cannabisnews.com: Appeals Court Upholds Medical Marijuana Use 





Appeals Court Upholds Medical Marijuana Use 
Posted by CN Staff on December 17, 2003 at 10:59:02 PT
By Carol M. Ostrom, Seattle Times Staff Reporter
Source: Seattle Times 
DeMaris Strohm heard from a friend yesterday that a federal appeals court ruled that state laws protect medical marijuana users from federal prosecution. The West Seattle grandmother promptly burst into tears. "I said, 'Praise God!' and I started crying — out of happiness that I can have my grandson come and stay with me and not worry about the federal government busting down my door," said Strohm, 50.
She has used marijuana with a doctor's permission since 1997 for pain and extreme weight loss after a brutal car accident. Yesterday, a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in a victory for states' rights, ruled unconstitutional federal prosecutions of medical marijuana patients in states that have approved laws allowing such use of the drug. If patients are authorized by a doctor under state laws, and aren't transporting marijuana across state lines or selling it, their growing, possession or use of marijuana is not "drug trafficking," Judge Harry Pregerson wrote for the majority. His ruling sends the case back to the California district judge who declined to protect two patients from federal prosecution. Quoting from a previous court decision, Pregerson's ruling notes: "It is particularly important that in the field of criminal law enforcement, where state power is pre-eminent, national authority be limited to those areas in which interstate commerce is truly affected. ... The police power is, essentially, reserved to the states." The 9th Circuit has a reputation for being frequently overturned by the Supreme Court. But legal experts say its batting average is about the same as other circuits, and its reputation likely the result of the cutting-edge issues that often arise first in California or other states within its jurisdiction. The U.S. Justice Department had argued that state laws allowing medical use of marijuana were superseded by the federal Controlled Substances Act, a 1970 law that puts marijuana in the same category as heroin and other drugs it deems to have no medicinal use. In many states, including Washington, the clash between federal and state laws has left medical marijuana patients fearful of federal prosecution. In some cases, said Douglas Hiatt, a Seattle attorney who represents such patients, the unwavering federal position that marijuana is always illegal has put pressure on state prosecutors to go after patients. "People are living in limbo and being charged under state law. There are lots of people being arrested wrongly under state law," he said. Strohm said she has lived in fear of federal prosecution since she began using marijuana. But after her 1986 accident, she said, she tried 14 different pharmaceutical drugs and all had the same side effect: loss of appetite. Only marijuana has helped keep her from wasting away, she said: At almost 5 feet 7, she now weighs 102 pounds. "Now, I can bring my grandson over to visit for a month in the summertime. I wanted him far away from me because of the danger zone," she said. "I didn't want to have the DEA bust down my door and take me away while he was there and traumatize him." The California case that reached the 9th Circuit involved two women, Angel McClary Raich and Diane Monson. Like Washington and seven other states, California has passed a law allowing certain patients to legally use marijuana. Raich, a 38-year-old Oakland woman, has been diagnosed with more than 10 serious medical conditions, including an inoperable brain tumor, and has used marijuana for more than five years. Her doctor said she has tried all other legal alternatives, but they were ineffective or had intolerable side effects. Monson, an Oroville resident, has severe chronic back pain and muscle spasms caused by a degenerative spinal disease. Her doctor, as well, said alternative medications haven't worked for her. Monson grows her own, while two caregivers supply Raich. Last year, deputies from the county sheriff's department and agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration came to Monson's home. They disagreed about whether her marijuana use was legal, but after a three-hour standoff, the DEA agents seized and destroyed her six plants. The two women, along with Raich's caregivers, filed suit last year against John Ashcroft, the U.S. attorney general, and Asa Hutchinson, the administrator of the DEA. The plaintiffs maintained that the federal law was unconstitutionally being enforced against them. They asked for an injunction barring federal prosecution, but