Pubdate: Tue, 07 Jun 2005
Source: News & Observer (Raleigh, NC)
Copyright: 2005 The News and Observer Publishing Company
Contact: https://miva.nando.com/contact_us/letter_editor.html
Website: http://www.news-observer.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/304
Author: David Whitney and Claire Cooper, McClatchy Newspapers
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/Raich (Angel Raich)

MEDICINAL WEED IS ILLEGAL

Federal drug laws do not exempt ailing marijuana users, the Supreme Court 
rules Supreme Court plaintiff Diane Monson of Oroville, Calif., smokes 
marijuana to relieve back pain. The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that federal 
laws supersede state laws permitting patients to use the drug under 
doctors' orders.

WASHINGTON -- A medical prescription is not a ticket to legal marijuana, 
the U.S. Supreme Court said Monday in a 6-3 ruling.

The justices nonetheless expressed sympathy for those whose illnesses have 
been uniquely alleviated by the popular street drug.

In an opinion written by Justice John Paul Stevens, the court held that 
state laws do not trump the federal government's authority under the 
Constitution to prosecute sick users on federal drug charges.

California's law, passed by voters in 1996, allows people to grow, smoke or 
obtain marijuana for medical needs with a doctor's recommendation.

The ruling does not strike down California's law, or similar ones in 
Alaska, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Vermont and 
Washington state, according to The Associated Press. Besides those states, 
Arizona permits marijuana prescriptions but has never instituted a program 
to support them. In Maryland, people accused of violating state possession 
laws can present evidence to a judge of a medicinal use of the drug; the 
judge can then lower the punishment to a $100 fine.

The justices said their decision was "made difficult" by the claims of the 
two California women who brought the appeal -- Angel McClary Raich of 
Oakland and Diane Monson of Oroville. The women said they would suffer 
irreparable harm if their supply of legal marijuana dried up because of the 
ruling.

But the justices said the state exemption for medical marijuana was certain 
to add to the street supply of marijuana.

"In contrast to most prescriptions for legal drugs, which limit dosage and 
duration of the usage, under California's law the doctor's permission to 
recommend marijuana is open-ended," the majority said.

The high court suggested that the issue belongs in the political arena.

Medical marijuana proponents can turn to administrative avenues to have it 
reclassified from a banned Schedule I drug to a Schedule II drug restricted 
to medical use, the justices said.

"But perhaps even more important than these legal avenues is the democratic 
process in which the voices of voters allied with these [women] may one day 
be heard in the halls of Congress," it said.

Raich, who has a brain tumor and has credited marijuana with relieving her 
misery to the point that she no longer requires use of a wheelchair, said 
she will be beating a path to Congress.

"We're not going away," Raich said.

Monson, who has chronic back spasms, said she was "very disappointed" with 
the ruling.

"I think it's just a blow to compassion everywhere," she said. "But I'm 
going to ... continue to do what I think is right." 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake