A group of physicians, health organizations, and patients have filed a federal lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia challenging the federal government’s refusal to allow physicians to prescribe marijuana in states that permit them to do so. The lawsuit is a direct response to the Clinton administration’s February 11, 1997, announcement in the Federal Register threatening doctors who recommend medical marijuana to patients in compliance with state law with a wide range of punishments — including criminal prosecution.
The defendants in the suit are: Gen. Barry McCaffrey, Director of White House Drug Control Policy; Thomas Constantine, Administrator of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration; Janet Reno, Attorney General of the United States; and Donna Shalala, Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. Representing the plaintiffs are the Washington D.C. law firms of Emord and Associates and Berliner, Corcoran and Rowe.
Plaintiffs seek a declaratory judgment that the federal policy prohibiting physicians from recommending or prescribing marijuana in accordance with state law violates the First, Ninth, and Tenth Amendments and the Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution. Plaintiffs also seek a declaratory judgment that those aspects of federal policy that terminate a physicians participation in federal programs such as Medicaid and Medicare, and revoke their DEA drug registrations authorizing them to prescribe controlled drugs, violate the Administrative Procedure Act. The plaintiffs request that the court enjoin the federal government from enforcing its policy against doctors and patients.
The lawsuit cites state laws in Connecticut, Virginia, and Arizona that permit physicians to prescribe marijuana for patients suffering from serious illness. The suit also cites California’s recently approved medical marijuana initiative allowing patients to use marijuana with a physician’s recommendation. The two health organizations named as plaintiffs, the American Preventive Medical Association and the Life Extension Foundation (LEF), represent numerous physicians from those states.
NORML’s Executive Director R. Keith Stroup, Esq., said this latest suit raises additional legal issues not addressed in the class action suit filed in California on January 14. “In addition to the obvious First Amendment issues raised in both challenges, the D.C. suit also alleges Ninth and Tenth Amendment violations, as well as a violation of the Commerce Clause (Article I, Sec. 8, Clause 3) of the U.S. Constitution. These are important issues for the federal court to consider,” Stroup said.
For more information, please contact the law firm of Emord & Associates at (202) 466-6937 or Berliner, Corcoran, & Rowe at (202) 293-5555. For additional information, please contact R. Keith Stroup of NORML at (202) 483-5500.