Georgia Legalizes Medical Marijuana as Lawmakers Change Views
BERMAN: Georgia just became the latest state to legalize medical marijuana. Governor Nathan Deal signed a deal that makes up to 20 ounces of cannabis oil legal, with a doctor's approval, for people with cancer and other diseases.</s>BOLDUAN: It comes alongside a new look at medical marijuana use by Sanjay Gupta and how the issue has evolved in regards to politics and science over the years. Sanjay says he is surprised how elected officials have changed their views on the issue and are now beginning to push for changes in the law. That's a big part of his latest report called "Weed 3." Here's a new sneak peek.</s>SEN. CORY BOOKER, (D), NEW JERSEY: This bill that we're introducing seeks to right decades of long.</s>DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): March 2015, Democrats Cory Booker and Kirsten Gillibrand, along with Republican Rand Paul have just proposed the most bodacious marijuana legislation in our lifetime. If it passes, it will create a fundamental change in the way the United States views and treats marijuana.</s>BOOKER: Our drug laws in this country, as a whole, need a revolution of common sense and compassion.</s>GUPTA: For starters, it would do something scientists have been begging for, reschedule cannabis from Schedule 1 to a much less restrictive Schedule 2 controlled substance.</s>SEN. KIRSTEN GILLIBRAND, (D), NEW YORK: Once you make the class of drugs Schedule 2, you can research it and find out what are medical impacts and when can you use it and when does it make sense. That's what's necessary. It's so simple.</s>GUPTA: The bill would also mandate more farms to grow research-grade marijuana and allow greater access to it for those in need, including veterans who would for the first time be able to get a prescription for medicinal marijuana from the V.A. hospitals.</s>BOOKER: Let's stop the pot hypocrisy. We now have three presidents that have admitted to smoking marijuana. People in public office, all throughout the Senate, have said, hey, I have smoked marijuana recreationally. How much of a hypocrite do you have to be to say that I broke American laws using pot as a recreational thing and that I'm not going to support this idea that, as a medicine for severely sick people, that they shouldn't be able to access this drug.</s>BOLDUAN: Earlier we spoke with Sanjay about why he thinks this federal measure is so bold and important.</s>GUPTA: For starters, it would reschedule the substance from Schedule 1 substance, which puts it in the highest Schedule, to a much more lenient Schedule 2. Right now, it's preordained as being a drug of high abuse with no medicinal benefit. When you put it in Schedule 2, it has accepted medicinal use. And that changes a lot of things. It changes the world for federal scientists and funding, and for the amount of products that can be grown. It really makes research a lot easier.</s>BOLDUAN: You heard Senator Booker (ph) in your interview talk about presidents who smoked pot or said they didn't smoked pot but did. You asked President Obama about this legislation. Where does he stand on it?</s>GUPTA: It was the strongest I heard him talk about this, the idea that rescheduling it should be on the table, the idea that people who have legitimate uses for it should be able to get access to it, and the idea that he acknowledged that ideology has trumped science for too long on this particular issue and it needs to change. He talked a lot about this when he was running for president eight years ago or six years ago. This is the first time that we've heard some of his most current positions with regard to reform specifically.</s>BERMAN: You have a new op-ed out calling for a revolution in the way we think about marijuana in this country. This is now your third special on marijuana. It's called "Weed 3." You have gone pretty far out there now. I can't imagine that 10 or 15 years ago you ever thought you would do this.</s>GUPTA: Right.</s>BERMAN: Why is this so important to you? How come you keep pushing this as hard as you do?</s>GUPTA: I was against it for a while. I wrote articles in the past saying the evidence wasn't compelling around medical marijuana. We're spoon-fed so much of these thoughts. Even when you look at the literature in the United States, you come to realize that over a 15- year period, the vast majority of studies were designed to look for harm and not benefit. Already, if you look at the science, you're getting a distorted picture. What I saw was, not only can it work for people, many times it's the only thing that can work for people. So it almost became a moral issue in some ways that we would deny people this. Will there be abuse? Yeah. Will there be malingerers who just want to get high? Yes. Does that happen with other medications? Certainly, does. But with this, the stakes are high. Are you going to deny people something that could work because you're concerned about those issues or do you try to correct those issues and make sure people get the care they need?</s>BOLDUAN: Our thanks to Sanjay, as always. "Weed 3, the Marijuana Revolution" premiers Sunday night at 9:00 eastern and pacific, followed by the premiere of "High Profits" right here on CNN. We will be right back.