LOS ANGELES, Nov. 30 (UPI) -- Both the number of patients using medical marijuana and the number of doctors prescribing the controversial treatment is relatively low in three of four states that have such laws on the books and were surveyed recently by the General Accounting Office.
A GAO report issued Friday found that the total number of patients using marijuana to relieve pain and several other physical symptoms in Alaska, Hawaii and Oregon was less than 2,500 and only about .05 percent of the total populations of the states. At the same time, only 1-3 percent of the physicians in Oregon and Hawaii -- the two states where such records are kept -- admitted to recommending pot to their patients.
"A relatively small number of people are registered as medical marijuana users in Oregon, Hawaii, and Alaska," said the report. "In those states, most registrants were over 40 years old. Severe pain and muscle spasms were the most common medical conditions for which marijuana was recommended."
The GAO report was compiled for Rep. Marc Souder, R-Ind., Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Criminal Justice, Drug Policy and Human Resources and also involved California, the first state to adopt a medical marijuana statute, which does not require patients to register to receive marijuana.
In California, the report said, there is also no limit on the amount of marijuana a patient can possess and registration by patients with any state agency is not required. Some local governments, including San Diego County and San Francisco, have set up voluntary registries in order help so-called marijuana patients identify themselves.
A total of eight states have medical marijuana laws in effect that allow patients to light up as a means of reducing ongoing pain and the metabolic wasting process of AIDS and cancer.
"Data from Hawaii and Oregon also showed that about 75 percent -- and more than 80 percent respectively -- of the physicians' recommendations were for severe pain and conditions associated with muscle spasms, such as multiple sclerosis," the report said, adding that fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome and hepatitis C were also cited as causes of the muscle spasms.
Medical marijuana usage has prompted ongoing friction over the federal government's role in the controversial practice of marijuana treatment. The Justice Department has repeatedly warned users that while state law may allow medical marijuana, federal law does not and purveyors -- such as marijuana buyers' clubs -- run the risk of being busted by the Drug Enforcement Administration.
The Justice Department has taken the stance that marijuana is not an accepted medical treatment and, therefore, its use for medicinal purposes should not be allowed. Advocates of medical marijuana have frequently alleged the government's position discourages ill people from obtaining their doctor's guidance in deciding whether or not to smoke it.
In a Sept. 27 response to a draft of Friday's report, the Justice Department said the GAO had not given adequate attention to the issue of crime associated with marijuana sales in the United States.
"Because of that factor, there is a blurred line between medical and illegal commercial markets," the Justice Department said.
The GAO responded that many state, federal and local law enforcement agencies in the four states had never handled a case involving medical marijuana, and the laws "had not greatly affected their law enforcement activities."
"However, officials with some of the organizations told us that the laws in their states made it more difficult to prosecute marijuana cases where medical use might be claimed; there was confusion over how to handle seized marijuana; and that, in their view, the laws had softened public attitudes toward marijuana," the report stated.
Eight states have laws allowing some form of medical marijuana usage on the books, however the GAO found that many doctors were still reluctant to recommend it due to a lack of data about marijuana's medical usefulness or because they did not want to chance running afoul of the DEA, an agency that issues licenses to prescribe controlled substances.
"A Hawaii medical association official told us that he believes physicians consider a number of factors when deciding whether to recommend marijuana as medicine, such as the legal implications of recommending marijuana, lack of conclusive research results on the drug's medical efficacy, and a doctor's own philosophical stance on the use of marijuana as medicine," the report said.
According to the GAO's survey, most of the doctors in Oregon who recommended marijuana usage only did so with one or two patients; however they faced repercussions in many instances.
"In Oregon and California the state medical boards have had formal complaints filed against these physicians for alleged violations of the states' Medical Practices Acts, which establishes physician standards for medical care," the GAO said. "The complaints charge the physicians with unprofessional conduct violations such as failure to conduct a medical examination, failure to maintain adequate and accurate records, and failure to confer with other medical care providers."
A federal appeals court in San Francisco ruled in October that doctors could not be penalized by the federal government for making recommendations about marijuana, saying it was a violation of the doctor's right to speak freely with their patients.
Another case before a federal court in Washington, D.C., however, sided with the government's view that the federal Controlled Substances Act trumped state law.
