Congressman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) introduced legislation today to remove criminal penalties for marijuana possession at the federal level. The Personal Use of Marijuana by Responsible Adults Act of 2009 would remove penalties for possession of up to 3.5 ounces of marijuana and the not-for-profit transfer of 1 ounce.

Please take action today to support this important legislation.

Congressman Frank’s legislation seeks to bring federal law in line with reality. 99% of all marijuana arrests occur at the state and local level. In practice, federal laws prohibiting marijuana possession act as a deterrent to states that may want a more sensible policy. Congressman Frank’s bill would remove that deterrent and push U.S. marijuana policy in the right direction.

The bill’s introduction comes amidst unprecedented momentum for reform, but it will still face significant opposition in Congress — so please visit mpp.org/federal-action and take action today!

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Last night, as part of the ongoing "AC 360" series on marijuana, Dr. Sanjay Gupta weighed in on marijuana's medical benefits and health risks. The transcript of the show is here (scroll down about 2/3 through the page to get to Dr. Gupta).

It's no secret that we haven't always been thrilled by CNN's coverage, but Gupta -- given time constraints that inevitably truncated his answers a bit -- gave a balanced, accurate assessment of the science of marijuana that was remarkably solid, much more so than one usually sees on TV. Among other things, Gupta explained about the cannabinoid receptors in the human brain and noted:

For example, someone who's having terrible malnourishment or terrible nausea as a result of chemotherapy or the effect of HIV/AIDS, using marijuana could stimulate appetite.

 Neuropathic pain, Anderson, something I deal with quite a bit as a neurosurgeon. It's that lancinating nerve pain that's often caused by trauma or some sort of injury or surgery. Sometimes it can be very refractive to pain medications. Marijuana can help there, as well.

Multiple sclerosis, something else that I treat. That's something that can cause significant tremors, for example. Marijuana can help.

Gupta did discuss pulmonary risks of smoking and the possibility of dependence, but in a factual, non-hysterical way that made it clear that dependence rates for marijuana are far lower than for other drugs, including alcohol.

There were rumors for a while that Dr. Gupta might be appointed U.S. Surgeon General. I'm starting to wish he'd gotten the job.

P.S. It does appear that I'll be on CNBC tonight, around 8:45 p.m. Eastern time, though as of this writing it's unclear who, if anyone, I'll be debating and how broad the discussion will be.

For those who missed it, here's the clip of Rob debating marijuana policy with drug war cheerleader David Evans on CNN's "Anderson Cooper 360" that Bruce mentioned a couple days ago.

By the way, although these things are always subject to last minute changes, it looks like MPP's Bruce Mirken will be on CNBC discussing ending marijuana prohibition this evening sometime after 8:30 p.m. EST.

MPP Executive Director Rob Kampia debates the benefits of marijuana over Marinol, the FDA drug approval process, and how an end to marijuana prohibition could help America on CNN's Anderson Cooper 360. Arguing for the Prohibitionist position is David Evans of the Drug Free America Foundation. This is part of a week-long program on the debate over the future of marijuana policy. 06/16/2009

All this week, CNN's "Anderson Cooper 360" is doing a series of reports on marijuana and marijuana policy. MPP executive director Rob Kampia is scheduled to appear on tonight's show, possibly debating a prohibitionist. While TV news schedules are always subject to last-minute change, the segment featuring Rob is presently set to air around 10:30 p.m. Eastern time.

In a historic first, Rhode Island legislators today made their state the first ever to expand an existing medical marijuana law to allow for state-licensed compassion centers to grow and distribute marijuana to registered patients. Legislators easily overrode the veto issued by Gov. Donald Carcieri with override votes of 67-0 in the House and 35-3 in the Senate.

This marks the second time the Rhode Island Legislature has expanded the medical marijuana law it established in 2006, which indicates the law's successfulness as well as its popularity. It also marks the third time they had to override the governor's veto in order to pass a medical marijuana law.

Are you governors out there paying attention?

In what may be some sort of modern record for fact-free grandstanding on drug issues, U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk, a Republican from the suburbs north of Chicago, has introduced a bill to ratchet up penalties for so-called "super pot". Under Kirk's proposal, penalties would be massively increased for those producing or selling marijuana with THC levels 15% or higher -- to the point where a single plant could land someone in jail for 25 years.

