Medical Ethics

Cannabis and Medical Ethics

Patients Out of Time strongly believes that the greatest risk to patients who use cannabis is its prohibition.  With the prohibition there is no quality control of cannabis and patients do not receive education about the risks and benefits or the appropriate dose and route of administration.  Physicians are intimidated by the law and fear the consequences of a patient using a potentially contaminated unregulated product.  Nurses are expected to educate their patients about the safe use of their medications and here too, some nurses may be concerned with the lack of quality control for this prohibited medicine.  Healthcare professionals are encouraged to explore and consider the ethical issues involved in this unjust medicinal cannabis prohibition.

Faculty Presentations on Medical Ethics

Medical Ethics and Cannabis Prohibition, by Richard Bonnie, JD -
Professor Richard J. Bonnie, University of Virginia Law School; Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, addresses the 2004 Cannabis Therapeutics Conference on medical ethics and public policy, postulating "What is the right thing to do?" for physicians and officials.

Surely compassion is a crucial aspect of ethical behavior and we at Patients Out of Time can think of no other who more embodied compassion than Mae Nutt, one of our founding directors, who we affectionately called "Grandma Marijuana". At first adverse to the idea of medical marijuana, Mae became an advocate for medical cannabis and patients' rights, after seeing that marijuana helped her son Keith endure cancer treatment. He died in 1979, on the day that Michigan passed a Medical Cannabis law, after testimony by her family in Senate hearings.
Mae championed the cause of compassion for over 25 years, speaking at several conferences on Cannabis Therapeutics, including this one in Charlottesville, VA in May, 2004, hosted by Patients Out of Time. Video - Grandma Marijuana - Mae Nutt tells her Story of Compassion