After many years in the making, the Access to Medical Cannabis Act finally made it through the House of Representatives. The law passed on third and final reading with 177 House members voting in favor, 9 against and 9 abstaining. A counterpart bill authored by Sen. Robinhood Padilla is being deliberated in the Senate.
Medical cannabis, in the context of the House bill, "refers to concentrates, topicals, tinctures, edibles, cannabis products such as capsules and oil, including hemp, flower and any other product in their appropriate finished form, and any other derivative in their pharmaceutical formulation which shall have detailed and accurate information regarding the concentration of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD) certified by the [Medical Cannabis Office] to qualified patients for medical purpose." THC and CBD are two of about 540 chemical substances that the cannabis plant contains.
"Cannabis" and "marijuana" are often used interchangeably, but the US Department of Health's National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health makes this distinction: while "cannabis" refers to all products derived from the plant Cannabis sativa, "marijuana" refers to parts of or products from the plant Cannabis sativa that contain substantial amounts of [THC]. THC is the substance that's primarily responsible for the effects of marijuana on a person's mental state."
The House bill reserves access to medical cannabis for qualified patients duly diagnosed by an accredited physician. The qualified patient may be suffering a debilitating medical condition "that produces one or more of the following: cachexia or wasting syndrome; severe and chronic pain; severe nausea; seizures, or severe and persistent muscle spasms." However, even less severe illnesses and symptoms that impact "an individual's well-being and quality of life" and "can cause discomfort or distress" may qualify a patient for medical cannabis treatment.
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