The Role of Patient Advocacy in Developing the US Medical Marijuana Landscape.
Email this pagePresentation of Steph Sherer on Cannafest Prague 2014. The lecture is in the original version. Brief synopsis can be found in the description below.
The US medical marijuana experiment is underway. This experiment has made considerable policy advances which could potentially shape the future of these programs around the globe. Medical marijuana is now legal in some form in 24 states and the District of Columbia, directly affecting 70 % of the country’s population with over 1.5 million patients legally using the botanical under the care of their physician. These programs started as a compassionate response to individuals that were illegally using marijuana to fill a void in their conventional medicine, giving them a defense in court. Today, medical marijuana has become a topic of debate as a viable alternative medicine in every legislature in the country as well as on the floor of Congress.
Medical marijuana laws and regulations have been created and implemented in the face of constant resistance from the Federal Government. These laws and regulations were often developed in isolation from other health policies, and often as tools for broader marijuana reform. The result is a patchwork of laws and regulations that frequently fail to meet the needs of those they intend to serve. Despite all of these hurdles, this experiment has created a number of efficient and effective guidelines that have been implemented to address anti-diversion protocols, product safety standards from seed to consumption, validation methods for lab testing of cannabis, education for physicians and patients on the application of medical cannabis use, formalized education and training for those cultivating, manufacturing and dispensing marijuana, and the groundwork for dosage standards.
One of the largest drivers behind medical marijuana laws is the failure of conventional medicine to meet the needs of an array of medical conditions. An emerging body of scientific knowledge also highlights these failures of conventional medicine. Additionally, this knowledge supports the experience of efficacy that patients and their medical professionals are witnessing. This trend is also apparent in the steep increase in usage rates of other complementary and alternative medicines in the US.
Americans for Safe Access, the US’s largest medical cannabis patient advocacy organization has been a driving force moving the laws and regulations for safe access forward for over 12 years. There is still a long road ahead for medical marijuana policy, both in the implementation process on the state level as well as ultimately changing federal law. In both of these policy arenas, advocates face additional challenges shared by the botanical medicine industry at large, which has long fought for inclusion and consideration in broader health policy. ASA will continue to affect change at the federal, state, and local levels by engaging our grassroots base to lobby their elected representatives to pass new legislation.
Your are cordially invited to the annual conference at Cannafest, the international trade fair of cannabis and medical herbs that will take place on November 11-13, 2016 at the Prague Exhibition Holesovice. The conference presentations will be simultaneously interpreted into English and Czech.
