This post was originally published on SafeAccessNow.com
After 25 years of the state cannabis policy experiments, there is no denying that the national acceptance of cannabis has changed. In a recent study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, researchers found that one in three Americans are utilizing medical cannabis to manage chronic pain, all but two U.S. states and most of the territories have passed laws creating some form of access to cannabis products, and public support for medical cannabis remains at an all-time high.
State policymakers and regulators should be commended for taking on the task of serving their residents against federal intransigence, under threat and, at times, facing brutal enforcement undermining their efforts. While preparing this report, it was impossible to overlook the immense amount of work that patient advocates and state policy makers have undertaken to create these medical cannabis programs, and the daunting challenges still facing them.