New medical marijuana ruling

Jun 8 2005

In many of San Francisco's medical marijuana clubs business carried on as usual despite the Supreme Court ruling on June 6 that people who smoke pot for medicinal purposes can be prosecuted for violating federal drug laws.

The new ruling, which over-rides medical marijuana statutes in 10 states, means that people who smoke marijuana because their doctors recommend it to ease pain, can be prosecuted for violating federal drug laws.

California and other states with medical marijuana laws insist they are not about to start searching for reasons to shut down the dispensaries. But the ruling has un-nerved many patients who rely on the drug to cope with their medical condition.

The ruling does not invalidate medical marijuana laws in California, Alaska, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Vermont or Washington , and state and local authorities in most of those states said they have no interest in arresting people who smoke pot because their doctors recommend it to ease pain.

California Attorney General Bill Lockyer says people need not panic as no changes are anticipated, he says nothing is different today than it was two days ago, in terms of real world impact.

But it remains to be seen whether the Drug Enforcement Administration will crack down on medical marijuana users. The Justice Department has not as yet commented.

Paul Armentano of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, said that although arrests of sick patients have been rare, the government has arrested more than 60 people in medical marijuana raids since September 2001, and most of the arrests have been in California, the first state to allow medical marijuana in 1996.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has previously supported use of pot by sick people, says it is now up to Congress to provide clarity.

Montana's state Attorney General, Mike McGrath, says the state is not obligated to help federal authorities prosecute people following state law, and the 119 residents who paid $200 to get on the state's confidential registry won't face state prosecution.

Although the Supreme Court justices were sympathic to the two seriously ill California women who brought the case, the majority of the judges agreed that federal agents may arrest even sick people who use the drug as well as the people who grow pot for them.