New Approach Idaho pulled the medical marijuana petition on February 19, 2016, after recently receiving correspondence from the American Academy of Pediatrics, asking for the AAP name be removed from the front page of the petition as one of the supporters of medical marijuana.

The oversight was not intentional, rather a misunderstanding after members of NAI’s petition draft committee were alerted to the much-publicized January 2015 articles in the Wall Street Journal and NBC News online (three months before the release of the petition) that “…the American Academy of Pediatrics is recommending the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency reclassify marijuana so that more research can be conducted in the hopes of finding benefits for children. The influential medical society also proposes that marijuana should be made available on a compassionate use basis for children with debilitating or life-threatening illnesses (1) and ”…the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) also recognized marijuana may be a treatment option for kids “with life-limiting or severely debilitating conditions for whom current therapies are inadequate.”(2).

NAI did not intentionally mislead, manipulate or lie to the Idaho public, as stated by the Idaho Office of Drug Policy’s Elisha Figueroa in a recent Guest Contributor article found in The Independent News, rather AAP’s listing as supporters of medical marijuana was an understandable oversight which should have been verified in-depth by not only NAI’s executive staff prior to releasing the petition, but the state offices who oversee the citizen’s initiative process as well.

For more information, contact NAI president, Bill Esbensen 208.407.7317

1) source: http://blogs.wsj.com/pharmalot/2015/01/26/pediatricians-urge-dea-to-reclassify-medical-marijuana-to-boost-research/

2) source: http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/legal-pot/pediatric-academy-now-says-medical-marijuana-may-help-some-ill-n293176