Drug Policy Alliance supports current efforts to protect the rights of medical marijuana patients, their caregivers and their doctors. Medical Marijuana has been shown to be an effective medicine in treating patients with serious illnesses or who suffer from chronic pain. Eight states have laws that remove state-level penalties for growing and/or possessing medical marijuana. Under the Bush Administration, the Drug Enforcement Administration is engaged in a focused crack-down on medical marijuana cooperatives in California, where medical marijuana is legal. Current medical marijuana projects the Office is working on include:

Public Protection of Access to Medical Marijuana: Implementation of San Francisco’s Proposition S. to create the first ever public medical marijuana cultivation and distribution system. Click here for more information on the passage of Proposition S.

Halting the Federal Government's Attacks on Medical Marijuana Patients--County of Santa Cruz, et al v. John Ashcroft, et al:  The Office of Legal Affairs, together with prestigious law firm Bingham McCutchen, LLP and criminal defense attorney Gerald Uelmen, are representing the City and County of Santa Cruz, California and a group of ill and dying patients in Santa Cruz in an unprecended law suit challenging the federal government's raids of a medical marijuana collective in Santa Cruz.  The Plaintiffs argue that the state has the right to protect its ill and dying patients and that the patients themselves have the right to control the circumstances of their suffering and ultimately, their death.

Physicians Right to Recommend Medical Marijuana - Conant v. Walters: The Office of Legal Affairs is part of a legal team that challenged the federal government’s attempts to threaten doctors who recommended marijuana to their patients after the passage of Proposition 215, California’s medical marijuana initiative. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals recently issued a groundbreaking ruling in the case that upholds physicians’ right to recommend marijuana to their patients and asserts states’ rights to care for their sick and dying. Click here for more on Conant v. Walters, including links to briefs filed in the case.

Legislative drafting: The Office of Legal Affairs plays an integral role in drafting medical marijuana laws and regulations for state and local governments around the country.

• New Mexico’s medical marijuana bill.
• Information for medical marijuana litigators
• More information on medical marijuana