cannabisnews.com: Setback on Medical Marijuana





Setback on Medical Marijuana
Posted by FoM on May 16, 2001 at 22:30:47 PT
Editorial
Source: New York Times
The federal government won a major legal victory Monday in its benighted efforts to prevent the use of marijuana to relieve the symptoms of pain, nausea or loss of appetite in desperately ill patients. But the Supreme Court's unanimous verdict against a California cooperative set up to supply marijuana to qualified patients need not terminate all efforts to help those who have no reasonable alternative treatment. The verdict simply shifts the onus to individual patients or to compassionate state governments to obtain marijuana for medical purposes and test the limits of federal intransigence.
Although marijuana is categorized as an illegal drug under federal drug control laws, California and eight other states have passed laws that give patients the right to obtain it for medical purposes. Federal authorities, concerned that such state laws are a loophole allowing people to secure illegal drugs, sued for an injunction against the Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative to shut down its operations as a violation of federal law. In its ruling against the cooperative, the court, which has often championed states' rights, found reason to ignore the wishes of Californians. The cooperative had the backing of the Oakland city government and police and was clearly consistent with the wishes of California voters, 56 percent of whom approved medical use of marijuana in a 1996 referendum. But the Supreme Court, in an 8-to-0 decision, ruled that Congress, by classifying marijuana as a Schedule I drug under the Controlled Substances Act, had determined that marijuana has "no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States." Thus the cooperative could not claim a medical defense for distributing it, even though highly respected medical groups, ranging from the Institute of Medicine to the California Medical Association, have seen a valid if limited role for marijuana in relieving the symptoms of patients who are not helped by pills containing an active ingredient of marijuana or by other treatments. Smoking marijuana, for example, can alleviate the nausea associated with cancer chemotherapy and the wasting syndrome associated with AIDS.The decision left some wiggle room for future efforts to allow medical uses. Congress could make marijuana medically available through legislation, but that is not considered likely with Republican control of both houses. State governments could distribute the drug themselves, as two states are now considering, and hope that a Supreme Court that has favored states' rights in other contexts might rule for the states in this context as well. Or patients can take matters into their own hands and dare federal authorities to come after them for activities their own state authorities deem legal. Five of the Supreme Court justices left hints that they might read federal law as prohibiting any medical use of marijuana in any setting outside a research project. But the other three signed a concurring opinion contending that this week's decision found only large-scale manufacture and distribution of marijuana illegal and did not address the issue of whether individual patients could obtain and use the drug for medical purposes. Either way, sick patients may now be forced to grow the plants themselves or buy marijuana from illegal dealers on the street, increasing the very trafficking that federal authorities say they want to shut down.Federal agents could theoretically arrest patients who grow or use marijuana for treatment recommended by a physician, but under California law the state and local police could not. If any patients should actually be arrested, juries would seem unlikely to convict in a state where most people endorse the medical use of marijuana. Congress should be as wise.Source: New York Times (NY)Published: May 17, 2001Copyright: 2001 The New York Times CompanyContact: letters nytimes.comWebsite: http://www.nytimes.com/Forum: http://forums.nytimes.com/comment/  O.C.B.C. Versus The U.S. Government News http://www.freedomtoexhale.com/mj.htmCannabisNews Medical Marijuana Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/medical.shtml 
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Comment #1 posted by Cuzn Buzz on May 16, 2001 at 22:42:59 PT
Mamma Said
Mamma said there'd be days like this.There'll be days like this my Mamma said.I know you "Can't Hurry Love".But sometimes I feel like a "Love Child".Sorry, all the references to the "supremes" reminded me of a much more admirable group of Supremes.Maybe we should start calling those court jesters the stupremes."Aint no mountain high enough....."Goodnight Miss Ross, where-ever you are.
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