Medicinal marijuana: the struggle for legalization

In this story:

• The legal battle
• The '90s battle
• Related stories and sites

(CNN) -- Nearly 60 years after pot was declared illegal by the federal government, the battle over marijuana is roiling the nation again. At the center of the firestorm this time is the use of marijuana as medicine.

Marijuana's medicinal uses regained popularity in the 1970s as a result of the drug's popularity among recreational users. The federal government then enacted the Controlled Substances Act of 1970, which established five categories into which illicit and prescription drugs were placed. The Controlled Substance Act confined marijuana to Schedule I, defining the drug as having a high potential for abuse, lacking an accepted medical use and lacking safety for use under medical supervision.

As the news of marijuana's medicinal uses spread, however, the number of patients illegally using the drug as medicine increased. But marijuana's Schedule I category prevented doctors from prescribing it, and research approval and funding were severely restricted.

Despite the federal government's prohibition of marijuana, between 1978 and 1996, 36 states passed legislation allowing research into the drug's medicinal value.

In 1972 the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) petitioned the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs, now known as the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), to transfer marijuana to Schedule II so that it could be legally prescribed. And 14 years later, in 1986, the DEA agreed to hold public hearings into marijuana's medicinal value.

The hearings lasted two years, with testimony from those for and those against the legalization of medical marijuana.

In 1978, a young cancer patient, Lynn Pierson, brought the case for marijuana's medical value to the attention of the New Mexico legislature. After public hearings in which cancer and glaucoma patients and their physicians testified in favor of marijuana as medicine, the legislature overwhelmingly enacted the nation's first law recognizing marijuana's medical value.

As demand for the drug increased, the Federal Food and Drug Administration instituted the Compassionate Investigative New Drug (IND) program, allowing physicians to apply for the federal government's permission to treat their patients with marijuana.

Between 1976 and 1988 the government awarded about six Compassionate INDs for the use of marijuana. That program was suspended in June 1991 on the grounds that it undercut the Bush administration's opposition to the use of illegal drugs. After that no new Compassionate INDs were granted.

In 1986, the main ingredient in marijuana, THC, became available legally in the Marinol pill. But some patients and doctors contend Marinol is too expensive and does not work as well as marijuana in its natural form.

On September 6, 1988, the DEA's chief administrative law judge, Francis L. Young, declared that marijuana in its natural form is "one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man. (T)he provisions of the (Controlled Substances) Act permit and require the transfer of marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule II."

Judge Young's order that the marijuana plant be transferred to Schedule II was rejected by the DEA.

The DEA said it decided against re-scheduling marijuana based on testimony and comments from numerous medical doctors who had conducted detailed research and were widely considered experts in their respective fields.

"Each of the doctors testifying on behalf of NORML claimed that his opinion was based on scientific studies, yet with one exception, none could identify, under oath, the scientific studies they relied on," said DEA Administrator Thomas A. Constantine.

"Those who insist that marijuana has medical uses would serve society better by promoting or sponsoring more legitimate research," said former DEA Administrator Robert Bonner.

The battle over medicinal marijuana grabbed headlines in August 1996, when California's attorney general ordered police to raid the Cannabis Buyers' Club in San Francisco. The club had begun selling marijuana to the critically ill in 1991.

Law enforcement officials said during a two-year investigation of the Cannabis Club, undercover agents made purchases of several pounds at a time. They also said that teens and people with forged doctors' notes were making buys.

Months after the raid, in November 1996, voters in California (Proposition 215) and Arizona (Proposition 200) approved ballot initiatives that legalized medical access to marijuana. The law also allows the cultivation and possession of marijuana.

With the passing of Prop. 215, a San Francisco court judge ruled that the Cannabis Buyers' Club could re-open provided it operated in accordance with the measure.

Critics of Prop. 215 say its wording is so vague it virtually legalizes pot for anyone.

"The medical, scientific process is open to any drug. That includes marijuana," said Clinton administration's drug policy chief Barry McCaffrey. "But you have to get through a process and demonstrate scientific validity. And in this case, to be honest, I think it's nonsense. This is mostly a 'Cheech and Chong' show for the quasi-legalization of marijuana."

The broader Arizona measure allows doctors to prescribe drugs such as heroin and LSD and mandates that nonviolent drug offenders receive treatment rather than incarceration. But the Clinton administration issued stern warnings for doctors who prescribe marijuana to their patients, saying they could lose their prescription-writing privileges, be excluded from Medicare and Medicaid and even be prosecuted.

In January 1997, the state of Massachusetts unveiled a proposal that would allow residents suffering from glaucoma, asthma or chemotherapy's side effects to legally possess marijuana for medicinal purposes.

Meanwhile, possession of marijuana remains a federal crime as the national medical marijuana campaign continues.

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