the medical efficacy of cannabis and a lack of statutory legal
protections. Furthermore, patients and their care providers
are vulnerable to federal raids, arrest, prosecution, and
incarceration.
Since June 2005, when the Supreme Court issued its decision
in Gonzales v. Raich, the federal government has conducted
dozens of raids on licensed medical cannabis patient collectives
and dispensaries across the state of California, costing
taxpayers more than $10 million. Currently, the Department
of Justice is seeking to prosecute nearly 100 licensed medical
cannabis patients and care providers. Unfortunately, these
defendants will likely be forbidden from explaining that their
use of marijuana was therapeutic and in compliance with state
law, limiting their ability to present a successful defense.
ASA will work with its members, Congress, the Administration,
and our coalition partners to establish comprehensive federal
legal protections for medical cannabis patients and their
providers.
2.Implement the Institute of Medicine recommendations,
provided in its 1999 report, Marijuana and Medicine.
The Institute of Medicine’s (IOM) 1999 comprehensive report
on the therapeutic use of cannabis, Marijuana and Medicine:
Assessing the Science Base, specifically recommends that
numerous clinical trials be conducted to determine appropriate
therapeutic use of cannabis. Unfortunately, political and
PROCESS COLORS ONLY
bureaucratic obstacles inhibit clinical research that meets the
standards required by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
3. Create a National, Comprehensive and Safe Access
Plan for Chronic and Seriously Ill Patients
In 1978, the federal government created the Compassionate
Investigational New Drug program, which permitted patients
to use federally-cultivated cannabis provided by the National
Institute on Drug Abuse and grown at the University of
Mississippi. However, in 1992, facing an onslaught of new
applicants, many of whom were suffering from HIV/AIDS, the
Public Health Service closed the program to all new applicants.
Today, while a handful of surviving patients continue to receive
a monthly supply of cannabis from the federal government
to alleviate the symptoms of a wide variety of conditions and
thousands of Californians enjoy safe and legal access through
regulated community-based dispensaries, collectives and
cooperatives thousands of patients across the country are
denied safe access to cannabis for therapeutic use. The next
step is to create safe and legal access to cannabis for patients
nationwide.
Comprehensive access to cannabis is possible and improves
health care outcomes, including adherence to conventional
medical treatments. Research suggests that people living
with HIV/AIDS on HAART therapy and people affected by the
Hepatitis-C virus undergoing interferon and ribavirin treatments
who use cannabis to combat the side-effects of conventional
medical treatments are about three times more likely to remain
on their prescribed drug therapies than non-users of cannabis.
ASA will work with its members, Congress, the Administration,
and our coalition partners to support a national comprehensive
and safe access plan for chronic or seriously ill patients who use
cannabis to combat the symptoms of their clinical conditions
while under the care of a licensed physician.

Headquarters 1322 Webster Street, Suite 402, Oakland, CA 94612

National Office 1730 M Street NW, Suite 611, Washington DC 20036
888-929-4367
www.SafeAccessNow.org