| Supreme Court to Hear Medical Marijuana Appeal | |
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Dateline: 11/28/00
By the end of July, 2001, the U.S. Supreme Court will decide whether "medical necessity" can be used as a valid defense by persons accused of violating federal laws against distribution of marijuana. [See: Title 21, Chapter 13, United States Code]
The court
agreed on Nov. 27, to hear an appeal from the U.S. Department of Justice to a Sept.
8, 2000 injunction issued by U.S. District Court Judge William Alsup in San Francisco banning the government from investigating or prosecuting
physicians who recommending marijuana as a medical treatment, and allowing
medical marijuana clubs to continue serving patients who could prove marijuana
was, to them, a "medical necessity."
The
court's 2001 hearing will mark the latest round in the battle between federal
drug laws preventing distribution of marijuana for any reason, and California's
Proposition 215, a 1996 ballot initiative allowing patients, with a doctor's
recommendation, to grow, possess and use the drug for pain relief. The states of
Alaska,
Arizona, Hawaii, Maine, Nevada, Oregon and Washington all have similar laws. Supporters of legalized
medical marijuana use argue that Judge Alsup's ruling of Sept. 8 does not
prevent the government form prosecuting individuals who violate federal drug
laws. The
Justice Department first challenged California's Proposition 215 in 1998, when U.S. District
Judge Charles Breyer in San Francisco, issued an injunction preventing the
Oakland (CA) Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative and similar clubs from distributing
marijuana.
In 1998, the Justice Department won an injunction from U.S. District Judge
Charles Breyer in San Francisco prohibiting the Oakland Cannabis Buyers'
Cooperative and other similar medicinal marijuana clubs from distributing
cannabis. On Aug. 29, 2000, the
Supreme Court, acting on an emergency request from the Clinton Administration,
voted 7-1 to bar the distribution of marijuana for
medicinal purposes in California. The case was: U.S. v. Oakland
Cannabis Buyers’ Cooperative. Attorneys for the Oakland Cannabis Buyers'
Cooperative have stated that the Supreme Court's upcoming ruling should not
impact existing laws in California or the validity of patients' rights under
those laws. Oral arguments before the Supreme Court are expected early next
year, with a decision due in July, 2001.
The court also issued the following decision today:
Court Knocks Down Drug Checkpoints (US News)
In a decision that helps bolster the Fourth Amendment protection against
