SECTION 1.
(a) The Legislature hereby makes the following findings and declarations regarding the Compassionate Use Act of 1996:(1) Marijuana’s recorded use as a medicine goes back nearly 5,000 years. A report by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) of the National Academy of Sciences published in March of 1999 found that modern medical research confirms the beneficial uses of marijuana in the treating or alleviating of pain, nausea, or other symptoms associated with a variety of debilitating medical conditions, including cancer, multiple sclerosis, and HIV/AIDS.
(2) Studies published since that 1999 IOM report have continued to show the therapeutic value of marijuana in treating a wide array of debilitating medical conditions. The relief marijuana provides to patients suffering from the neuropathic pain caused by multiple sclerosis, HIV/AIDS, and other illnesses that often fails to respond to conventional treatments, and the relief marijuana provides to patients suffering from the nausea, vomiting, and other side effects of drugs used to treat HIV/AIDS and hepatitis C increases the chances that these patients will continue to engage in life-saving treatment regimens.
(3) Marijuana has many currently accepted medical uses in the United States, having been recommended by thousands of licensed physicians to at least 350,000 patients in states with medical marijuana laws. Marijuana’s medical utility has been recognized by a wide range of medical and public health organizations, including the American Academy of HIV Medicine, the American College of Physicians, the American Nurses Association, the American Public Health Association, the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, and many others.
(4) Data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Uniform Crime Reports and the Compendium of Federal Justice Statistics show that approximately 99 out of every 100 marijuana arrests in the United States are made under state law, rather than under federal law.
(5) State law should make a clear distinction between the medical and nonmedical uses of marijuana. Hence, the purpose of the Compassionate Use Act of 1996 is to protect patients with debilitating medical conditions, as well as their practitioners and providers, from criminal arrest and prosecution and other penalties and from property seizure and forfeiture, if those patients engage in the medical use of marijuana.
(6) The people of the State of California in 1996 enacted Proposition 215, also known as the Compassionate Use Act of 1996, authorizing the use of marijuana for medical purposes. The Legislature in 2003 enacted Senate Bill 420, requiring the establishment of a program for the issuance of identification cards to qualified patients so that they may lawfully use marijuana for medical purposes and requiring the establishment of guidelines for the lawful cultivation of marijuana grown for medical use. These measures, however, left many issues about the lawful cultivation, sale, and distribution of medical marijuana, and the role of local government, under the Compassionate Use Act of 1996 unaddressed or unclear.
(b) It is the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation to improve the Compassionate Use Act of 1996 and the state’s medical marijuana program by establishing a comprehensive and multidisciplinary commission that is empowered to address issues regarding the legality and implementation of the Compassionate Use Act of 1996 and the state’s medical marijuana law.