Introduction
I am an American citizen living in the state of Minnesota. I fully understand that my duty as a responsible citizen is to vote. That is why I made sure I was a registered voter. Professionally, I am an experienced medical surgeon, having worked for six years in the surgical field. I have also gained four years of experience as an R.N. As a citizen of Minnesota, I am for the decriminalization of marijuana.
S.2227
S. 2227 is a bill to legalize and de-schedule cannabis, reinvest in individuals harmed by the War on Drugs, allow for the expungement of some cannabis offenses, and other reasons. The Marijuana Opportunity, Reinvestment, and Expungement (MORE) Act was the first comprehensive legislation to reach the House of Representatives by a vote of 228-164 in the 116th Congress (Lakey & Whiteside, 2020). The MORE Act was recently passed through the House Judiciary Committee by a vote of 26-15 in September 2021. While this is undoubtedly welcome news, the bill has alluded to eight more commissions of jurisdiction and will face a more conservative chamber than the last discussion for the whole passage.
Minnesota Cannabis Laws
The Marijuana Tax Act of 1937 (P.L. 75-238) effectively outlawed marijuana by imposing stringent regulations on all sales. All states enacted marijuana possession laws soon after this Act was passed. Laws of Minnesota, chap. 405, for example. Marijuana was categorized as a Schedule I drug, the most stringent of the five schedules, when the United States Congress passed the Controlled Substances Act in 1970 (P.L. 91-513).
Minnesota initially prohibited patients with medication from smoking marijuana leaves. Instead, only pills, oils, or vaporizing a cannabis compound with a similar device to an e-cigarette were permitted under Laws of Minnesota 2021, chap. 30, art. 3, sec. 29 and Minn. Stat. 152.22, sub. 6, the Legislature expanded the law in 2021 to allow medical cannabis patients to smoke “dried raw cannabis.”
Following the enactment of the medical cannabis bill, the Minnesota Department of Health created the Office of Medical Cannabis, tasked with enforcing the law. In the early fall of 2014, the office started soliciting proposals from medical cannabis manufacturers. The 2014 law defined the qualification requirements for participation in the medical cannabis program, charged the Medical Cannabis Intractable Pain Advisory Panel with determining whether “intractable pain” should be introduced as an additional qualifying condition, and stated that other qualifying conditions could be added to the future if approved by the commissioner of health (Jean-Jacques, 2021). The Minnesota Department of Health established the Office of Medical Cannabis after the passage of the medical cannabis bill, and the office was tasked with implementing the law.
Use of Medical Marijuana
Medical marijuana is most commonly used in the United States to treat pain. While marijuana is not strong enough to treat severe pain, it is very effective for chronic pain, affecting millions of Americans, particularly as they age. Part of its appeal is that it is safer than opiates and can replace NSAIDs like Advil or Aleve if people cannot take them due to kidney, ulcer, or GERD problems. Marijuana, in particular, appears to relieve the discomfort of multiple sclerosis and nerve pain in general. Medical marijuana is also known as medical cannabis. The best known are delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD). THC is the primary ingredient in marijuana that makes people “high.” However, cannabidiol (CBD) is considered to have medicinal effects capable of treating some diseases.
Pros and Cons of Recreational Marijuana
Proponents of recreational marijuana say it will boost the economy by billions of dollars, create hundreds of thousands of jobs, open up scarce law enforcement resources, and end the substantial racial differences in marijuana laws. They argue that by enacting requirements for testing, labeling, and child-proof packaging, marijuana regulation will reduce street crime, take business away from drug cartels, and make marijuana use safer.
Champions of decriminalization say that by enacting requirements for testing, labeling, and child-proof packaging, marijuana regulation will reduce street crime, take business away from drug cartels, and make marijuana use safer (Zellers et al., 2022). Opponents of recreational marijuana legalization argue that it will boost teen use and result in more medical emergencies, including traffic deaths caused by impaired driving.
Pros and Cons of Marijuana Legalization
Marijuana legalization boosts the economy through local and international sales of the product. The marijuana industry (adult use and medical) in the United States could exceed $24 billion in revenue by 2025 (Zellers, 2022). Legalizing marijuana results in decreased teen marijuana use, and traffic deaths and arrests for DUIs do not increase and may decrease when marijuana is legalized. However, Marijuana legalization affects not only the user but the community, too. The societal cost due to the legalization of marijuana could include increased emergency room payments, medical care, and addiction treatment. Legalizing marijuana puts the community to its harmful effects that outdo its medicinal theory.
