November 5th was the tenth anniversary of the passage of California's medical marijuana initiative, Proposition 215, which was approved by 56% of the voters in 1996. Since then, acceptance and use of cannabis as medicine have advanced in California and worldwide. As CA NORML's Dale Gieringer writes, "While opposition from the federal government has frustrated 215's stated goal of implementing a fully legal, 'safe and affordable' distribution system, a growing network of dispensaries, clinics, and patients groups have made medical marijuana increasingly available to Californians." Gieringer continues, "An ever-growing population of physicians and patients are finding marijuana useful for a wide range of conditions, including chronic pain and spasticity due to injury or disease, nausea and appetite loss from HIV and cancer therapy, migraines, arthritis, post-traumatic stress, and as a harm reduction substitute for more dangerous prescription drugs. Their experiences have been confirmed by a growing body of scientific studies, which have found that marijuana and its constituents may be effective for an ever-widening list of conditions...physicians are now recommending marijuana as medicine to a patient population that is estimated between 200,000 and 350,000. Medical marijuana has come to be legally recognized in eleven states plus Canada and the Netherlands. 80% of Americans support medical marijuana, according to a Time/CNN poll."

"Experience has likewise belied opponents' prediction that Prop. 215 would effectively legalize marijuana. In fact, the number of marijuana arrests in California has scarcely changed since Prop. 215 passed...the number of marijuana prisoners has declined somewhat from its all-time peak of 1,900 in 1997 to 1,400 today, (but) it still remains ten times higher than in the early 1980s.

Gieringer notes that the federal government has opposed Prop. 215 as a violation of federal law: by threatening doctors, and by raiding, arresting, and prosecuting growers and suppliers of medical marijuana and saddling them with federal charges. Although the government has claimed that more FDA studies are needed to determine whether medical marijuana is truly safe and effective, it has blocked such studies and access to marijuana for research purposes... "the threat of federal arrest has made it impossible to establish a legal production and distribution system, forcing producers underground into an unregulated, cash economy."

Gieringer notes the expansion in the types of cannabis products that patients can find at dispensaries, as well as injestion methods. Since the federal government does not recognize dispensaries and other patient services, these businesses are regulated by local governments- particularly notable, he points out, are San Francisco, Oakland and LA County, which "have enacted ordinances to license and regulate dispensaries."

"A more fundamental objection to dispensaries, and to Prop. 215 in general, is that their clientele appears to be increasingly dominated by a population with less than severe illnesses. Critics note that dispensary patrons are more apt to resemble able-bodied young males... In fact, many patients obtain recommendations for relatively minor and everyday complaints, including anxiety, insomnia, lower back pain, depression, PMS, minor injuries, etc. Critics have charged that doctors are abusing Prop 215 by writing recommendations indiscriminately for trivial or unsubstantiated complaints. Yet it is far from obvious what advantage there is in cracking down on legal access to medical marijuana. Gieringer points out that there are some 200 dispensaries and similar services in California, and that "medical cannabis business has soared, to the point where total revenues can be reasonably estimated at half a billion dollars... just a fraction of the state's total marijuana market, which encompasses two million users."

"Ten years later, the shockwave of Prop. 215 is still spreading. It remains to be seen how far it will go before the federal ban on medical marijuana is finally lifted... the dispensaries may well prove to be a stepping stone to a wider regime of legal adult access."

"This November 7th, three California cities: Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz, and Santa Monica - will be voting on initiatives like Oakland's Measure Z, aimed at eliminating penalties against adult use of cannabis." All three initiatives passed. In addition, two states, Nevada and Colorado, had proposals on their ballots to legalize adult marijuana use. Gieringer wrotes, "Ten years after Prop 215, a second marijuana reform shockwave may be in the making." Read Dale Gieringer's Full Essay

California NORML | Info about 2006 Cannabis Initiatives in CA | Continuing Coverage of SF Dispensary Regulations | Oakland's Measure Z website | Measure Z Wins Big