Canadian Medical Marijuana Program History

 Marijuana has been used as a source of medicine for centuries - a common medicinal plant for the ancients. Even as technology became part of how we live, it was considered a doable treatment for many ailments. However, in 1923, the Canadian dispensation banned marijuana. Although marijuana cigarettes were seized in 1932, nine years after the measure passed, it took fourteen years for the first suit for marijuana possession to be laid next to an individual.

In 1961, the united Nations signed an international harmony known as the Single Convention upon Narcotic Drugs, which introduced the four Schedules of controlled substances. Marijuana officially became an internationally controlled drug, classified as a schedule IV (most restrictive).

Also included in the agreement is a requirement for the advocate nations to assert organization agencies in order to rule cultivation. As well, the requirements affix criminalization of every processes of a scheduled drug, including cultivation, production, preparation, possession, sale, delivery, exportation, etc. Canada signed the treaty taking into account Health Canada as its dealing out agency.

Due to its medical applications, many have tried to acquire marijuana removed from the schedule IV classification or from the schedules every together. However, because cannabis was specifically mentioned in the 1961 Convention, modification would compulsion a majority vote from the Commissions' members.

Canada's shifting Medicinal Marijuana Laws

The wording of the Convention seems clear; nations who sign the agreement must treat marijuana as a Schedule IV drug following the seize punishment. However, several articles of the agreement swell provisions for the medical and scientific use of controlled substances. In 1998, Cannabis run Policy: A aeration Paper was made public. Written in 1979 by the Department of National Health and Welfare, Cannabis govern Policy summarized Canada's obligations:

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"In summary, there is considerable constructive latitude in those provisions of the international drug conventions which obligate Canada to create certain forms of cannabis-related conduct punishable offences. It is submitted that these obligations relate without help to behaviours associated gone illicit trafficking, and that even if Canada should elect to continue criminalizing consumption-oriented conduct, it is not required to convict or punish persons who have involved these offences.

The obligation to limit the possession of cannabis products exclusively to legally authorized medical and scientific purposes refers to administrative and distribution controls, and although it may require the taking away of cannabis possessed without authorization, it does not bind Canada to criminally penalize such possession."

Scientific assay continued on the medicinal uses of marijuana. In August 1997, the Institute of Medicine began a evaluation to asses the scientific evidence of marijuana and cannabinoids. Released in 1999, the financial credit states:

"The accumulated data indicate a potential therapeutic value for cannabinoid drugs, particularly for symptoms such as throb relief, run of nausea and vomiting, and appetite stimulation. The therapeutic effects of cannabinoids are best expected for THC, which is generally one of the two most abundant of the cannabinoids in marijuana.