U.S. District Judge Fern Smith issued a temporary restraining order on Friday blocking federal officials from punishing California physicians who recommend medical marijuana to their patients. The decision came on the first day of hearings on a complaint filed by a group of prominent doctors and medical marijuana patients requesting an injunction to block federal sanctions threatened against physicians who recommend the use of marijuana as a medicine.
Judge Smith also ordered the government and the plaintiffs to begin negotiations to settle their suit.
“[The] plaintiffs have raised serious questions as to the constitutionality of the defendants’ ‘policy’ regarding Proposition 215,” Smith wrote in a three-page decision. “[The] plaintiffs have presented evidence … that … physicians have been censoring their discussions with patients about medical marijuana out of fear that the government will either prosecute them or take away their prescription licenses for conducting such discussions.”
Lead attorney for the plaintiffs, Graham Boyd, praised the ruling. “The judge clearly did the right thing in stopping the government from threatening doctors for simply practicing medicine,” he told reporters.
In announcing the order, Smith said the government’s conflicting public statement’s about whether it would take action against physicians who recommend the medical use of marijuana appeared to interfere with free speech and the practice of medicine.
Noting that the Justice Department was unable to clearly articulate the circumstances under which criminal or administrative sanctions may occur, Smith ordered the government to refrain from taking any punitive actions against physicians until the lawsuit is resolved.
“Judge Smith agrees with physicians who have challenged the government policy,” said Dave Fratello of Americans for Medical Rights. “The government says doctors can discuss medical marijuana with patients — but not recommend it — as permitted by California law. Judge Smith said that the distinction between ‘discuss’ and ‘recommend’ is too vague to guide physicians. How can a doctor ‘discuss’ medical marijuana if there is only one kind of advice permitted: to just say no?”
“Doctors have a right and an ethical obligation to give patients full discussion and accurate information about the risks and benefits of marijuana,” affirmed Smith.
For more information, please contact either Attorney Graham Boyd of San Francisco at (415) 421-7151 or Elaine Elinson of the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California at (415) 621-2493. For additional information regarding medical marijuana and the law, please contact Allen St. Pierre of NORML at (202) 483-5500.