Author: Jennifer McGrath

Lawyer Jennifer McGrath is a former City Attorney with over 20 years of legal experience. Her law office provides legal support and guidance on California Cannabis Law to members of the cannabis community as well as Cities and Counties in navigating the emerging State and local regulation of both medical and recreational marijuana in this rapidly changing environment.
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Federal Marijuana Protections Extended

US Congress Rohrabacher Farr Amendment

The US Congress has re-authorized the Rohrabacher-Farr Amendment which prohibits the Justice Department from interfering in state-authorized medical marijuana programs.  The provision was included in short-term spending legislation, House Resolution 2028, and will expire on April 28, 2017.

The Rohrabacher-Farr Amendment was initially enacted by Congress in 2014, and provides that federal funds cannot be used to prevent states from “implementing their own state laws that authorize the use, distribution, possession or cultivation of medical marijuana.”  (H.Amdt.748)

In August, 2016, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in United States v. McIntosh, 833 F.3d 1163, 1177 (9th Cir. 2016), unanimously ruled that the Rohrabacher-Farr Amendment bars the federal government from taking legal action against any individual involved in medical marijuana related activity absent evidence that the defendant is in clear violation of state law.

Because the provision is included as part of a Congressional spending package and does not explicitly amend the US Controlled Substances Act, members must re-authorize the amendment annually.

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Do Medical Marijuana Laws Reduce Addictions and Deaths Related to Pain Killers?

Marijuana and Opioids

This is an interesting study finding that broader access to medical marijuana may have the potential benefit of reducing abuse of highly addictive painkillers such as opioids.  The study by the National Bureau of Economic Research, which includes data compiled by the RAND Corporation, notes that a potential overlooked positive impact of medical marijuana laws may be a reduction in harms associated with opioid pain relievers.

Drug overdoses are the leading cause of deaths from injuries in the United States today, exceeding deaths from suicide, gunshot deaths and motor vehicle accidents.  In 2010, 16,651 deaths were caused by a prescription opioid overdose, representing nearly 60% of all drug overdose deaths, and exceeding overdose deaths from heroin and cocaine combined.

These numbers are the result of a dramatic rise in problems associated with prescription opioid abuse over the past two decades.  The federal Centers for Disease Control has deemed the misuse of prescription opioids in the United States to be an “epidemic.”

You can read the full report here – Medical Marijuana Laws and Opioids.

This compares favorably with a 2014 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association which determined that opioid-related overdose deaths fall 20% in the first year after the implementation of marijuana legalization and decline by as much as 33% by the sixth year. You can read that report here – Medical Cannabis Laws and Opioids.