scholarly journals Interpretation of California's Marijuana Regulations after Proposition 64 and Pharmacy Practice Roles in Medical Marijuana Dispensing against Federal Enforcement Risks

2018 ◽  
Vol 65 (1) ◽  
pp. 14-21
Author(s):  
Ettie Rosenberg
Keyword(s):  
Pharmacy Practice ◽  
Medical Marijuana ◽  
Medical Cannabis ◽  
Political Climate ◽  
Compassionate Use ◽  
Regulatory Oversight ◽  
Regulatory Scheme ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
Recreational Marijuana ◽  
Voter Initiative

California was the first state in the union to pass medical marijuana legislation with Proposition 215, the voter enacted California Compassionate Use Act (CCUA, 1996), though regulatory oversight for the medical marijuana industry was negligible over the next 20 years. In 2015, California legislators passed the Medical Marijuana Regulation and Safety Act (MMRSA), providing a new and comprehensive regulatory framework for medical marijuana, subsequently renaming it the Medical Cannabis Regulation and Safety Act (MCRSA), with a planned implementation of January 1, 2018. In 2016, California's marijuana landscape dramatically changed with the Adult Use of Marijuana Act (AUMA), also known as Proposition 64 (“Prop 64”), a voter initiative successful in legalizing recreational marijuana, where many prior similar initiatives had failed. In 2017, California lawmakers merged the two Acts (MCRSA and AUMA) into the Medical and Adult Use of Cannabis Regulation and Safety Act, (MAUCRSA), known as Senate Bill 94 (SB 94), which passed overwhelmingly and created a single comprehensive marijuana regulatory scheme for California by integrating the 2015 recreational marijuana law with the state's longstanding medical marijuana program, also effective in January 2018. Given the current national marijuana landscape and political climate, California's novel unified model for regulating and taxing marijuana will likely influence how other states proceed to regulate and tax the emerging legal marijuana industry, which has an estimated value of $7 billion. Part One of this article provides an overview of the soon to be effective “harmonized” regulatory scheme for California's medicinal and recreational marijuana industries, touching on its potential to influence other states. Part Two surveys the changed national marijuana landscape within which three states have already implemented a role for pharmacists in medical marijuana dispensing, despite that under the federal Controlled Substances Act, as a Schedule I substance, marijuana remains illegal for any purpose. The recent developments have not surprisingly triggered questions about a pharmacist's liability vis a vis marijuana dispensing and federal enforcement risks. Part Two also attempts to answer those questions through an informative discussion of the national marijuana landscape, the current political climate, and their respective influences on federal marijuana policy and enforcement.

Structural foundations, triggering events, and facilitative contingency : the social origins of California’s Compassionate Use Act of 1996

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
David W. Criger
Keyword(s):  
Medical Marijuana ◽  
State Level ◽  
War On Drugs ◽  
The United States ◽  
Medical Cannabis ◽  
Compassionate Use ◽  
Social Origins ◽  
Therapeutic Benefits ◽  
The Social ◽  
Triggering Events

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST.] Currently in the United States there is a nationwide legislative movement to legalize marijuana for persons with certain diagnosable diseases. Despite representing a dramatic departure from the war on drugs approach which characterized 20th century American marijuana policy, the development of state-level medical cannabis laws has largely been ignored by criminologists and critical legal scholars. This dissertation aims to address this gap in the literature by examining the social origins of California’s Compassionate Use Act of 1996. California was the first state in the nation to legalize the medical use of marijuana when voters in that state approved Proposition 215 with 56% support. Using Galliher’s (2012) framework for understanding the structural foundations and triggering events associated with law formation, I constructed a dataset containing newspaper articles, voter pamphlets, legislative records, press releases and various secondary resources such as interview recordings and activist biographies. I ultimately argue that the categorial criteria used by the federal government to classify marijuana as a Schedule I narcotic under the Controlled Substances Act provided medical reform activists with the latitude necessary to challenge marijuana’s criminal status. The data suggests that the AIDS crisis during the late 1980s brought widespread attention to the potential therapeutic benefits of medical marijuana. Poorly timed police drug raids, an increasingly unpopular war on drugs, and San Francisco’s political legacy as a wide-open town helped to create a context where medical marijuana reform could find electoral success.

