Sixteen states, and the District of Columbia, have passed medical marijuana laws legalizing the use of medical marijuana for qualifying patients under state law.  However, the medical use of marijuana remains illegal under federal law, and patients in the remaining states are without any legal access at all.  Even in states where medical marijuana laws exist, patients and providers are vulnerable to arrest and interference from federal law enforcement.  

DPA played a primary role in the passage of medical marijuana laws in nine states, starting with California’s Proposition 215 in 1996. We seek to implement medical marijuana programs in additional states and to expand existing programs to better protect patients’ rights and to improve patient access to their medicine.  

DPA works to end the federal prohibition of medical marijuana so that all patients within the United States have safe access to quality medicine.