Small problem: THC is, for all practical purposes, nontoxic. Higher-THC marijuana is not more dangerous. People simply smoke less, just like they drink less vodka than they do beer. That's not just my opinion. Scientists who have examined the issue have concluded that the evidence simply isn't there to sound alarm bells over so-called "super pot." See, for example, this detailed review from the journal Addiction.

Congressman Kirk, it feels safe to say, has no intention of letting mere facts get in his way.

Congressman Barney Frank introduced legislation yesterday aimed at making marijuana available through a doctor’s prescription nationwide.

Please help MPP support H.R. 2835, by e-mailing and calling your U.S. Representative. MPP's online resources at mpp.org/federal-action make it quick and easy to ask your legislator to cosponsor this important legislation.

Click here to take action.

H.R. 2835 makes two important changes to federal law. First, it eliminates federal authority to interfere with patients, caregivers, and collectives operating in accordance with state medical marijuana laws. Second, it moves marijuana from Schedule I under the Controlled Substances Act into Schedule II. Schedule II drugs have recognized medical benefits and can be prescribed by doctors to patients in need (for example, morphine is a Schedule II drug).

Congressman Frank’s legislation comes after months of growing debate over marijuana policy reform, but it will still face significant opposition in Congress -- so please visit mpp.org/federal-action and do your part today!

We just got word that Charlie Lynch was sentenced to one year and one day in federal prison for providing patients with medical marijuana in accordance with state law.

While the judge in Lynch's case did depart from the five-year mandatory minimum sentence, it'll still be an outrage for Charlie to spend even one day behind bars for his acts of compassion - especially given his compliance with state law. This man's life has already been turned upside down thanks to the mean-spirited county sheriff who ignored state law and called in Bush-era DEA thugs, as well as the unjust law that didn't allow Charlie to discuss medical marijuana in front of a jury.

Charlie and his attorneys say they plan to appeal, and we hope they succeed. With federal law enforcement at the Mexican border so overwhelmed that traffickers coming through with up to 500 pounds of marijuana are let go, even one more penny spent persecuting a man who is not a criminal in any rational sense of the word is an outrageous waste of resources.

Fortunately, Charlie has been released on bail pending the outcome of his appeal.

[caption id="attachment_955" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Marijuana Use Rates, Age 12 and Up"][/caption]

The federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration recently released its annual state-by-state breakdown of drug use rates from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health. And once again, the data (based on the 2006 and 2007 surveys) don't match the official mythology -- namely, that tough anti-marijuana laws reduce marijuana use.

As of the survey dates, 11 states had decriminalized possession of small amounts of marijuana, while 39 retained the threat of arrest and jail for even small-time marijuana possession. And, like previous surveys, use rates in the decriminalized states were statistically indistinguishable from the non-decriminalized states. Some decriminalized states, such as Nebraska and Mississippi, had use rates well below the national average. And some that maintain criminal penalties, such as New Hampshire and the District of Columbia, were well above the national average.

Sometimes decriminalized states had lower marijuana use rates than neighboring states that still jail marijuana users. Mississippi, for example, was lower than Louisiana; Nebraska was lower than Kansas.

This trend has been consistent in the nearly a decade that SAMHSA has been doing these state breakdowns, yet it didn't stop decriminalization opponents in Massachusetts from claiming last year that decriminalization would somehow turn their state into a sea of potheads.

The other persistent myth is that medical marijuana laws increase teen marijuana use by "sending the wrong message to kids." Again, the real-world trend doesn't quite match the myth. Year-to-year changes in past-month marijuana use for 12-to-17-year-olds were almost all statistically insignificant. A few medical marijuana states showed increases while others showed drops, but none of the changes were large enough to be proof of a real trend. And state-based surveys, which have much larger samples within each state and thus are far more reliable, have consistently shown teen marijuana use decreasing in medical marijuana states since the laws took effect.

Wouldn't it be nice if legislators everywhere could be persuaded to base laws on facts instead of myths?