Description: THE WORLD ASSEMBLY:

UNDERSTANDS that each nation within this august body has its own individualized laws regarding recreational drug use inside its own borders.

RESPECTS the right of each nation to make such decisions due to the lack of international law on the subject.

REALIZES that some patients receive inadequate and/or substandard medical treatment due to the limitations of pharmacology and legal restrictions within their nation of residence.

BELIEVES that medical professionals should be able to prescribe evidence-based treatments for their patients’ use when standard courses of therapy prove to be ineffective or insufficient.

DEFINES “medically essential drug” (MED) as a medication or treatment that is necessary to improve management and/or treatment of a patient’s medical condition but is specially regulated and/or restricted within a given nation.

REQUIRES, at minimum, that member nations allow their citizens medicinal access and medicinal use of MEDs.

PERMITS member nations to implement any/all of the following restrictions on the medicinal access and use of MEDs within their sovereign borders:
• Patients may be required to try evidence-based standard course(s) of therapy for a sufficient duration to allow for adequate symptom control to be obtained. Patient-specific waivers must be available in the event that such trials would result in untenable adverse harm.
• Practitioners who prescribe MEDs may be required to obtain a special certification in order to ensure that MEDs are being used solely for medicinal purposes. The certification must have reasonable and attainable standards.
• Member nations may require MED dispensaries to institute reasonable security measures to prevent theft and/or unauthorized possession of MEDs.

CLARIFIES that nothing in this text limits a member state's ability to outlaw or legalize recreational use of MEDs or other drugs.

Votes For: 4,532
Votes Against: 1,807

Implemented: Wed Dec 22 2010