PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - M Hayry TI - Prescribing cannabis: freedom, autonomy, and values AID - 10.1136/jme.2002.001347 DP - 2004 Aug 01 TA - Journal of Medical Ethics PG - 333--336 VI - 30 IP - 4 4099 - http://jme.bmj.com/content/30/4/333.short 4100 - http://jme.bmj.com/content/30/4/333.full SO - J Med Ethics2004 Aug 01; 30 AB - In many Western jurisdictions cannabis, unlike most other psychoactive drugs, cannot be prescribed to patients even in cases where medical professionals believe that it would ease the patient’s pain or anxiety. The reasons for this prohibition are mostly ideological, although medical and moral arguments have been formulated to support it. In this paper, it is argued that freedom, properly understood, provides a sound ethical reason to allow the use of cannabis in medicine. Scientific facts, appeals to harm and autonomy, and considerations of symbolic value cannot consistently justify prohibitions.