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.
