Last updated on: 9/7/2007 | Author: ProCon.org

Benjamin Rush, MD Biography

Title:
Physician
Position:
Not Clearly Pro or Con to the question "Should Marijuana Be a Medical Option?"
Reasoning:

“Unless we put Medical Freedom into the Constitution, the time will come when medicine will organize into an undercover dictatorship… to restrict the art of healing to one class of men, and deny equal privilege to others, will be to constitute the Bastille of Medical Science.”

The Autobiography of Benjamin Rush, 1948
Theoretical Expertise Ranking:
     Key Experts
Physicians [Physicians are the "key experts" in the medical marijuana debate because the issue is thought by many to be ultimately based on the medical value and risks of marijuana, and Physicians, with their training and clinical work, should (at least in theory) have the best knowledge of marijuana's medical value and risks.] [Note: Key Experts definition varies by sites that have this designation.]
Involvement and Affiliations:
  • Professor, Medical Theory and Clinical Practice, University of Pennsylvania, 1791-1813
  • Member and Secretary, Pennsylvania Abolitionist Society, 1787-1813
  • Treasurer, U.S. Mint, 1779-1813
  • Surgeon-General, Continental Army, 1777
  • Elected to Pennsylvania Provincial Conference and Continental Congress
  • Physician, Professor of Chemistry, College of Philadelphia, 1769
  • Member, Sons of Liberty, 1773
Education:
  • MD, University of Edinburgh
  • BA, College of New Jersey (now Princeton University)
Other:
  • Deceased (1746-1813)
  • Signer of the Declaration of Independence