June 6 - 16, 2005
State
Medical Marijuana Laws Remain Valid
Washington, D.C. -- In response
to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling today in Raich v. Ashcroft, that the federal
government can enforce federal laws prohibiting the cultivation, possession,
and use of medical marijuana even in states where medical marijuana is legal
under state law, the American Civil Liberties Union urged state and local
governments to protect individual patients and their caregivers.
"The power of state
governments to enact and enforce state medical marijuana laws is not affected
by the Supreme Court’s ruling," said Allen Hopper, a staff attorney with
the ACLU’s Drug Law Reform Project. "State laws allowing the use of
medical marijuana still offer patients significant protection."
In its decision, the Court
overturned the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that the federal
government could not enforce federal marijuana laws against the cultivation,
possession and use of medical marijuana by the plaintiffs, Angel Raich and Diane
Monson. Angel Raich suffers from several conditions that cause severe, chronic
pain, including an inoperable brain tumor, fibromyalgia, endometriosis,
scoliosis, uterine fibroid tumors and rotator cuff syndrome. Her doctor warned
the Court that she is likely to die if unable to use medical marijuana. Medical
marijuana is also the only effective treatment that eliminates Diane Monson’s
severe back pain and spasms.
Raich v. Ashcroft is the U.S.
Supreme Court’s latest look at the medical marijuana issue. In a case brought
by the ACLU and others, Walters v. Conant, the Court chose to let stand the
Ninth Circuit’s ruling that under the First Amendment doctors can recommend and
discuss medical marijuana with patients.
Valerie Corral was one of the
plaintiffs in the Conant case and founded the Wo/Men’s Alliance for Medical
Marijuana (WAMM), a Santa Cruz, California-based hospice center that supplies
medical marijuana to critically ill patients. The Drug Enforcement
Administration raided WAMM in 2002. After the Ninth Circuit’s ruling in Raich,
a federal district court granted an injunction protecting WAMM from further
federal raids and prosecution. After today’s ruling, however, WAMM members fear
that the injunction will be lifted.
"Since the DEA raided us, 150
WAMM members have died. Today’s ruling is very disturbing," said Valerie
Corral. "I and all of the patients in WAMM are in a terrible predicament,
where we again have to choose between breaking federal law and taking our
medicine."
In oral arguments last November
in the Raich case, Justice Stephen Breyer suggested that patients ask the Food
and Drug Administration to reclassify marijuana for medical use as "the
obvious way to get what they want," adding, "Medicine by regulation
is better than medicine by referendum."
The ACLU, however, pointed out
in a recent legal challenge to the DEA that the federal government has a policy
of obstructing research that could lead to the development of marijuana as a
legal prescription medicine.
"Doctors and patients would
like to take Justice Breyer up on his proposal to develop marijuana as a
medicine through the FDA approval process," said Allen Hopper. "But
the government’s idea of ‘medicine by regulation,’ is to obstruct research. Now
more than ever, Congress and local and state governments need to take action to
protect patients and their caregivers."
Eleven states have enacted laws
allowing patients to use medical marijuana, and a recent CNN/Time poll reported
that 80 percent of Americans favor giving patients access to medical marijuana.
Information is available online
for the ACLU’s legal challenge to the DEA,
In the Matter of Lyle Craker -- http://www.aclu.org/DrugPolicy/DrugPolicy.cfm?ID=18105&c=19 and the
Walters v. Conant case -- http://www.aclu.org/DrugPolicy/DrugPolicy.cfm?ID=14058&c=81
Complete Title: State Medical
Marijuana Laws Remain Valid Despite U.S. Supreme Court Ruling in Raich v.
Ashcroft, ACLU Says
Source: ACLU (NY)
Website:
http://www.aclu.org/court/court.cfm?ID=18409&c=286
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