Welcome to the launch of our podcast series #MintCasts. I’m Mnar Muhawesh, editor in chief of Mint Press News and I’ll be your host. Thanks again for joining today’s conversation where we will be discussing the legal complexities of medical marijuana legalization across the United States.
Joining us today on our panel is Kris Hermes; communications director Americans for Safe Access; Morgan Fox, Communications Director for the Marijuana Policy Project; Amber Lyon, Emmy award winning journalist and founder of Reset.me, a natural medicines news website; and our very own Mint Press war-on-drugs correspondent Katie Rucke, who has covered the battle for medical marijuana legalization extensively.
Here, we’ll be tackling a subject that for so long was considered taboo and a subject matter that became victim to a very nasty lobby and smear campaign that painted marijuana as hazardous to ones health, and even went so far as to categorize it at the same level as heroin. But, we are learning today that this is absolutely not the case– and public opinion is shifting dramatically and state laws are changing.
Since state laws are changing, we’re not having a conversation about whether we should legalize medical marijuana because that has actually passed; we are here to discuss the legal complexities of legalization.
One of the biggest questions we will be tackling in this video-podcast is will it take all 50 states to legalize medical marijuana before the federal government would, as the federal government still classifies medical marijuana as a schedule one drug along with heroin.
Below are questions Mnar Muhawesh asked the panelists. Answers can be found in the video podcast linked above.
Mnar: I’d like to dive right in and talk about the basics and learn more about the current status of medical marijuana legalization in the US?
a. How is medical marijuana classified by the federal government? (schedule 1 drug: highly addictive and harmful; same as heroin and pcp)
b. Do you see a point where all 50 states would have to legalize medical marijuana before the Federal government would?
c. Why was marijuana made illegal in the first place?
d. Can you talk about the concerted effort to demonize marijuana and it’s benefits? (reefer madness, propaganda)
2. Can we talk about the federal marijuana program, where the government uses tax payer money to provide about 300 joints a month to four different individuals?
a. How did this program start? and who are these recipients?
b. Did the Federal government study these people and determine that medical marijuana doesn’t have medicinal value?
c. Is the federal government hypocritical then?
3. Correct me if I’m wrong but every state that has legalized medical marijuana has different medical conditions that qualify enrollment in the state’s program.
a. Should condition qualifications be determined by the state or should it be a determination based on a patient doctor conversation?
b. (7.7 million people suffering from PTSD) PTSD for example qualifies for the enrollment in some states, but not all, how does this work?
4. Going off of various conditions, pediatric use and the mommy lobby have pushed states for CBD only legislation.
a. Is this dangerous?
b. If THC is the psychoactive ingredient in Marijuana, is there a medicinal value to THC?
c. What kind of conditions may require a higher dosage of THC? (ex: anorexia)
5. In a state where medical marijuana is legal, are employees protected from positive drug tests?
a. Katie : What about federal arrests of medical marijuana patients?
b. Amber: How much clout do medical marijuana cards have in employment cases?
6. Given everything we’ve just talked about, when do you think medical marijuana be legalized federally?
Follow us on Twitter!
Mnar Muhawesh: @mnarmuh
Katie Rucke: @katierucke
Kris Hermes: @safeaccess
Morgan Fox: @MarijuanaPolicy
Amber Lyon: @amberlyon
We realize the quality of the video is low, we are working on improving that for future broadcasts.
Thanks for watching and listening!