California Doctors Blowing Smoke

(Cough) What you say?

"Calif. doctors group backs pot legalization" October 17, 2011|By Associated Press

ANAHEIM, Calif. - California’s largest industry group for doctors is calling for the legalization of marijuana even as it maintains that the drug has few proven health benefits.

I'm one to agree that any hot smoke drawn into the lungs is not good; however, if the AIDS and cancer patients say it helps them let them have it.

Trustees of the California Medical Association adopted the new stance at its annual meeting Friday in Anaheim.

Dr. Donald Lyman, the Sacramento physician who wrote the group’s new policy, said doctors are increasingly frustrated by the state’s medical marijuana law, which allows use with a doctor’s recommendation. Physicians are put in the uncomfortable position of having to decide whether to recommend a drug that is illegal under federal law, Lyman said.

“It is an open question whether cannabis is useful or not,’’ he told the Los Angeles Times. “That question can only be answered once it is legalized and more research is done.’’

The CMA acknowledges health risks of marijuana use and proposes regulation similar to alcohol and tobacco, but the group says the consequences of criminalization outweigh the dangers. The federal government considers cannabis a drug with no medical use.  

That's because the federal government serves pharmaceutical and chemical corporations.

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