Patients, physicians lobby for federal medical marijuana bill 

Patients and their physicians lobbied Congress in late March, pressing for a vote on legislation aimed at removing marijuana from the list of Schedule I drugs, which are defined as having no medical use and a high potential for abuse.

Twenty-three states have legalized medical marijuana and four states allow recreational use of marijuana. However, marijuana remains illegal under federal law, creating complications in the states that have legalized use and erecting barriers to reform in other states, such as Wisconsin.

A bipartisan group in Congress is advocating passage of the Compassionate Access, Research, Expansion and Respect States Act.

Citizens who lobbied for the measure on March 22 included medical marijuana patients, academics, pot advocates and physicians.

At a news conference, they heard from U.S. Del. Eleanor Holmes-Norton, a Democrat from the District of Columbia. “If marijuana is a gateway drug, then virtually every college student is on her way to heroin or worse,” she said. “The Congress of the United States keeps us from moving ahead on understanding medical marijuana, what are its values, its true benefits.”

Democratic Rep. Steve Cohen of Tennessee, a sponsor of the CARERS Act, added, “Republicans and Democrats agree: federal law on medical marijuana is outdated, out of touch and needs to change. … Keeping marijuana on Schedule I, which is a category for drugs with no medical use, is ludicrous. Ailing patients deserve compassion, not prosecution, especially when they live in states that have legalized medical marijuana.”