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Resolution Adopted by the CCAR
RESOLUTION OF THE MEDICAL USE OF MARIJUANA
Adopted by the Board of Trustees
June, 2001

Background

The use of marijuana as medicine goes back at least 5,000 years, to ancient China and India, where the plant was used as an antiseptic and analgesic. Today, however, the Controlled Substances Act of 1970 defines marijuana as a Schedule I drug - a prohibited substance - having no medical use and high potential for abuse. (Schedule II drugs, in contrast, have restricted access as highly controlled medications that are prescribed in writing in triplicate using the physician's assigned number. Moreover, Schedule II medications are for use in pain management for a limited period of time in limited quantity.)

Maimonides taught that "It is obligatory from the Torah for the physician to heal the sick" (Maimonides' commentary on Mishnah Nedarim 4:4). Anecdotally based reports and preliminary research on the medical use of marijuana have indicated that it provides relief from symptoms, conditions and treatment side effects of several serious illnesses. These include glaucoma, the wasting syndrome associated with AIDS, nausea associated with cancer chemotherapy, and muscle spasms that often accompany multiple sclerosis and chronic pain. Thus far, scientific studies regarding the efficacy and safety of marijuana use for therapeutic purposes have been inconclusive. The teachings of our faith impel us to seek out ways to heal the sick, including exploring ways to manage pain.

In recent years the development and implementation of pain management have changed dramatically and for the better. More than 30 states have approved legislation providing for the controlled but legal medicinal use of marijuana. Federal law supercedes state law in this area, however, and prevents both implementation of these states' mandates and further research on its therapeutic properties. Because marijuana is not legally available, patients must resort to the black market to obtain relief and are thus subject to arrest and incarceration.

At this time the medical use of marijuana is not approved in any country of the world. Health Canada, the Canadian federal health agency, has proposed a research plan for the medical use of marijuana and anticipates that its research activities will inform the debate on the use of marijuana as a legitimate, alternative therapeutic option and the development of appropriate regulatory mechanisms. Moreover, in January 1997, the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy asked the Institute of Medicine to assess the potential health benefits and risks of marijuana and its cannabinoid compounds (the primary psychoactive ingredients). The Institute of Medicine's report, released in March 1999, recommends continued research into physiological effects of marijuana's constituent cannabinoids and their potential therapeutic value for pain relief, including closely monitored clinical trials of smoked marijuana. The Institute of Medicine's report also recommends short term use (less than 6 months) of marijuana for patients with debilitating symptoms for whom all approved medications have failed and relief of symptoms could be reasonably expected, with treatment administered under medical supervision and the guidance of an institutional review board.

THEREFORE, the Central Conference of American Rabbis resolves to follow the lead of the
Women of Reform Judaism in calling upon our member rabbis to:

1. Become better informed about the medicinal use of marijuana and its constituent compounds;

2. Urge elected officials to support legislation to reclassify marijuana as a prescribed controlled substance so that it can be used to conduct research and prescribed for critically ill patients with intractable pain and other conditions; and

3. Call for further medical research on marijuana and its constituent compounds.