California Medical Assn. calls for legalization of marijuana

[cal04]

The doctor group questions the medical value of pot and acknowledges some health risk from its use but urges it be regulated like alcohol. A law enforcement official harshly criticizes the new stance.
http://www.latimes.com/la-me-doctors-marijuana-20111016,0,179189.story

The state's largest doctor group is calling for legalization of marijuana, even as it pronounces cannabis to be of questionable medical value.

Trustees of the California Medical Assn., which represents more than 35,000 physicians statewide, adopted the position at their annual meeting in Anaheim late Friday. It is the first major medical association in the nation to urge legalization of the drug, according to a group spokeswoman, who said the larger membership was notified Saturday.

Dr. Donald Lyman, the Sacramento physician who wrote the group's new policy, attributed the shift to growing frustration over California's medical marijuana law, which permits cannabis use with a doctor's recommendation. That, he said, has created an untenable situation for physicians: deciding whether to give patients a substance that is illegal under federal law.

"It's an uncomfortable position for doctors," he said. "It is an open question whether cannabis is useful or not. That question can only be answered once it is legalized and more research is done. Then, and only then, can we know what it is useful for."

[Webster Green]

1. Idiots!

While I agree that pot should be legal, the notion that the medicinal value is questionable is absurd.

The list of medicinal uses grows on a weekly basis. Anyone who has used pot to combat the effects of chemotherapy knows that the medicinal value is huge. My oncologists recommended other patients should follow me out onto the fire escape at the hospital to toke up before we got our injections. That was in 1978. These mutherfuckers are full of shit!

[Scuba]

3. Well, this stance does allow them to move past that question...

... so instead of arguing about medical effectiveness, they can argue about rights.

[Politicalboi]

2. They "question" the medical value

I question their medical value. I wonder how many pills they prescribed to patients while they were getting profits from the makers of that new fandangled pill even though it could kill you later? Pot will NEVER come back and kill you EVER.

[musiclawyer]

4. Doctors out here smoke dope for recreation

I know two and I'm just one guy
I hate this equivocation bs