AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION HOUSE OF DELEGATES

Resolution: 229

(A-09)

Introduced by: New York Delegation

Subject: Medical Marijuana

Referred to: Reference Committee B

(Monica C. Wehby, MD, Chair)

Whereas, The New York State legislature has recently introduced a bill, not yet passed, which

would legalize the medical use of marijuana; and

Whereas, The Medical Society of the State of New York (MSSNY) has established a position

with regard to the issue (see below); and

Whereas, The MSSNY Committee on Addiction and Psychiatric Medicine has significant

concerns wherein the current Presidential Administration has stated that it will not prosecute

physicians for prescribing medical marijuana if state law allows them to do so and if they are

following state law, but has not made clear if this is simply a decision not to prosecute or a

reversal of a still existing Executive Order that forbade prescribing or recommending medical

marijuana; and

Whereas, The MSSNY Committee on Addiction and Psychiatric Medicine has also significant

concerns regarding flaws in the laws, regulation, policy and practice in fact regarding marijuana

use for medical purposes enacted or proposed in state laws elsewhere; therefore be it

RESOLVED, That our American Medical Association offer assistance in seeking clear,

indisputable confirmation from the federal government that physicians who follow the proposed

New York State legislation if passed and regulation when subsequently developed will not be

prosecuted for allegedly failing to follow the Presidential order still in place making it illegal for a

physician to prescribe or even advise a patient to use marijuana for medical purposes (Directive

to Take Action); and be it further

RESOLVED, That our AMA seek a reversal of the Executive Order itself that makes it illegal for

a physician to prescribe or advise medical marijuana. (Directive to Take Action)

Fiscal Note: Implement accordingly at estimated staff cost of $1,000.

Received: 05/14/09

Note: This topic is currently under study by the CSAPH.

75.987 Medical Marijuana: MSSNY adopts as policy that the use of marijuana may be appropriate when

prescribed by a licensed physician solely for use in alleviating pain and nausea in patients who have been

diagnosed as chronically ill with life threatening disease, when all other treatments have failed, that the

physicians who prescribe marijuana for patient use, subject to the conditions set forth above, shall not be

held criminally, civilly or professionally liable and that it supports continued clinical trails on the use of

marijuana for medical purposes.