Legalization Of Marijuana

8 Pages 1887 Words

then known as Indian hemp were published in medical journals. It was recommended as an appetite stimulant, muscle relaxant, analgesic, hypnotic, anticonvulsant, and treatment for opium addiction. As late as 1913, Sir William Osler cited it as the best remedy for migraine. In the nineteenth century medical cannabis was administered chiefly in oral form as an alcoholic solution, but the potency of these solutions varied, and patients responded erratically to oral ingestion. Shortly after the turn of the century, synthetic alternatives became available for insomnia and moderate pain, two of the most common indications for the medical use. The marijuana was effectively eliminated by the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937, which was ostensibly designed to prevent non-medical use but made cannabis so difficult to obtain that is was removed from the pharmacopoeia. Sine 1970 the federal government has classified it as a Schedule I drug, with a high potential for abuse, no accepted medical use, and lack of safety for use under medical supervision.
In 1972 the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) entered a petition to transfer marijuana to a Schedule II so that it could be legally7 prescribed. As the proceedings continued, other parties joined NORML, including the Physicians Association for AIDS Care. In 1986 the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) finally acceded to the demand for public hearings required by law. During the hearings many patients and physicians testified and thousands of pages of documentation were introduced. In 1988 the DEA’s Administrative Law Judge, Francis L. Young...