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 motaman
old hand
Registered: 12/18/02
Posts: 6,044
Last seen: 5 months, 1 day
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 Justices Reject Govt. Medical Marijuana Appeal 
#2007952 - 10/14/03 11:42 AM (17 years, 4 months ago) |
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http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsArticle.jhtml?type=healthNews&storyID=3611122§ion=news
Justices Reject Govt. Medical Marijuana Appeal
Tue 14 October, 2003 16:14 BST
By James Vicini
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court let stand on Tuesday a ruling that the government cannot revoke the federal prescription licenses of doctors who recommend medical marijuana to sick patients.
Without any comment, the justices rejected a Bush administration appeal of the ruling that bars the government from punishing and from even investigating a doctor's conduct because of a recommendation that a patient use marijuana.
The federal government has classified marijuana as a controlled substance, an illegal drug, saying it has "a high potential for abuse," "no currently accepted medical use" and is unsafe even when used under medical supervision.
A U.S. appeals court in San Francisco ruled the federal government's policy against doctors who recommend marijuana violated constitutional free-speech rights of physicians and patients.
The case began after California voters in 1996 adopted Proposition 215, which makes it legal for seriously ill patients to grow and possess marijuana for medical use when a doctor recommends it.
Since the case began, eight other states -- Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Nevada, Oregon and Washington -- have approved similar medical marijuana laws.
The Clinton administration threatened to revoke the licenses of physicians who recommended marijuana as a medical treatment, a policy the Bush administration has continued and defended.
In 1997, a number of physicians and patients sued in federal court in California.
The appeals court upheld a federal judge's injunction that bars the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration from revoking a physician's registration to prescribe federally regulated narcotics. The agency also was barred from even beginning an investigation of any doctor who recommended marijuana.
Solicitor General Theodore Olson of the Justice Department appealed to the Supreme Court and said the decision impaired the government's power "to enforce the law in an area vital to the public health and safety."
He said the appeals court decision imposed "sweeping and unprecedented restrictions on the government's ability even to investigate possible violations of the law."
Lawyers from the American Civil Liberties Union, which helped represent those challenging the policy, opposed the appeal. They called the government policy censorship of speech covered by the physician-patient relationship.
"What's at issue is the ability of doctors to speak openly and honestly with their patients about marijuana as a viable therapy option," said Graham Boyd, director of the ACLU's Drug Policy Litigation Project.
"Patients deserve access to accurate information about (marijuana's) medicinal value in treating pain, nausea, wasting syndrome and other symptoms of life-threatening diseases," he said.
The high court sided with the ACLU and declined to hear the government's appeal.
The Supreme Court last addressed the issue of medical marijuana in 2001, when it ruled that California cannabis clubs may not distribute marijuana as a "medical necessity" for seriously ill patients.
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http://heffter.org
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Raadt
nicht
Registered: 06/07/02
Posts: 2,107
Loc: azurescending
Last seen: 1 year, 10 months
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Re: Justices Reject Govt. Medical Marijuana Appeal [Re: motaman]
#2008169 - 10/14/03 01:31 PM (17 years, 4 months ago) |
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wow! a step forward??!?!?
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Raadt
-- The information I provide is only information from readings, growing of gourmet mushrooms, and second hand stories--
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DailyPot
Trip'n Time
Registered: 11/17/02
Posts: 2,207
Loc: Florida
Last seen: 15 years, 1 month
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Re: Justices Reject Govt. Medical Marijuana Appeal [Re: Raadt]
#2009162 - 10/14/03 08:10 PM (17 years, 4 months ago) |
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Quote:
Raadt said:
wow! a step forward??!?!?
Not really...they aren't allowing anything new, all they're saying is that doctors wont get in trouble for telling dieing people the truth...Bush wanted punishments for doctors using their freedom of speech and professional medical opinions 
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Seuss
Error: divide byzero
Registered: 04/27/01
Posts: 23,480
Loc: Caribbean
Last seen: 3 months, 26 days
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Re: Justices Reject Govt. Medical Marijuana Appeal [Re: DailyPot]
#2010946 - 10/15/03 10:02 AM (17 years, 4 months ago) |
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> Bush wanted punishments for doctors using their freedom of speech and professional medical opinions
Yep... lawyers (law makers) know best when it comes to our health, no? Unlike doctors, they keep our best interests in mind by looking out for us and protecting us from those uneducated caregivers. Whew, thank God for congress! (*major sarcasm*)
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Just another spore in the wind.
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