Cannabis Study House - NORML Weekly News in Audio 2007.3.15

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Weekly News in Audio

March 15, 2007

American Academy of Pediatrics Slams Random Student Drug Testing Policies -- Tests are ineffective, not backed by physicians, and may push teens toward the use of dangerous drugs and alcohol

Ninth Circuit: No "Fundamental" Right To Use Pot To Ease Suffering

New Mexico: Legislature Approves Medical Marijuana Bill

Elk Grove, IL:
American Academy of Pediatrics Slams Random Student Drug Testing Policies -- Tests are ineffective, not backed by physicians, and may push teens toward the use of dangerous drugs and alcohol

Federally funded random student drug testing policies are neither safe nor effective and should not be utilized in public middle schools or high schools, according to recommendations by the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Substance Abuse and Council on School Health. The Committee's recommendations appear in the March 2007 issue of the journal Pediatrics.

"Currently, there is little evidence of the effectiveness of school-based drug testing in the scientific literature," the Committee reported. It noted that student athletes forced to submit to random drug testing "experienced an increase in known risk factors for drug use... and poorer attitudes toward school." The Committee also reported that the largest observational study to assess the efficacy of student drug testing "found no association between school-based drug testing and students' report of drug use."

The Committee further determined that:

Standard drug tests do not detect many of the substances most frequently abused by adolescents, including alcohol, ecstasy (MDMA), or inhalants.
Mandatory drug testing may motivate adolescents to switch from using drugs with relatively low morbidity and mortality, such as marijuana, to those that pose greater danger (such as inhalants), but are undetectable by screening tests.
Widespread implementation of drug testing may also inadvertently encourage more students to abuse alcohol, which is associated with a greater number of adolescent deaths than any other illicit drug.
Few physicians support school-based testing of adolescents for drugs; a national survey of physicians found that 83 percent disagreed with drug testing in public schools.
Few schools possess the necessary funds or the expertise to properly implement drug tests or interpret their results correctly.

Since 2005, the US Department of Education has appropriated more than $20 million to public school districts to pay for random drug testing programs.

Pasadena, CA:
Ninth Circuit: No "Fundamental" Right To Use Pot To Ease Suffering

The physician approved use of cannabis to "preserve bodily integrity, avoid intolerable pain, and preserve life" is not a Constitutionally protected right, the Ninth US Circuit Court of Appeals ruled this week.

The ruling rejects an appeal by California patient Angel McClary-Raich, who sought injunctive relief from criminal prosecution for her use of cannabis in accordance with state law. The United States Supreme Court in 2005 ordered the Ninth Circuit, on remand, to address McClary-Raich's arguments that the federal enforcement of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) in California violated her Constitutional liberties.

The Court opined that enforcement of the CSA did not violate plaintiff's substantive due process. "We agree with Raich that medical and conventional wisdom that recognizes the use of marijuana for medical purposes is gaining traction in the law," the Court determined. "But that legal recognition has not yet reached the point where a conclusion can be drawn that the right to use medical marijuana is 'fundamental' and 'implicit in the concept of ordered liberty.'"

The Court also rejected plaintiff's contention that enforcement of the CSA infringes upon the sovereign police powers of the state of California.

Although the Ninth Circuit did determine that McClary-Raich's use of medicinal cannabis would likely qualify her to raise a defense of 'medical necessity' if prosecuted, it ruled that the "necessity defense does not provide a proper basis for injunctive relief."

Santa Fe, NM:
New Mexico: Legislature Approves Medical Marijuana Bill

The New Mexico legislature approved legislation this week that seeks to establish a statewide medicinal cannabis distribution program.

On Tuesday, the House of Representatives approved Senate Bill 523, a substitute bill that is virtually identical to the "Lynn and Erin Compassionate Use Act." House members had narrowly rejected a similar proposal last week.

On Wednesday, the Senate concurred with a minor House floor amendment, sending the bill to the governor for his approval.

As proposed, Senate Bill 523 mandates the state Department of Health by October 1, 2007, to promulgate rules governing the use and distribution of medical cannabis to state-authorized patients. These rules shall address the creation of state-licensed "cannabis production facilities," the development of a confidential patient registry and a state-authorized marijuana distribution system, and "define the amount of cannabis that is necessary to constitute an adequate supply" for qualified patients.

Governor Bill Richardson, who worked closely with the House to persuade members to reconsider the bill, is expected to sign the measure into law. "This bill will provide much-needed relief for New Mexicans suffering from debilitating diseases while including the proper safeguards to prevent abuse," he said. "I am pleased that the legislature did the right thing, reconsidered this important bill and supported a humane option for New Mexicans who endure some of the most painful diseases imaginable."

If approved, New Mexico will become the twelfth state to enact medical marijuana legislation since 1996, though it will be only the fourth to do so legislatively.

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