the district court refused. Yesterday's ruling returns the case to the district court to grant the injunction. Randy Barnett, a Boston University constitutional law professor, said the ruling by the 9th Circuit is precedent-setting. "It's the first time there's been a ruling that the application of the Controlled Substances Act to the application of cultivation of medical cannabis is unconstitutional," he said. Federal drug-enforcement agents have raided and shut several medical marijuana growing clubs in California over the past few years. In 2001, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that medical marijuana clubs could not dole out medical marijuana based on the so-called "medical necessity" of patients, even if they have a doctor's recommendation to use marijuana. Justice Clarence Thomas wrote that an Oakland pot club could not defend its actions against federal drug laws by declaring it was dispensing marijuana to the medically needy. Hiatt, the Seattle attorney, said the states'-rights argument may be difficult for the federal government to challenge. "For the Bush administration to fight this would be very difficult and very hypocritical, because they'd be fighting against the very conservative doctrines they've been venerating for the past few years." Times staff reporter Ian Ith and The Associated Press contributed to this report. Source: Seattle Times (WA)Author: Carol M. Ostrom, Seattle Times Staff ReporterPublished:  Wednesday, December 17, 2003Copyright: 2003 The Seattle Times CompanyContact: opinion seatimes.comWebsite: http://www.seattletimes.com/Related Articles & Web Sites:Raich v. Ashcroft in PDFhttp://freedomtoexhale.com/ruling.pdfMedicinal Cannabis Research Linkshttp://freedomtoexhale.com/research.htm9th U.S. Court Protects Pot Patients http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17982.shtmlCourt Exempts Medicinal Pot From Federal Banhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17981.shtmlFeds Ordered To Halt Pot Raidshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17980.shtml
Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help




Comment #8 posted by E_Johnson on December 17, 2003 at 19:35:47 PT
yippierevolutionary, my role model is Ice Cube
In the rather bad movie Higher Learning, the rapper Ice Cube played a learned pothead. He's a college student who smokes weed and studies all the time. Every time you see him on screen, he's got a phattie in one hand and a book in the other.He takes six years to graduate. He plans it this way.His philosophy? He sees the knowledge contained within the university as the precious goods that the Man keeps away from him in order to keep him down. The Man wants to build a big wall around this place to keep people like me out -- so what is in here must be pretty valuable. It's what makes the difference between me and them, he says.He says, now that the Man let me in his palace of knowledge, I'm going to jack him for every bit of knowledge that he keeps in here. I'm going to take as long as I possibly can to graduate so that I can walk out of here with as much of the Man's knowledge as I can carry.That's one way to think about college education. Not so much preparation to be a drone, but something that will at least put you on a level playing field with the drones.Maybe it sounds trite but a lot of the time, trite is true.
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #7 posted by Virgil on December 17, 2003 at 19:32:18 PT
McNamara was with LBJ
He was one of the two that lied about the Gulf of Tonkin incident before Congress which lead to the Vietnam War. Sometimes I do not think fast enough and that is why I said like AG with Nixon.
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #6 posted by yippierevolutionary on December 17, 2003 at 14:15:19 PT
On Facism
I had this stupid game for my palm pilot called Space Traders. You would go around to different planets and it would say what type of government the planet would have and how many pirates and cops there were. Anarchistic planets had lots of pirates but no cops. Communist planets had tons of cops but no pirates. Fascist planets had tons of cops AND tons of pirates. I think we have to change the debate in America between the right and the left to between the corporations and the people.ps. Virgil wasn't macnamara in LBJ's cabinet?pps. Virgil I hear what your saying, the education system has got to go. I spent 4 years in high school wasting my time , and now they want me to waste 4 years in college. I am learning that college isn't about finding myself and broadening my horizons as much as it is about conditioning me to be a corporate drone, working hard all week for the reward of binge drinking on the weekend. 
