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The
Compassionate Use Act of 1996
Proposition 215
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.
SECTION 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.
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