Introduction
In the past several decades, marijuana has been linked to various medicinal uses. This has attracted a lot of attention to the herb which has also been linked to adverse harmful elements. Marijuana contains an active ingredient that is classified in the cannabinoids class of compounds. These compounds have been used severally in treatment of insomnia, induced nausea as well as appetite loss linked to AIDS therapy. Also, cannabinoids have been linked to the treatment of motor disturbances among patients suffering multiple sclerosis. Although, advanced research on biochemical and physiological effects of marijuana have been examined through excellent scientific research, discussions on the appropriate role of the drug have been stalled in political and social controversy for a long time. In some states of the United States of America, marijuana has been legalized. However, the federal law does not clearly support the element. One of the states that have legalized medical marijuana is California. Various medical laws have been enacted in various states as well as the District of Columbia to suit the use of medical marijuana.
Any policy becomes effective on the basis of advanced principles. These are the rules that make the policy hold. They protect the users as well as guard the principles of nonusers. Medical marijuana being a major issue in the United States has been protected by various principles that make it sensible in the country. To protect users as well as guard nonusers, the federal government in conjunction to various states’ governments has come up with concrete principles that make the policy meaningful to the society. In the process of legalizing medical marijuana, California has set various rules which govern the implementation of the policy in the state. The following are some of the rules that are found in the policy.
- Certification for qualified patients:
Although, at the beginning the state was against certification for patients who are supposed to take medical marijuana a law has been put in place to ensure all patients who seek marijuana medication deserve the drug. Among the patients who are certified to use marijuana are AIDS, cancer, as well as multiple sclerosis patients. These are patients who are believed to be undergoing extensive pain, which may be difficult to tolerate under normal medication. The patient has to be recommended by a physician who is qualified and protected by the California state laws (Berlatsky, 2012). This rules aids in cambering individuals who may abuse the drug in the name of undergoing a treatment.
- Prosecution of users
As stated in rule number one, patients using marijuana have to be recommended by qualified physicians. California law protects any patient from criminal prosecution following presentation of a recommendation by a physician before the court. For one to be a qualified primary caregiver in California one has to be designated by a patient and must carry out the responsibility of housing, health, and safety of the patient in a satisfactory manner. The law permits primary caregivers to grow marijuana for any number of patients. Anyone who cultivates marijuana illegally in the name of being a caregiver is exposed to exclusive term in jail or a huge fine (Merino, 2011).
- Possession limits and access:
The law permits patients with physician’s recommendation possession of a minimum of 8 ounces of processed marijuana as well as cultivation of 6 mature plants or twelve immature ones. Patients are allowed to avow a defense in court for possession of greater amounts on condition that they are used for medical reasons. The law allows patients to assert for greater amounts in court in bid to eliminate the problem of people taking advantage of their situation to commercialize the drug. Dispensaries which have been entrusted the duty of ensuring that the public have access to medical marijuana are also limited to the amount of marijuana they should hold (Kubby, 2003).
- Protection of minors:
The California law protects minors in the society from access to marijuana. An age limit has been set where small children should not be exposed to any drug that may cause them harm in future. Medical marijuana is usually used as pain reliever but it contains some elements that make it addictive to its users. Therefore, exposing children to the drug may addict them to marijuana in future making them irresponsible citizens (Berlatsky, 2012). Therefore, the California law has been clear on the penalties that await individuals who are found prescribing marijuana to children in the society.
The legalization of medical marijuana is an extremely challenging process. This means that it requires extra involvement of various institutions and actors to ensure it goes on accordingly. However, the various actors and institutions have different roles in the concern for legalization of medical marijuana. The first institution that has been extremely influential in medical marijuana legalization process is the Federal law of the United States. This refers to the constitution which has defined various rules that have been brought forth in explaining how the legalization process should take place.
The federal law has remained strong against legalization of medical marijuana in the United States. It is still convinced that marijuana is a drug whose continuous use may lead to irresponsible citizens as well as a socially ill society. Through the Controlled Substance Act, the law states that federal law enforcement has the right to punish any individual who dispense, possess, or use marijuana regardless of the protection they may suffer under state laws. The U.S Constitution has also been keen on regulating trade for the commodity. Therefore, the constitution prevents any form of trade that may involve marijuana. This is because, allowing such processes gears up illicit market. Therefore, any trade involving marijuana is termed illegal and subject to prosecution. This has been major challenge to the freedom that has been given by California law on the same (Merino, 2011).
The other institution that has been involved in the legalization process is the California state government. Despite provisions by the federal government that marijuana should not be legalized, California state government has been at the forefront to challenge this provision. It dictates that medical marijuana should be legalized. However, the process has to be administered through exclusive rules. Therefore, the California reinforcement team leads in executing certain principles that will make legalization of medical marijuana adorable by other states. It stipulates that users of the drug should be strictly under medical condition. Moreover, medical condition must be under recommendation by a physician. Holders of the drug may be direct users or caregivers who are entrusted patients who require the drug (Berlatsky, 2012). However, if an individual fails to recognize any of the rules set by the Californian government concerning medical marijuana he or she would be subjected to prosecution.
