History Made: American Psychiatric Association Supports Medical Marijuana

I almost cannot believe that I am writing this, but last week the Assembly of the American Psychiatric Association issued a statement in support of legal protections--i.e., state laws--for medical marijuana patients using cannabis with their doctor's recommendation. I cannot find a mention of this on the APA's website, but here's one account of what went down. The statement must be approved by the APA's trustees next month before it becomes an official policy statement of the organization.

The Assembly also called upon the feds to allow "well-designed clinical research into the medical utility of marijuana." Wow.

The group's statement argues that although 12 states now have medical marijuana law that "[t]he threat of arrest by federal agents, however, still exists. Seriously ill patients living in these states with medical marijuana recommendations from their doctors should not be subjected to the threat of punitive federal prosecution for merely attempting to alleviate the chronic pain, side effects, or symptoms associated with their conditions or resulting from their overall treatment regimens. ... [We] support protection for patients and physicians participating in state approved medical marijuana programs."

I have written at length about just how absurd is the legal reality for medical marijuana patients in Washington State, which has had a very weak medical marijuana law for nine years. Of course, the situation is even worse in California, which has a very strong medical marijuana law, where federal agencies such as the DEA regularly raid medical marijuana dispensaries, legal outlets under that state's law.

Said Bruce Mirken, a spokesman for the Marijuana Policy Project, a legal reform group:

"'This move debunks a lot of the nonsense from some of the anti-medical marijuana groups. They have been aggressively using false information tactics. These groups allege that there are various links between mental illness and marijuana, ignoring the fact that it is well documented that medical marijuana can be therapeutic.'"

I should note that the APA isn't addressing the controversy around whether marijuana can cause psychosis and schizophrenia (as I've noted before, I think the evidence is of a fairly weak connection). But, then, if it did, the APA would also likely have to take up what to say about pharmaceutical medications that, on occasion, can cause bad reactions in patients such as SSRIs causing mania or of atypical anti-psychotics causing diabetes.

Keep in mind that if marijuana truly caused psychosis the way people like Drug Czar John Walters claim, then America would have far more people with schizophrenia than the 1 percent of the population estimated to have the disorder.