California and Cannabis

Dr. Drew discusses the California Medical Association’s (CMA) new social policy recommendations to reschedule medical cannabis and regulate marijuana for recreational use. Dr. Donald Lyman, Chair of the California Medical Association, says these recommendations were made because doctors are now becoming the gatekeepers for access to cannabis, but there is no gate, no regulatory structure. He claims that the rescheduling of marijuana may provide this much-needed structure in states, such as California, where doctors are allowed to recommend marijuana for so-called medicinal use. Dr. Kevin Sabet, Former Sr. Advisor to President Obama’s Drug Czar, points out that rescheduling marijuana will not give doctors this structure. It is the new developments in cannabis research that will provide more insight into proper dosage and side effect warnings for this drug – research that is conducted through a rigorous scientific process – not popular vote.