I can speak second hand about MMJ. I never sought to get a card myself, and I won't now that it is legal for recreational use in WA, but I witnessed first hand how it tremendously helped a friend of mine who suffers from Fibromyalgia. Before she acquired her card, she was so disabled from the pain that she would sometimes require a wheelchair and need help feeding herself because she couldn't hold utensils.

Now my observation is clearly not scientific, this wasn't a study with controls, but while I was initially skeptical of the therapeutic value as compared with other available drug options, other prescription medication did not have the same effect. She stopped taking MMJ for a short while and her symptoms returned.

I also cannot rule out that there is some placebo effect going on, but if it is a placebo, so what? In this one instance, I have a hard time believing that it hasn't helped. Her quality of life is substantially better for MMJ.

This is also why I never considered taking advantage of the system. It might have been possible for me to find some condition that would have allowed me to acquire an MMJ card of my own, so that I could purchase Marijuana for recreational consumption. What I didn't want though, was to harm a program that was successful in treating her illness nor that of anyone else for whom it helps.

I really hope that the "crackdown" doesn't adversely affect those who need it.

Here in CA, the system is already targeted at recreational users at the expense of those who really need it: the places you obtain it, the faux medical exams, the strains, etc. Legitimate medical practitioners are being turned off from MMJ because of the culture.

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2010/10/california-medic... is an instructive (and fun) read.

"What's your medical condition?"

"Sobriety."

"I see. And your symptoms?"

"I'm not high all the time."

http://penny-arcade.com/comic/2011/04/15

"I'm suffering from anxiety over whether you'll prescribe me medical marijuana"

"Sounds like you need some medical marijuana."

http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=1585#comic

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More seriously, have there been any implementations of medical marijuana anywhere that weren't trivially gamed for recreational uses?

I know the people who were running one of the cannabis trials for multiple sclerosis in the UK. Gaming that would have been pretty hard as you have to be referred within the NHS as a long term MS sufferer.

"I have a boring movie phobia."