Legal Compliance:
California Compassionate Use Act 1996
SECTION 1. Section 11362.5 is added to the Health and Safety Code, to read:
11362.5. (a) This section shall be known and may be cited as the Compassionate Use Act
of 1996.
(b)(1) The people of the State of California hereby find and declare that the purposes of
the Compassionate Use Act of 1996 are as follows:
(A) To ensure that seriously ill Californians have the right to obtain and use marijuana
for medical purposes where that medical use is deemed appropriate and has been
recommended by a physician who has determined that the person’s health would benefit
from the use of marijuana in the treatment of cancer, anorexia, AIDS, chronic pain,
spasticity, glaucoma, arthritis, migraine, or any other illness for which marijuana provides
relief.
(B) To ensure that patients and their primary caregivers who obtain and use marijuana
for medical purposes upon the recommendation of a physician are not subject to criminal
prosecution or sanction.
(C) To encourage the federal and state governments to implement a plan to provide
for the safe and affordable distribution of marijuana to all patients in medical need of
marijuana.
(2) Nothing in this section shall be construed to supersede legislation prohibiting persons
from engaging in conduct that endangers others, nor to condone the diversion of marijuana
for nonmedical purposes.
(c) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no physician in this state shall be
punished, or denied any right or privilege, for having recommended marijuana to a patient
for medical purposes.
(d) Section 11357, relating to the possession of marijuana, and Section 11358, relating to
the cultivation of marijuana, shall not apply to a patient, or to a patient’s primary caregiver,
who possesses or cultivates marijuana for the personal medical purposes of the patient
upon the written or oral recommendation or approval of a physician.
(e) For the purposes of this section, ”primary caregiver” means the individual designated
by the person exempted under this section who has consistently assumed responsibility for
the housing, health, or safety of that person.
SEC. 2. If any provision of this measure or the application thereof to any person or
circumstance is held invalid, that invalidity shall not affect other provisions or applications
of the measure that can be given effect without the invalid provision or application, and to
this end the provisions of this measure are severable.
Links:
California Health & Safety Code 11362.7
For more information regarding the use of marijuana, please visit:
www.norml.org