Pubdate: Wed, 15 Oct 2003 Source: Portland Press Herald (ME) Copyright: 2003 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc. Contact: http://www.portland.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/744 Author: Joshua L. Weinstein, Portland Press Herald Writer Cited: Marijuana Policy Project http://www.mpp.org Cited: Drug Policy Alliance http://www.drugpolicy.org Cited: Maine Medical Association http://www.mainemed.com/ Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/Conant (Walters v. Conant) DOCTORS GET COURT ASSIST ON ADVISING MARIJUANA The United States Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld a position long held by the Maine Medical Association: That physicians cannot be punished for recommending some of their patients use marijuana. Maine is one of nine states that have legalized marijuana for medicinal purposes and one of eight affected by the court's decision Tuesday. "This case, if ever there was a case, ought to make physicians feel absolutely comfortable in speaking candidly with patients about medical marijuana," said Daniel Abrahamson, director of legal affairs for the Drug Policy Alliance. "Whether the doctors are in Maine or whether they're in California, they should have the First Amendment right to speak candidly with patients about medical marijuana." Gordon Smith, the executive director of the Maine Medical Association, said "it's a decision that medicine across the country anticipated and is pleased to get. If it had gone the other way, it's marijuana today and some other type of therapeutic modality tomorrow. Most of medicine will be happy with the decision." The decision was a defeat for the Bush administration, which wanted to prohibit doctors from recommending marijuana, or perhaps talking about its benefits. An appellate court ruled in 2002 that the government cannot revoke doctors' prescription licenses over the issue, and the Department of Justice asked the Supreme Court to review that ruling. Tuesday, the Supreme Court declined the invitation. By not reviewing the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision that the Justice Department's policy violated doctors' right of free speech, justices effectively said that physicians across the country are allowed to talk about, and recommend, marijuana. The case, Conant v. Walters "should put an end to this question," said James M. Cameron, a Maine assistant attorney general. "This decision is significant in that it does stand for the proposition that doctors can speak freely to their patients - even for things like using marijuana to alleviate their suffering." Under a Maine law that voters approved in 1999, patients with specific conditions such as AIDS are allowed to use marijuana if they discuss it with their physicians and the doctors agree that marijuana might help them. Charlie Wynott, an AIDS patient who uses marijuana, and who has had difficulty finding a Maine doctor willing to talk about marijuana, said Tuesday he is pleased with the Supreme Court's decision, though he fears some doctors will remain reluctant to recommend marijuana. It took him some time to find a physician in this state willing to offer the recommendation, even though his Florida physician had done so. "They're all generally still paranoid about even discussing it with their patients from my experience," he said. Steve Fox, director of government relations with the Washington, D.C.-based Marijuana Policy Project, said that "there may have been some nervousness among doctors with this case unsettled, but from the beginning, each court that has looked at this has said that doctors clearly have a First Amendment right to recommend medical marijuana." He noted that the Maine Legislature was the first to strengthen a state's medical marijuana law. Last year, it increased the amount of marijuana a patient can possess from 1 1/4 ounces to 2 1/2 ounces. Under federal law, marijuana remains illegal under any circumstances. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake