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Thread: Supreme Court says no to medical marijuana

  1. #1
    Maple SERP savafan's Avatar
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    Supreme Court says no to medical marijuana

    http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/scotus_me...NlYwMlJVRPUCUl



    By GINA HOLLAND, Associated Press Writer 39 minutes ago

    WASHINGTON - Federal authorities may prosecute sick people whose doctors prescribe marijuana to ease pain, the Supreme Court ruled Monday, concluding that state laws don't protect users from a federal ban on the drug.

    The decision is a stinging defeat for marijuana advocates who had successfully pushed 10 states to allow the drug's use to treat various illnesses.

    Justice John Paul Stevens, writing the 6-3 decision, said that Congress could change the law to allow medical use of marijuana.

    The closely watched case was an appeal by the Bush administration in a case involving two seriously ill California women who use marijuana. The court said the prosecution of pot users under the federal Controlled Substances Act was constitutional.

    "I'm going to have to be prepared to be arrested," said Diane Monson, one of the women involved in the case.

    Stevens said the court was not passing judgment on the potential medical benefits of marijuana, and he noted "the troubling facts" in the case. Monson's backyard crop of six marijuana plants was seized by federal agents in 2002, although the California law was on Monson's side.

    In a dissent, Justice
    Sandra Day O'Connor said that states should be allowed to set their own rules.

    Under the Constitution, Congress may pass laws regulating a state's economic activity so long as it involves "interstate commerce" that crosses state borders. The California marijuana in question was homegrown, distributed to patients without charge and without crossing state lines.

    "Our national medical system relies on proven scientific research, not popular opinion. To date, science and research have not determined that smoking marijuana is safe or effective," John Walters, director of National Drug Control Policy, said Monday.

    Stevens said there are other legal options for patients, "but perhaps even more important than these legal avenues is the democratic process, in which the voices of voters allied with these (California women) may one day be heard in the halls of Congress."

    California's medical marijuana law, passed by voters in 1996, allows people to grow, smoke or obtain marijuana for medical needs with a doctor's recommendation. Alaska, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Vermont and Washington state have laws similar to California.

    In those states, doctors generally can give written or oral recommendations on marijuana to patients with cancer,
    HIV and other serious illnesses.

    "The states' core police powers have always included authority to define criminal law and to protect the health, safety, and welfare of their citizens," said O'Connor, who was joined in her dissent by two other states' rights advocates: Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist and Justice
    Clarence Thomas.

    The legal question presented a dilemma for the court's conservatives, who have pushed to broaden states' rights in recent years. They earlier invalidated federal laws dealing with gun possession near schools and violence against women on the grounds the activity was too local to justify federal intrusion.

    O'Connor said she would have opposed California's medical marijuana law if she were a voter or a legislator. But she said the court was overreaching to endorse "making it a federal crime to grow small amounts of marijuana in one's own home for one's own medicinal use."

    Alan Hopper, an
    American Civil Liberties Union attorney, said that local and state officers handle 99 percent of marijuana prosecutions and must still follow any state laws that protect patients. "This is probably not going to change a lot for individual medical marijuana patients," he said.

    The case concerned two Californians, Monson and Angel Raich. The two had sued then-U.S. Attorney General
    John Ashcroft, asking for a court order letting them smoke, grow or obtain marijuana without fear of arrest, home raids or other intrusion by federal authorities.

    Raich, an Oakland woman suffering from ailments including scoliosis, a brain tumor, chronic nausea, fatigue and pain, smokes marijuana every few hours. She said she was partly paralyzed until she started smoking pot. Monson, an accountant who lives near Oroville, Calif., has degenerative spine disease and grows her own marijuana plants in her backyard.

    In the court's main decision, Stevens raised concerns about abuse of marijuana laws. "Our cases have taught us that there are some unscrupulous physicians who overprescribe when it is sufficiently profitable to do so," he said.

    The case is Gonzales v. Raich, 03-1454.
    My dad got to enjoy 3 Reds World Championships by the time he was my age. So far, I've only gotten to enjoy one. Step it up Redlegs!


