Washington State Legalization Attempt Update Open Thread » Medical Marijuana Updates According to an ABC News/Washington Post poll released Monday, 81% of Americans support legalization of medical marijuana. I’ve got a question for the Democrats who keep saying that the party doesn’t dare waste its political capital on an issue like medical marijuana…. just how popular does something have to be before you’re willing to be seen on the dance floor with it? I agree with Mark Kleiman: And the demand that cannabis be shown to be better than something else, rather than merely safe and effective, before it’s approved strikes me as wrong-headed. People vary in their reactions to drugs, so giving doctors and patients more options is generally better. This issue tests the commitment of the Obama Administration to science-based policy. In case you missed it. NJ medical marijuana bill is signed into law New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine has signed legislation granting chronically ill patients legal access to marijuana. Corzine’s office said the governor signed the bill late Monday, his last full day in office. Gov.-elect Chris Christie will be sworn in Tuesday. New Jersey is the 14th state to allow patients with diseases such as cancer, AIDS, glaucoma and multiple sclerosis to use marijuana to alleviate their pain and other symptoms. The legislation allows for dispensaries to be set up around the state where patients with prescriptions can access the drug. New York Times: Researchers Find Study of Medical Marijuana Discouraged Despite the Obama administration’s tacit support of more liberal state medical marijuana laws, the federal government still discourages research into the medicinal uses of smoked marijuana. […] “The more it becomes clear to people that the federal government is blocking these studies, the more people are willing to defect by using politics instead of science to legalize medicinal uses at the state level,” said Rick Doblin, executive director of a nonprofit group dedicated to researching psychedelics for medical uses. Wall Street Journal: Is Marijuana a Medicine? Researchers say it’s difficult to get funding and federal approval for marijuana research. In November, the AMA urged the federal government to review marijuana’s position in the most-restricted category of drugs, so it could be studied more easily. It’s a fairly detailed article about different aspects of medical marijuana use. One nice thing to see at the end of the piece… … but a large 2006 study, published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, found no tie to lung cancer. Scott Morgan: Medical Marijuana Dispensaries Don’t Attract Crime, They Prevent it Banks are robbed constantly by angry gun-wielding assholes, but you’ve never heard anyone lobbying to keep them 1,000 feet away from schools and parks. Meanwhile, the biggest security threat at the dispensaries has typically been the DEA (and yes, they were routinely grabbing money from dispensaries at gunpoint until the DOJ told them to find something better to do) The very notion of dispensaries attracting crime is largely illogical on its face, given that the whole purpose of their existence is to remove sick people from the black-market marijuana economy. Legal medical marijuana providers reduce crime on a massive scale simply by opening their doors each day.