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #5 posted by Virgil on December 17, 2003 at 12:55:11 PT
Let's talk potlitics
The country really has been taken over by a plutocratic cabal. The Constitution's meaning really has been corrupted. The whole mission of government has been corrutpted. The drug wars show us that the public good has not been recognized in some time.Just read the preamble to the Constitution- http://www.marijuana.com/usconst.php3 The States have been forced to accept a denial of freedom, to use cannabis. You can believe that the thinking behind the Constitution would be that the State governments would do the best by their people as everyone expected the federal government to do. When States could chart their own course doing the best for the public good, different paths could be evalurated and assumably, the worst problem solvers could learn from the best. That is why I say that the litmus test for a true conservative is that they believe the Department of Ecucation on the federal level should be dismantled. It has no place in federal government. The states can do fine if the federal government would not rob people for expenses and interest by an expansion of federal power. Leave the money in the state and let them do it.Those that are for building federal power are all about concentration of power and the public good is ignored. Look what was lost by disallowing all experimentation in the drug wars. Utah was the first state to criminalize laughing grass. All states could have enacted similar legislation if they saw the Utah path was the best way.But no. The federal government used the drug wars to ururp power and transmit American authority abroad, while at the same time the CIA is the kingpin in the drug trade. The problem is we are engulfed in corruption with the judges all being friendly to the federal powers that employ them and who gave them lifetime appointments. What we have is a test of intellectual honesty. We can expect those who advance federal power to impose a tyranny of the states and on their people to be partial.Fortunately history will judge the judges. Their reasoning will be examined and it will not be their conclusions that are of question. It will be their intellectual honesty and their loyalty to the Constitution and the public good. As long as their is a Department of Education, the beast still is dangerous.It really is treason. Boyle from the University of Chicago Law Department and possibly now a resident of Canada and Robert McNamara who was like Attorney General under Nixon? each drew up Articles of Impeachment. In times to come you can expect some retiree to write a book, bringing up an alternate reality had the last election ansered the call to change Congressmen so that a real Impeachment would have happened. The future will judge this time in history involving the misdeeds of this misadministration.The path of this is clear and the reaoning is sound. Look what it does for the public good and the restoration of state experimentation. The corruption is clear. Will the path of this ruling go straight when it intersects the path of corruption? 
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #4 posted by The GCW on December 17, 2003 at 12:41:28 PT
This story put something unique into perspective.
It is going to be very difficult for the historically dicredited Fed. Gov. to continue to fight the bad evil fight... to cage sick humans for using a plant God gave Us and said was good on the very 1st page of the Bible.Americans are ready to give them all the pee they want and tell them where to put it!And for anyone who is just dropping by,& haven't heard: Democratic Presidential nominee, Dennis Kucinich, put in writing that as PRESIDENT He WILL: 
"DECRIMINALIZE MARIJUANA" -"in favor of a drug policy that sets reasonable boundaries for marijuana use by establishing guidelines similar to those already in place for alcohol." (POSTED ON His website!)http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17917.shtml http://www.kucinich.us/issues/marijuana_decrim.php Kucinich ends the senseless cagings.First let's stop the sick and suffering from any more harms due to this sickening and discredited war, and end further casualties.The Fed. government has demanded a high toll, to the sick in its fight to cage them.But, Citizens who use cannabis to help health issues have a friend in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #3 posted by FoM on December 17, 2003 at 11:39:09 PT
EJ One More Thing
We ordered Saving Grace for Christmas. I can't wait to see it. 
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #2 posted by FoM on December 17, 2003 at 11:16:04 PT
EJ Me Too!
The world is all messed up but today and maybe only today we can be very happy. I think of Neil Young's words often these days and it helps me keep my head clearer then it would be with all that is happening in the world. Here are the words.Slamming down some late night shotsThe artist and the hero compareThose envisions and afterthoughtsFor the twenty first century.But mostly came up with nothingSo the truth was never learnedAnd the human race justKept rollin' on.Rollin' through the fightingRollin' through the religious warsRollin' down the temple wallsAnd the churches' exposed sores.Rollin' through the fightingThrough religious warsMostly came up with nothing...
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #1 posted by E_Johnson on December 17, 2003 at 11:11:32 PT
Busy day FoM?
I love it when there's good news that gets repeated everywhere. :-)
[ Post Comment ]


Post Comment