The Medical Marijuana Patient Protection Act of 2008, also known as H.R. 5842, was a bill repeatedly introduced in the United States House of Representatives since 2001, most recently on April 17, 2008, by Ron Paul, M.D. (R-TX), Barney Frank (D-MA), Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), Maurice Hinchey (D-NY), and Sam Farr (D-CA). It seeks to enact legal protections for authorized medical marijuana patients, in the House of Representatives. It was introduced along with HR 5843, or Personal Use of Marijuana by Responsible Adults Act of 2008.
Currently, 13 states -- Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington -- have enacted laws protecting medical marijuana patients from state prosecution, but they are not recognized federally, and, thus, federal raids are still possible on state-legal institutions of cannabis growing and distribution. Due to Gonzales v. Raich, federal agents may intervene even when the cannabis does not cross state boundaries.
It does not change current federal regulations on recreational use, but simply lets states choose their own stance on medical marijuana regulations, as well as opening the door for further study, regulation, and use by reclassifying the plant medically.
Famous quotes containing the words medical, marijuana, patient, protection and/or act:
“They said I’d never get you back again.
I tell you what you’ll never really know:
all the medical hypothesis
that explained my brain will never be as true as these
struck leaves letting go.”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)
“Is marijuana addictive? Yes, in the sense that most of the really pleasant things in life are worth endlessly repeating.”
—Richard Neville (b. 1941)
“Bear free and patient thoughts.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“Innocence does not find near so much protection as guilt.”
—François, Duc De La Rochefoucauld (1613–1680)
“To die is not to play a part in society; it is the act of a single person. Let us live and laugh among our friends; let us die and sulk among strangers.”
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592)