Nursing Organization’s Stance
According to the American Nurses Association (ANA), Marijuana and its derivative products are still used to treat disease symptoms and side effects. The goal is to create a scientific proof approach to its use in disease treatment and symptom management. WADA and USADA, for example, should upgrade their policies to reflect current science, according to the ACNA (Perlman et al.,2021). Cannabinoids are productive in managing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which can develop after witnessing a traumatic event. In May 2020, the ACNA issued a resolution on PTSD, urging the nation’s governing bodies to recognize the importance of enacting bills that recognize PTSD for medical cannabis in all states. Both ANA and ACNA agree that marijuana has many health benefits and that its legalization for medicinal purposes would better people’s lives worldwide.
The American Nurses Association (ANA) is the leading organization representing the 4 million registered nurses in the United States. The ANA is at the frontline of efforts to enhance the quality of healthcare coverage for all. The ANA, founded in 1896 and with participants in all 50 states and territories, is the profession’s most powerful advocate. Since 1896, the ANA has been the voice of its members and their needs. In an era of dramatic healthcare reform, the ANA is protecting the needs of patients and nurses while arguing that nursing expertise is essential for creating policy initiatives. The American Nurses Association has reaffirmed its long-standing Principles for Health System Transformation.
Stakeholders
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently declared opioid use and death an epidemic. At this time, treating this disease effectively with medication necessitates skill and time that most primary care doctors do not have in their practice models. Subpar treatment likely contributed to the spread of the epidemic and raised concerns about unethical practices. At about the same time, the availability of competent therapy is severely limited due to a scarcity of physicians inclined and ready to provide it. ASAM must regulate Medical Marijuana.
Standpoint on S. 2227
The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) is a national political entity that “supports the abolition of all criminal penalties for adults’ private possession and responsible use of marijuana, including personal cultivation and casual nonprofit transfers of small amounts.” The MORE Act would declassify marijuana from Schedule 1 status under the Controlled Substances Act. Plants containing more than 0.3% THC, the stimulant endocannabinoid responsible for “highs,” are currently classified as Schedule 1 drugs, which means the government considers them dangerous and without medical value. The MORE Act also aims to bring transitional justice to minority communities. The MORE Act would accomplish this partly by enacting expungements, or the erasure of criminal records, for people charged with minor marijuana-related offenses.
Conclusion
Marijuana sales in the State of Colorado have been higher than expected in recent years, resulting in increased tax revenues. Washington obtained $559.5 million in legal marijuana revenue in 2021, more than $85 million more than in 2020. In the meantime, Colorado accumulated $423 million in marijuana tax revenue in 2021, an increase of nearly 10% over the previous year (Congressional Research Service, 2019).
References
Congressional Research Service. (2019). Text – H.R.3884 – 116th Congress (2019-2020): Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act of 2019. Congress. Web.
Jean-Jacques, J., Cook, R., Winterstein, A. G., Goodin, A., Brown, J. D., Jugl, S., & Wang, Y. (2021). Priorities for medical marijuana research from the perspective of physicians, dispensary owners/staff, and patients: a survey study. Medical Cannabis and Cannabinoids, 4(2), 107-113.
Lakey, V., & Whiteside, S. (2020). Policy Analysis Part 3: A Change to the MORE Act of 2019.
Perlman, A. I., McLeod, H. M., Ventresca, E. C., Salinas, M. G., Post, P. J., & Schuh, M. J. (2021). Medical cannabis state and federal regulations: implications for United States health care entities. In Mayo Clinic Proceedings (Vol. 96, No. 10, pp. 2671-2681). Elsevier.
Zellers, S. M., Ross, J. M., Saunders, G. R. B., Ellingson, J. M., Anderson, J. E., Corley, R. P., Iacono, W., Hewitt, J. K., Hopfer, C. J., McGue, M. K., & Vrieze, S. (2022). Impacts of recreational cannabis legalization on cannabis use: a longitudinal discordant twin study. Addiction. Web.