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) (l) 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 act 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 act
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 which can be given effect
without the invalid provision or application, and to this end the
provisions of this measure are severable.
