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Newsbrief:
American
Nurses
Association
Endorses
Access
to
Medical
Marijuana
7/3/03
Nine years of work by Patients
Out of Time (http://www.medicalcannabis.com),
a nonprofit organization devoted to the medical marijuana issue, paid off
last week when the American Nurses Association (ANA) adopted a resolution
calling for safe access to medical marijuana for patients under appropriate
doctor's supervision. The ANA now joins dozens of other health professional
organizations, including the National Society of Nurses on Addiction and
the American Public Health Association, in calling for eased access to
medical marijuana.
Efforts to get the ANA to
adopt such a position began in 1994, when Patients Out of Time president
Mary Lynn Mathre, RN, MSN, CARN, began meeting with leaders of the Virginia
Nurses Association to discuss the scientific merits of therapeutic cannabis.
Expanding beyond Mathre's home state, Patients Out of Time managed to convince
state nursing associations in 11 states to adopt positions supporting medical
marijuana. In 1995, the New York State Nurses Association signed
on and asked the ANA to adopt the Virginia policy. The ANA declined
that year, but this year the New York nurses again submitted a medical
marijuana resolution, and this time it passed.
It passed after Mathre addressed
the ANA convention in Washington, DC. "Nurses provide direct care
to patients and we are above all else patient advocates," Mathre said.
"This resolution is not a policy change that is in any form a departure
from our professional goals and ethics. This resolution in fact validates
our commitment to the patient and our communal commitment to providing
the most appropriate care."
The measure overwhelmingly
adopted by the nurses resolves that the ANA will:
-
Support research in controlled
investigational trials on the therapeutic efficacy of marijuana/cannabis,
including alternative methods of administration.
-
Support the right of patients
to have safe access to therapeutic marijuana/cannabis under appropriate
prescriber supervision.
-
Support the ability of health
care providers to discuss and/or recommend the medicinal use of marijuana
without the threat of intimidation or penalization.
-
Support legislation to remove
criminal penalties including arrest and imprisonment for bona fide patients
and prescribers of therapeutic marijuana/cannabis.
-
Support federal and state legislation
to exclude marijuana/ cannabis from classification as a Schedule I drug.
-
Support and encourage the education
of registered nurses regarding current, evidence-based therapeutic use
of marijuana/ cannabis.
-- END --
|
Issue #294, 7/3/03
Editorial: Not Just in Texas |
US Appeals Court Kills DEA Interpretive Rule Banning Hemp Foods, But More Battles Remain |
British Cannabis Reform Delayed, Revised to Allow Arrests After Cops Complain |
Canada Approves Safe Injection Site for Vancouver |
Newsbrief: US Suspends Military Aid to Colombia, Others in International Criminal Court Scrap |
Newsbrief: Colombian Court Orders Fumigation Halt -- US, Colombia Say No Way |
Newsbrief: "No Legalization," Says Mexico Anti-Drug Official |
Newsbrief: Another Pain Doc in the Drug War's Sights |
Newsbrief: American Nurses Association Endorses Access to Medical Marijuana |
Newsbrief: Connecticut Lawmakers Call for Sentencing Reform |
Newsbrief: Delaware Cuts Sentences for Some Drug Crimes |
Newsbrief: Poll Finds California Latinos Oppose Jailing Low-Level Drug Offenders |
Bill Maher Benefit Event Monday Night, 7/7, Los Angeles |
The Reformer's Calendar
|
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