The American Medical Association has taken a giant step by asking the federal government to take marijuana off its most restrictive list of controlled substances while the AMA conducts research into the potential medical uses of cannabis.

By listing pot on "Schedule 1,"the federal government officially labels marijuana a dangerous drug with no accepted medical use, even though California law allows the use of medicinal marijuana under certain circumstances.

"The idea that cannabis has no medical use is absurd on its face, because I know every materia medica (pharmacology text) that has been written has included cannabis as a medicine. The first medical textbook, written by Sir William Osler, said marijuana relieved migraines," said Dr. David Bearman, a Goleta physician widely known for his advocacy of medical marijuana.

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On November 10th, the AMA reversed its long-held position that marijuana has no acceptable medicinal value and adopted a new policy position favoring medical marijuana. The AMA called on the U.S. government to reconsider its current classification as a Schedule I substance. (The government categorizes drugs into “Schedules.” Four of the five actually regulate the use of substances, but Schedule I drugs—such as marijuana, heroin and LSD—are completely banned.)

However, a week after the announcement of this historic reversal, the DEA still hadn’t removed mention of the AMA’s old, anti-medical-marijuana position from its website.

So, the advocacy group Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP), an organization of cops, judges and prosecutors calling for the legalization and regulation of all drugs, created an action alert asking U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to order the DEA to scrub the bogus statements from the web.

After just one day of emails from activists, the information disappeared. One might conclude this quick response was the handiwork of Obama’s tech-savvy team, if it weren’t for the other government websites still spreading misinformation about the AMA's position on medical marijuana. Both the White House "drug czar's" office and the DEA's “scare the children” youth website still contain inaccurate statements about AMA's position on medical marijuana.

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Already Four States Have Marijuana Legalization Bills In Play; Californians To Vote On Legalization in 2010

It can readily be said that 2009 was one of the busiest and most productive years in cannabis law reform since NORML’s founding in 1970. However, it appears as if 2010 is going to be an even busier year–notably marked by the increasing number of actual state legalization bills and a voter initiative in America’s most important state.

Currently, there is legalization legislation pending in California, Massachusetts, Vermont, and a legalization bill was just introduced this week in Washington. Frankly, most of these bills do not have a strong prospect in passing this time out, however the immense public discussion that is generated is crucial for overall reform efforts.

The formula is simple: No public discussion or debate about legalization, obviously equates to no substantive law reforms. This is what regrettably happened in the United States, Canada and Europe from 1980-2000, buttressed by extreme federal anti-marijuanism in the form of the DARE program in the public school, the blitzkrieg of Partnership for a Drug-Free America ads polluting media airwaves and omnibus federal crime bills overloaded with severe and costly penalties (i.e., mandatory minimum sentencing, civil forfeiture, mass drug testing, etc…). However, since the turn of the century, there have been ever-increasing public discussions and debates about marijuana prohibition–principally driven by the creation and implementation of medical cannabis laws in thirteen states–which is leading to greater public support for reform.

Continue reading this article by Allen St. Pierre who is the Executive Director at NORML

Chemicals found in cannabis leaves can be used to stop prostate cancer cells. The researchers hope that cannabis leaves can be used as a remedy for the treatment of prostate cancer.

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KTLA 5 news Los Angeles has reported on a family in southern California who, after a series of worsening autism symptoms exhibited by their son, resorted to medical marijuana. The results have been wonderful, according to the boy's parents.

Ten-year -old Sam's father told reporter Cher Calvin that his son had been hurting other children at school, pulling the television down, destroying furniture, etc .He would have to put the boy in a hold for an hour, while he had spasms, until he eventually calmed down.

The parents had consulted the conventional 'experts'; doctors who put Sam on prescription drugs, which resulted in the boy gaining twenty pounds. "He was getting more dangerous, bigger, stronger", recalled Sam's mom.

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The Obama administration announced last month that people who buy or sell medical marijuana in the growing number of states that have decriminalized its therapeutic usage should not be targeted for arrest or prosecution by federal authorities. Now, the American Medical Association (AMA) has called for the federal government to go one step further in easing restrictions, the Los Angeles Times reported last week.

Although the new AMA policy is far from outright support of medically sanctioned pot smoking, delegates of the organization recommended at an interim meeting in Houston last week that marijuana be removed from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration's Schedule I category of drugs, which includes heroin and LSD. Drugs in this category are deemed unsafe with no currently acceptable medical use. With its recommendation, the AMA hopes to facilitate research on the clinical effects of smoking marijuana, as well as other delivery methods for the drug.

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