Newsbrief: Reform Judaism National Body Endorses Medical Marijuana 11/21/03 The Union of American Hebrew Congregations, which speaks for the largest Jewish denomination in the United States, the Reform movement, has adopted a resolution supporting the use of marijuana for medical reasons. At its 67th General Assembly the first week of November in Minneapolis, the Reform association urged elected officials to support federal legislation "to allow the medicinal use of marijuana for patients with intractable pain and other conditions, under medical supervision." The UAHC represents more than 1.5 million Reform Jews in more than 900 synagogues. The resolution also urged the Food and Drug Administration to act through its Investigational New Drug program "to move research forward more quickly toward an approved product," and called for further research on marijuana and its compounds to develop "reliable and safe cannabinoid drugs for management of debilitating conditions." And, urging its membership to put its money where its mouth is, the resolution called upon congregations "to advocate for the necessary changes in local, state and federal law to permit the medicinal use of marijuana and ensure its accessibility for that purpose." To arrive at successful passage of the resolution, submitted by Congregation Beth Am in Los Altos, California, members cited Jewish tradition as well as contemporary medicine. "According to our tradition," read the resolution, "a physician is obligated to heal the sick." The resolution cited Maimonides as the Talmudic authority. Less authoritative for the association was the state of research on medical marijuana. The resolution cited "anecdotally based reports" of marijuana's efficacy, as well as the 1999 Institute of Medicine report, but found the latter "inconclusive." To read the resolution online, visit: http://www.uahc.org/minnesota/preso...ions_Packet_for_the_Congregations.pdf#page=15 http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/312/congregations.shtml