As for the legislation & administration of the program, I don't know.
As for the efficacy of medicinal usage, YES, it does work. Don't believe it? Spend a little time talking to someone who knows firsthand. Crohn's disease has been my companion for 35 years.

Cheech: "Slow doooown. Slow doooown, man."

Chong: "Sh*t, man, I'm only doin' 7."

This is a big deal that has gotten very little attention. I may not be here to see it but someday my grandson will say "I wish Mimi were here to see this". Efficacy? Proven! And not just for the aforementioned maladies.

I've been getting emails from norml.org for a few years. Its fascinating what's going on.
There's around 13 states where its legal for medical, Mass. and a few others recently made it legal for adults to have a certain amount for personal use.
Medical marijuana got more votes than Obama in Mich. Oakland Calif and Michigan have a school where you can train to run a dispensary. LA has more dispensaries than Starbucks and schools and in Colorado where it just passed there are more requests for dispensary licenses than there are Starbucks in the whole state.
I think there may be a referendum to legalize it completely in Calif in Nov. The mainstream media has picked up on this some but norml has much more info. This is not wacky hippie stuff, it really has picked up in the mainstream.

Decriminalized or even legalized marijuana is more likely than single-payer healthcare in the near future.

Why?

Because the tobacco companies or other companies who would produce a legal joint would make bundles of money, the crime rate would go down, tax revenues would skyrocket, and, best of all, people would just sit around and do nothing, which would be the best possible outcome for the powers that be. People might be dying of cancer with no health insurance, but at least they could expire with a smile on their face.

I have learned from many friends that live in states where they have medical marijuan. I suffer from migraines that will make you sleep on icepacks to basicly numb your head to make it stop. Myself having a low tolerance level can take a couple of hits off my pipe, or bong and it is gone. I am able to live a some what normal life considering I am legally blind from a stroke, but compared to the meds I was taken, I choose it. One of the meds I took for 5 years attacks my kidneys, the other my liver. I was giving another a month ago that they claim is supposed to help with them it does nothing but make you sleep. What kind of life is that for anyone? I choose my green any day of the week over the prescriptions I keep being given.

When the state legislature can't decide if grown adults can be trusted to buy legal alcohol in grocery stores, I seriously doubt the legalization of medical marijuana is going to see the light of day beyond some snickering in a sub-sub-sub-committee meeting.

That's about a powerful lobby acting effectively in what it perceives to be its own self-interest. The same kind of thing will happen when (not if) weed gets greenlighted.

I don't share your pessimism about this. Legalizing marijuana is such a no-brainer that it must happen even in TN. Surely. Right?