Taxing Disability: A Critical Look into the Medical Cannabis Regime under the New Cannabis Act, 2018

2021 ◽  
Vol 55 (2) ◽  
pp. 436-457
Author(s):  
Rachel Rohr
Keyword(s):  
Medical Marijuana ◽  
People With Disabilities ◽  
Sales Tax ◽  
Medical Cannabis ◽  
Access To Medicine ◽  
Excise Tax ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
Medical Regime ◽  
Taxation Scheme

Medical marijuana users represent many people with disabilities in Canada. Recent legislative attempts have allowed people with disabilities to access cannabis as medicine, however the landscape is ever changing. The Cannabis Act was recently introduced, legalizing marijuana for all; however, people with disabilities have not been accounted for when it comes to the issue of access to medicine. Those who rely on cannabis as medicine and those who enjoy it recreationally are now part of the same system, for better or worse. The new medical marijuana regime, under the new Cannabis Act, boasts a “two-stream” process, and it claims that it will be maintaining and improving the old medical regime alongside the new recreational regime. The applicable taxes tell a different story. Medical marijuana has always been subject to sales tax despite being effectively prescribed by doctors to manage and treat many disabilities and illnesses. Now, with the enactment of the Cannabis Act, medical marijuana is subject to an excise tax too—colloquially known as the “sin tax.” Recreational and medical marijuana are subject to the same taxation scheme, making any notion of a “two-stream” process nonsensical and blatantly unfair. The purpose of this article is to provide insight into the varying faults concerning the medical marijuana regime in Canada, with specific emphasis on the issue of taxation. In the simplest terms, taxing medical marijuana is taxing medicine and effectively taxing people with disabilities. Broken down into five parts, this article discusses the underlying reasons for the taxes surrounding medical marijuana, provides a case study of the most important tax case for medical marijuana users, scrutinizes the lack of recognition of medical marijuana as a proper prescription, outlines the ways to improve legislation, and, finally, explores a potential Charter challenge that can be effectively brought against this taxation.

Are medical marijuana users different than recreational marijuana users?

2015 ◽  
Vol 156 ◽  
pp. e141 ◽  
Author(s):  
Silvia S. Martins ◽  
Julian Santaella ◽  
Lauren R. Pacek ◽  
Katherine Keyes ◽  
Magdalena Cerda ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Medical Marijuana ◽  
Recreational Marijuana

scholarly journals STUDY ON THE LEVEL OF KNOWLEDGE ABOUT MEDICAL MARIJUANA AMONG MEDICAL STUDENTS

2020 ◽  
Vol 73 (4) ◽  
pp. 648-656
Author(s):  
Arkadiusz Bielski ◽  
Aleksandra Hus ◽  
Anna Sadowska ◽  
Dariusz Kosson
Keyword(s):  
Medical Students ◽  
Medical Marijuana ◽  
Study Groups ◽  
Medical Emergency ◽  
Medical Cannabis ◽  
Significance Level ◽  
Anova Test ◽  
Level Of Knowledge ◽  
Composition Properties ◽  
Education Of Students

