Health Organizations Endorsements are important to know about!

Opponents of medical marijuana law reform often argue that few or no health authorities recognize cannabis as a legitimate therapeutic agent. Numerous health and medical organizations from both the United States and abroad support the use of marijuana as a medicine.

The following list is a sampling of the various health and scientific organizations (from NORML) that back patient access to medical marijuana. Though it is not meant to be comprehensive, it is intended to provide a cross-section of the medical community’s broad support for medical cannabis, and present a referenced, fact-based response to those who claim otherwise. As the medical cannabis issue continues to stimulate political debate, reformers and legislators need to consider the positions of the medical community to better make informed policy decisions regarding the medical use of marijuana.

International and National Organizations

AIDS Action Council
AIDS Treatment News
American Academy of Family Physicians
American Medical Student Association
American Nurses Association
American Osteopathic Association
American Preventive Medical Association
American Public Health Association
Arthritis Research Campaign (United Kingdom)
Australian Medical Association (New South Wales) Limited
Australian National Task Force on Cannabis
Belgian Ministry of Health
British House of Lords Select Committee on Science and Technology
British House of Lords Select Committee On Science and Technology (Second Report)
British Medical Association
Canadian AIDS Society
Canadian Special Senate Committee on Illegal Drugs
Dr. Dean Edell (surgeon and nationally syndicated radio host)
French Ministry of Health
Health Canada
Kaiser Permanente
Lymphoma Foundation of America
The Montel Williams MS Foundation
Multiple Sclerosis Society (Canada)
The Multiple Sclerosis Society (United Kingdom)
National Academy of Sciences Institute Of Medicine (IOM)
National Association for Public Health Policy
National Nurses Society on Addictions
Netherlands Ministry of Health
New England Journal of Medicine
New South Wales (Australia) Parliamentary Working Party on the Use of Cannabis for Medical Purposes
Dr. Andrew Weil
State and Local Organizations
Alaska Nurses Association
Being Alive: People With HIV/AIDS Action Committee (San Diego, CA)
California Academy of Family Physicians
California Nurses Association
California Pharmacists Association
Colorado Nurses Association
Connecticut Nurses Association
Florida Governor's Red Ribbon Panel on AIDS
Florida Medical Association
Hawaii Nurses Association
Illinois Nurses Association
Medical Society of the State of New York
Mississippi Nurses Association
New Jersey State Nurses Association
New Mexico Medical Society
New Mexico Nurses Association
New York County Medical Society
New York State Nurses Association
North Carolina Nurses Association
Rhode Island Medical Society
Rhode Island State Nurses Association
San Francisco Mayor's Summit on AIDS and HIV
San Francisco Medical Society
American Academy of Family Physicians
Vermont Medical Marijuana Study Committee
Whitman-Walker Clinic (Washington, DC)
Wisconsin Nurses Association
Additional AIDS Organizations

The following organizations are signatories to a February 17, 1999 letter to the US Department of Health petitioning the federal government to “make marijuana legally available … to people living with AIDS.”

AIDS Action Council
AIDS Foundation of Chicago

AIDS National Interfaith Network (Washington, DC)

AIDS Project Arizona

AIDS Project Los Angeles

Being Alive: People with HIV/AIDS Action Committee (San Diego, CA)
Boulder County AIDS Project (Boulder, CO)

Colorado AIDS Project

Center for AIDS Services (Oakland, CA)

Health Force: Women and Men Against AIDS (New York, NY)

Latino Commission on AIDS

Mobilization Against AIDS (San Francisco, CA)

Mothers Voices to End AIDS (New York, NY)

National Latina/o Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual And Transgender Association

National Native American AIDS Prevention Center

Northwest AIDS Foundation

People of Color Against AIDS Network (Seattle, WA)

San Francisco AIDS Foundation

Whitman-Walker Clinic (Washington, DC)

Other Health Organizations
The following organizations are signatories to a June 2001 letter to the US Department of Health petitioning the federal government to “allow people suffering from serious illnesses … to apply to the federal government for special permission to use marijuana to treat their symptoms.”

Addiction Treatment Alternatives

AIDS Treatment Initiatives (Atlanta, GA)

American Public Health Association

American Preventive Medical Association

Bay Area Physicians for Human Rights (San Francisco, CA)

California Legislative Council for Older Americans

California Nurses Association
California Pharmacists Association
Embrace Life (Santa Cruz, CA)

Gay and Lesbian Medical Association

Hawaii Nurses Association
Hepatitis C Action and Advisory Coalition

Life Extension Foundation

Maine AIDS Alliance

Minnesota Nurses Association

Mississippi Nurses Association
National Association of People with AIDS

National Association for Public Health Policy

National Women’s Health Network

Nebraska AIDS Project

New Mexico Nurses Association
New York City AIDS Housing Network

New York State Nurses Association

Ohio Patient Network

Okaloosa AIDS Support and Information Services (Fort Walton, FL)

Physicians for Social Responsibility – Oregon

San Francisco AIDS Foundation

Virginia Nurses Association
Wisconsin Nurses Association
Health Organizations Supporting Medical Marijuana Research
American Cancer Society
American Medical Association
British Medical Journal
California Medical Association
California Society on Addiction Medicine
Congress of Nursing Practice
Gay and Lesbian Medical Association
Jamaican National Commission on Ganja
American Academy of Family Physicians
National Institutes of Health (NIH) Workshop on the Medical Utility of Marijuana
Vermont Medical Society
Wisconsin State Medical Society

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