WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism is scheduled to hold a hearing Wednesday on “Researching the Potential Medical Benefits and Risks of Marijuana.”
Testimony will be heard from Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Cory Booker (D-NJ), who are original co-sponsors of medical marijuana legislation introduced last year in the Senate known as the Compassionate Access, Research Expansion, and Respect States (CARERS) Act. Other scheduled witnesses include officials from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), among others. A full witness list is available at https://bit.ly/29AqfZf.
“Laws recognizing the medical value of marijuana have been adopted in more than 40 states, two U.S. territories, and our nation’s capital,” said Robert Capecchi, director of federal policies for the Marijuana Policy Project. “Federal law should reflect the fact that marijuana is effective in the treatment of a variety of debilitating medical conditions. Millions of Americans are using medical marijuana to treat conditions ranging from cancer and AIDS to epilepsy and PTSD. For these patients, the medical benefits are real, and the greatest risks are those associated with federal marijuana prohibition laws.”
“The federal government needs to get its marijuana prohibition policies out of our doctors’ offices and exam rooms,” said Don Murphy, director of conservative outreach for the Marijuana Policy Project. “If a licensed physician examines a patient and believes marijuana would be a safe and effective treatment option, he or she should be able to recommend it to that patient without fear of crossing the federal government. Our federal government trusts medical professionals to prescribe highly addictive and potentially lethal opioid-based drugs. It should also trust them to recommend marijuana, which is far less addictive, poses fewer and less severe side effects, and has never resulted in a single fatal overdose.”
For more information, visit the MPP site at mpp.org
