To some, marijuana is dope, to others, it is medicine. And of course, to many, medicine can be pretty good dope. Whatever the case, the Oregon Board of Pharmacy recently voted 4 -1 to re-categorized marijuana from a straight up recreational drug to one with pharmaceutical value.
Thirteen other states have made this reclassification, but none in years, according to a June 16 press release from Americans for Safe Access. Most states defer to the federal designation, ASA says, which ranks marijuana as a Schedule I substance — in other words, dope. While Oregon is already a medical marijuana state, the ASA says these kinds of official classification changes help push the federal government to come into the 21st Century with regard to its view of pot.
The Obama Administration has already directed federal law enforcement to relax on its rousting of medical marijuana practitioners, but the ASA is campaigning for more meaningful and permanent changes from the President. The California State Assembly Committee on Health recently passed a resolution urging Obama to do just that. The measure appeals to the feds to create a medical marijuana policy that not only reflects the growing view of pot as medicine, but ensures patients’ ability to get it safely if they would “benefit from it.”