Introduction: Medical marijuana is used in many diseases. There are not many studies on society’s knowledge about use of medical cannabis. This study aimed to check the level of knowledge about aspects of medical cannabis among students of medical and medical emergency degree courses. Authors emphasize the need of knowledge about law regulations, composition, properties or contraindications of medical cannabis among students of medical universities, as they are fundamental resource of information for patients and any other person who is not included in medical world. Material and methods: An original questionnaire containing 29 questions was created. There were 311 randomly selected students from medicine (N=52), nursing (N=117), midwifery (N=66), paramedicine (N=54) and dietetics (N=22). Results of the study were evaluated with help of statistical test ANOVA and student t-test. The Bioethical Committee at the Medical University of Warsaw took note of the information about the study and issued a statement with reference number AKBE/35/2020. Results: The correctness of answers among students was on the average level of 24.06%. In the survey, the highest percentage of correct answers was characteristic for medical students, achieving about 35.0% effectiveness, then medical emergency students answered correctly in 26.9%, nursing – 23.7%, obstetrics – 21.5%, dietetics – 13.2%. Among all groups, the answer was “I don’t know”: medical students – 44.0% of all answers, emergency medical services – 53.2%, nursing – 56.2% obstetrics – 62.4%, dietetics – 73.9%. The value of correct answers was assessed as statically valid in the ANOVA test; at the significance level p = 0.05 (F-ratio: 11.32004; p = 0.0001). In the t-student test,it was proved that the ANOVA test result relates to the variance of responses between all study groups except dietetics. Conclusions: The level of knowledge of medical students is insufficient to inform patients about possibility of using medical marijuana in their diseases. The low level of knowledge is conditioned by little time at the university devoted to medical marijuana. Education of students about medical marijuana should be increased.

scholarly journals Defining “the marijuana problem”: An Analysis of the Polish daily press, 2015–2016

2020 ◽  
pp. 145507252093680
Author(s):  
Piotr Kępski
Keyword(s):  
Social Constructionism ◽  
Social Problems ◽  
Social Process ◽  
Medical Marijuana ◽  
Pop Culture ◽  
Theoretical Background ◽  
Daily Press ◽  
Medical Discourses ◽  
Recreational Marijuana ◽  
The Media

Aim: This study analyses discourses on marijuana in the Polish daily press and explores ways of defining “the marijuana problem” during a debate about legalisation of medical marijuana. Methods: 384 press articles published in three national newspapers in 2015–2016 were analysed. The method used was discourse analysis. The theoretical background was social constructionism, including Spector and Kitsuse’s four-stage constructionist model of defining social problems. Results: The study shows that marijuana problems were mainly constructed through criminal and politically medical discourses. In addition to celebrity and pop culture discourses, recreational marijuana use discourses and social problems discourses were identified. Discussion: The marijuana problem can be defined differently through various discourses. Definitions pertain to diverse marijuana meanings ranging from a negative marijuana-as-drug, through an ambivalent recreational marijuana up to a positively valued medical marijuana. The research pointed out that, from a discursive standpoint, the marijuana problem may be viewed as a complex network of relations between particular discourses, marijuana meanings, claim-makers and the media. Conclusion: Different definitions of the marijuana problem are constructed through a dynamic discursive and social process. Various claim-makers try to impose their meanings on marijuana. Mass media are not neutral. They also participate in defining the marijuana problem.

FEATURES

2019 ◽  
Vol 23 (02) ◽  
pp. 20-36
Keyword(s):  
Medical Marijuana ◽  
Just In Time ◽  
Medical Cannabis

Just in time for the New Year: Medical marijuana. The medical cannabis landscape. Cannabis: From seed to product. Patient misconceptions about opioids.

scholarly journals Demographic and policy-based differences in behaviors and attitudes towards driving after marijuana use: an analysis of the 2013–2017 Traffic Safety Culture Index

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marco H. Benedetti ◽  
Li Li ◽  
Lucas M. Neuroth ◽  
Kayleigh D. Humphries ◽  
Ashley Brooks-Russell ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Safety Culture ◽  
Traffic Safety ◽  
Medical Marijuana ◽  
Marijuana Use ◽  
The United States ◽  
Demographic Differences ◽  
Annual Survey ◽  
Recreational Marijuana ◽  
Lower Education ◽  
Per Se