The other major player in the legalization of medical marijuana is the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML). This is an organization that operates in the United States with the aim of sensitizing the society the need for legalization of medical marijuana. The institution believes that marijuana contains no ill health implication and individuals should be allowed to make choice of what they consume. The institution has been pushing the federal government to allow freedom of possession of the drug for all citizens in the United States. Cultivation for commercial as well as personal use should be allowed for American citizens. The institution argued that marijuana legalization would serve an extremely critical role in enhancing the economy of the United States. In California, NORML has been exclusively significant as it has acted as reinforcement to the California state law in bid for legalization of medical marijuana (Kubby, 2003).
Also, physicians and other medical practitioners have been engaged in exclusive campaigns in support for legalization of medical marijuana. Following their exposure to various patients who suffer different health problems, physicians are aware of the significance of marijuana among patients. They have become consistent campaigners of legalization of medical marijuana. According to various medical research findings, it has been discovered that marijuana is a reliable painkiller. Therefore, physicians find the drug to contain more medicinal value than harm thus recommending it for use. However, the site a condition that legalization of medical marijuana should be controlled by laws on the quantity that should be used as well as the purposes of use (Merino, 2011). Therefore, physicians have been major actors in the medical marijuana legalization process.
The precision and quality of the policy implementation criteria and guidelines
Legalization of medical marijuana is a process that has been governed by certain guidelines in California. This means that there must be satisfaction of certain principles before the process becomes a law in the state. The first step was to verify with the federal law whether the process was allowed for California or it was not allowed. In this case, the federal law was against legalization of medical marijuana and it could not have agreed on the request for California government to legalization medical marijuana. Although, federal law does not support medical marijuana California government through the merit given by federal government that allows state governments to come up with their laws medical marijuana was legalized in California (Merino, 2011).
The California government has been extremely resourceful in the implementation of this policy. As noted above, the process could not have become legal if it was not anchored on competent procedure supported by the government. The law of the state is extremely clear on the parties who should be given access to medical marijuana. It was of paramount significance to outline the kind of people who were supposed to benefit from this process. This would have served the purpose of eliminating irresponsible use of marijuana (Kubby, 2003). There was prevention of excessive consumption of marijuana also known as drug abuse, which is extremely dangerous.
Also, the state law has proper guidelines on what should be done to individuals who may not respect the principles provided in the policy. All elements have been made clear for parties involved and there is no room left for individuals who may wish to ignore them (Seamon, 2006). They are subjected to painful judgments through various legal procedures.
For excellence in establishment of the policies outlined in the process, various stakeholders were supposed to participate. In this case, the legalization process has been supported by various groups of people the California community. The legal department for the state has been at the front in ensuring necessary principles of law have been involved in development of unique law governing legalization of marijuana. NORML has been in major campaign for legalization of marijuana in California (McCarthy, 2004). Therefore, these institutions have been of massive assistance in implementation of the legalized policy.
Implementation of the policy
However, the implementation process of the policy was not an easy task for California. Like any other policy, the legalization of medical marijuana also faces exclusive issues that have strengthened as well as undermined the process. Since there are various institutions involved in ensuring the process succeeds, massive activities are likely to take place in the implementation process (Seamon, 2006).
One of the elements that made the implementation process successful is the development of California State law. Following the exclusive challenge of the legalization process by Federal law, the California state government had to come up with exclusive rule that would allow medical marijuana. Therefore, implementation of the process in California was made easy by the law that was passed for California State. The government had prepared unique platform through the law to ensure only those parties who were covered by the legalization policy got access to medical marijuana (McCarthy, 2004).
The policy had come up with reliable agents who would have assisted in the implementation of the policy. Involving physicians in consideration for the best technique to implement the policy was a reliable step for the government of California. Physicians are responsible of the necessary research that has shown marijuana as a reliable painkiller medicine. Following their experience in the medicine field, physicians have been of concrete significance in identifying the challenges that the implementation of the process may face. Therefore, they offered concrete assistance in terms of knowledge and skills required in curbing abuse of marijuana in the name of seeking medical help of the drug. Also, NORML was extremely significant in ensuring medical marijuana was legalized in California. This institution had challenged federal law on various platforms over use of marijuana in the United States. Although, the institution did not succeed in its campaign for overall use of marijuana in the united states, its role in defining legalization of medical marijuana in California (Berlatsky, 2012).
However, the main challenge of the implementation process was the federal law. Through federal law the United States prevents use of marijuana within its borders. Therefore, at some point the California Law becomes insignificant where a ruling has been made under the federal law concerning use of marijuana. This has been a complication in the implementation of the policy.
Conclusion
Marijuana legalization has been a central theme in the US Congress. Different institutions have come up with ideas that would help the policy go through but the government has always snubbed them. However, California which is a major state in the definition of critical issues in the United has been at the fore front in legalization of medical marijuana. This has been attributed by the enactment of state law that supported use of medical marijuana. Different institutions have come to the defense for California’s move. Although, the medical marijuana was finally legalized in California it was not without huddles.
References
Berlatsky, N. (2012). Marijuana. Farmington Hills, MI: Greenhaven Press.
Kubby, S. (2003). Why marijuana should be legal (2nd ed.). New York: Thunder's Mouth Press.
McCarthy, K. (2004). Conversations About Medical Marijuana Between Physicians And Their Patients. Journal of Legal Medicine, 25(3), 333-349.
Merino, N. (2011). Medical marijuana. Detroit: Greenhaven Press.
Seamon, M. J. (2006). The Legal Status Of Medical Marijuana. Annals Of Pharmacotherapy, 40(12), 2211-2215.
