Jun 19 2005
The go-ahead was given on Friday by the state's attorney general Hardy Myers, for Oregon to resume issuing cards that allow sick patients to smoke marijuana.
The move comes despite a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that would enable the federal government to prosecute for medical use of the drug.
According to a statement by Oregon Attorney General's office, the Supreme Court decision has no legal impact on the operation of Oregon's program.
Oregon had suspended the issuing of new prescription marijuana cards until the state's top lawyer could review the Supreme Court's June 6 decision.
The Supreme court in a 6-3 ruling, decided that the U.S. government could enforce a federal law prohibiting the cultivation, possession and use of medical marijuana even in the 10 states where it is legal under state law.
A legal challenge to convince the high court that individuals should be able to use marijuana for medical purposes had been brought by two seriously ill women.
Myers in his review found that the Supreme Court decision did not hold the state laws regulating medical marijuana invalid nor did it require states to repeal existing medical marijuana laws.
According to Myers, neither did it force states to enforce federal drug laws.
In a statement, he said the Supreme Court decision would not alter Oregon's program and the state was not obliged to tell patients they could be prosecuted under federal laws.
According to the Oregon Department of Human Services, which runs Oregon's prescription pot plan, Oregon has issued 10,421 medical marijuana cards, the vast majority of them for severe pain.
Oregon voters approved the program in 1998.
Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Montana, Nevada, Vermont and Washington also have some type of medical marijuana laws.
Bruce Mirken, spokesman for the Marijuana Policy Project in Washington, says they are not aware of any other states that have put any kind of moratorium on their programs. He says the Supreme Court decision simply maintained the status quo.