Abstract Objective Marijuana policies in the United States have become more permissive, motivating research on demographic and policy-based differences in behaviors and attitudes towards driving after marijuana use. The Traffic Safety Culture Index is an annual survey with national scope and multiple measures relevant to driving after marijuana use. We tabulated responses to questions about driving after marijuana use from the Traffic Safety Culture Index based on demographic factors, recreational and medical marijuana policies, and per-se marijuana laws. Results Male, younger, lower-income, and lower-education respondents self-reported driving after marijuana use more than their demographic counterparts, more often reported such behavior to be personally acceptable, and exhibited lower support per-se laws. Drivers in states that legalized medical marijuana self-reported driving after marijuana use slightly more than drivers in states where both medical and recreational were illegal. Support for per-se laws was higher among those in states that legalized recreational marijuana and in states with per-se laws. Demographic differences in our outcomes were consistent and cohesive. On the other hand, we found no predominant pattern suggesting that those in states with liberal marijuana policies were more tolerant of driving after marijuana use.

scholarly journals Characteristics of Older Adults Who Were Early Adopters of Medical Cannabis in the Florida Medical Marijuana Use Registry

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 1166 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua D. Brown ◽  
Brianna Costales ◽  
Sascha van Boemmel-Wegmann ◽  
Amie J. Goodin ◽  
Richard Segal ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Adult Population ◽  
Medical Marijuana ◽  
Marijuana Use ◽  
The United States ◽  
Medical Cannabis ◽  
Early Adopters ◽  
Treatment Plans ◽  
Medical Marijuana Use

Use of medical marijuana is increasing in the United States and older adults are the fastest growing user group. There is little information about the characteristics and outcomes related to medical marijuana use. This study is a descriptive analysis of older adults (aged ≥50 years old) who were early adopters of a medical marijuana program in the U.S. state of Florida. Per state legislation, initial and follow-up treatment plans were submitted to the University of Florida College of Pharmacy. Data collection included demographics, clinical history, medical conditions, substance use history, prescription history, and health status. Follow-up treatment plans noted changes in the chief complaint and actions taken since the initial visit. Of the state’s 7548 registered users between August 2016 and July 2017, N = 4447 (58.9%) were older adults. Patients utilized cannabidiol (CBD)-only preparations (45%), preparations that had both tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and CBD (33.3%) or were recorded to use both CBD-only and THC + CBD products (21.7%). The chief complaints indicating medical cannabis treatment were musculoskeletal disorders and spasms (48.4%) and chronic pain (45.4%). Among other prescription medications, patients utilized antidepressants (23.8%), anxiolytics and benzodiazepines (23.5%), opioids (28.6%), and cardiovascular agents (27.9%). Among all drug classes with potential sedating effects, 44.8% of the cohort were exposed to at least one. Patients with follow-up visits (27.5%) exhibited marked improvement as assessed by the authorizing physicians. However, the patient registry lacked detailed records and linkable information to other data resources to achieve complete follow up in order to assess safety or efficacy. Future improvements to registries are needed to more adequately capture patient information to fill knowledge gaps related to the safety and effectiveness of medical marijuana, particularly in the older adult population.

A Social Identity Perspective on the Legalization of Marijuana in the United States

2017 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 206-217 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephanie Geiger-Oneto ◽  
Travis Simkins
Keyword(s):  
Social Identity ◽  
Social Identity Theory ◽  
Legal Status ◽  
Identity Theory ◽  
Medical Marijuana ◽  
The United States ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Recreational Marijuana ◽  
Group Members ◽  
Medical Marijuana Use

Using Social Identity Theory, this article explores the process by which a stigmatized consumption practice, namely recreational and medical marijuana use, has been gaining regulatory and normative legitimacy. An online panel (N=432) was surveyed about motivations to support the transition of a market from illegal to legal status from people who do not intend to directly participate in it. Consistent with Social Identity Theory, results indicated that that: (1) marijuana users reported a higher level of support for the legalization of medical and recreational marijuana than non-users; (2) status insecurity enhanced the level of support for legalizing medical marijuana among in-group members and decreased the level of support for out-group members (those not identifying with marijuana users). In addition, results suggested that non-users may engage in legitimation practices to benefit their communities rather than promoting individual level benefits. Overall, the present research provides a link between the micro level motivational processes of group members to support/oppose the transition of an illegal market to one with regulatory legitimacy.

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