How To Obtain Medical Marijuana

At the time of this writing, marijuana is still entirely illegal under federal law. As a Schedule 1 drug under the U.S. Controlled Substances Act, it is regarded as having high abuse potential and absolutely no medical use. Thus, its possession, sale, manufacture, transportation, and distribution are all deemed illegal according to federal law.

We are seeing an increasing number of states that have passed laws to permit the medicinal use of marijuana (to date, there are 14 states along with the District of Columbia: Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington). Usually, these laws allow patients to possess and/or cultivate marijuana in small amounts with a doctor’s recommendation.

Virtually all small-scale drug offenses are prosecuted under state law meaning that, in essence, patients in medical marijuana states can use their medicine without the threat of arrest (as long as they follow local regulations). There exceptions to this rule and you could still be charged by federal law enforcement when involved in violations on federal property, at immigration or customs checkpoints, and in federally-sponsored housing and employment.

Despite the fact that it seems logical for the federal government to not deny access to medicine, the Supreme Court has reached a different conclusion. In Gonzalez v. Raich, the Court determined that Congress could prohibit personal possession and cultivation of marijuana (even for patients whose lives depended on it) as part of its assumed powers to regulate interstate commerce. Although the Raich decision was certainly a setback, the federal government has largely stayed away from pursuing individual patients. Instead, it tends to focus its enforcement efforts on high-profile suppliers and dispensaries.

The federal marijuana ban has essentially prevented the establishment of entirely legal commercial producers and distributors of pharmaceutical cannabis. Many states are still hesitant to allow distribution of medicinal cannabis with the federal ban still in play. California has notably disregarded the federal ban by allowing the establishment of medical cannabis dispensaries and “buyers’ clubs” in many localities. Even though the federal government has raided and prosecuted dispensaries and their proprietors, the number of dispensaries in California has grown from a handful in 1996 to over 400 by 2009. A few dispensaries have also started showing up in places like Colorado, Washington and Canada. New Mexico, which legalized medical marijuana relatively recently, is in the process of developing regulations for producers—an act that could conceivably lead to either a state- or private-run medical marijuana distribution system.

Prescription availability through licensed pharmacies is still entirely prohibited seeing as how pharmacies come under the extensive federal jurisdictions of the FDA and DEA’s drug regulations. Because of this, patients in the United States are forced to rely on home cultivation or other channels to obtain their medicine.