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  3. #2
    Member kbrake's Avatar
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    Re: Supreme Court says no to medical marijuana

    Stuff like this is unreal, I dont see why people fear weed so much.

  4. #3
    Rally Onion! Chip R's Avatar
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    Re: Supreme Court says no to medical marijuana

    Bummer, man.
    Quote Originally Posted by Raisor View Post
    I was wrong
    Quote Originally Posted by Raisor View Post
    Chip is right

  5. #4
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    Re: Supreme Court says no to medical marijuana

    Yet another victory for the drug companies.

  6. #5
    The Mad Monk Jaycint's Avatar
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    Re: Supreme Court says no to medical marijuana

    Quote Originally Posted by kbrake
    Stuff like this is unreal, I dont see why people fear weed so much.
    Rest easy, people can still destroy their livers and brains with alcohol. The fact that marijuana is illegal just blows my mind.

  7. #6
    breath westofyou's Avatar
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    Re: Supreme Court says no to medical marijuana

    Quote Originally Posted by kbrake
    Stuff like this is unreal, I dont see why people fear weed so much.
    Because it makes a bad Gin and Tonic I guess.

    Ban Drugs from Canada, ban medicinal herbs and allow drug company advertising on TV.

    This bus is being driven by big corportations.

    Really quite sad.

  8. #7
    Member Redsfaithful's Avatar
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    Re: Supreme Court says no to medical marijuana

    What ever happened to state's rights?

    I never thought I'd sound so Republican, but seriously.
    Turning and turning in the widening gyre
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  9. #8
    Member 919191's Avatar
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    Re: Supreme Court says no to medical marijuana

    I don't see how anyone could support this unless it is because of there ondying blind faith in George Bush and their trust that what is good for GM is good for America.

    I never thought I'd sound so Democrat, but seriously.

  10. #9
    Puffy 3:16 Puffy's Avatar
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    Re: Supreme Court says no to medical marijuana

    Wow - Thomas dissented but Scalia agreed with the majority.

    The apocalypse must be near!
    "I came here to kick ass and chew bubble gum... and I'm all out of bubble gum."
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  11. #10
    Member ochre's Avatar
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    Re: Supreme Court says no to medical marijuana

    Quote Originally Posted by Redsfaithful
    What ever happened to state's rights?

    I never thought I'd sound so Republican, but seriously.
    but republicans don't seem to be pro state's rights anymore anyway
    4009



  12. #11
    They call me "chef"
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    Re: Supreme Court says no to medical marijuana

    Does doing crack take pain away?

  13. #12
    Man Pills Falls City Beer's Avatar
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    Re: Supreme Court says no to medical marijuana

    Quote Originally Posted by The Baumer
    Does doing crack take pain away?
    Let's hope so.

    But they'd have to make it non-addictive and essentially non-lethal, like that marijuana stuff.
    “And when finally they sense that some position cannot be sustained, they do not re-examine their ideas. Instead, they simply change the subject.” Jamie Galbraith

  14. #13
    Maple SERP savafan's Avatar
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    Re: Supreme Court says no to medical marijuana

    Quote Originally Posted by ochre
    but republicans don't seem to be pro state's rights anymore anyway
    This isn't the party of Lincoln anymore.
    My dad got to enjoy 3 Reds World Championships by the time he was my age. So far, I've only gotten to enjoy one. Step it up Redlegs!

  15. #14
    Man Pills Falls City Beer's Avatar
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    Re: Supreme Court says no to medical marijuana

    I wonder if Rush Limbaugh wants medical marijuana?

    Or will he just take it from his housemaid? The side effects of oxycontin, after all, are WAY worse and more dangerous than marijuana. And it's 100% legal. Just ask Rush.
    Last edited by Falls City Beer; 06-06-2005 at 07:20 PM.
    “And when finally they sense that some position cannot be sustained, they do not re-examine their ideas. Instead, they simply change the subject.” Jamie Galbraith

  16. #15
    Strategery RFS62's Avatar
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    Re: Supreme Court says no to medical marijuana

    Note to self: cancel doctors appointment
    We'll go down in history as the first society that wouldn't save itself because it wasn't cost effective ~ Kurt Vonnegut


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