The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) filed a friend of the court brief Tuesday in the U.S. Supreme Court in support of a patient’s fundamental right to use medicinal marijuana without fear of federal sanction. NORML joins California Attorney General Bill Lockyer, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL), the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and several medical rights groups in support of a decision rendered last year by the Ninth Circuit Court of App eals that found seriously ill patients may legally use marijuana under federal law if they meet specified “medical necessity” requirements. The upcoming Supreme Court case, to be argued March 28, will mark the first time Americas highest court has ever considered the issue of medical necessity with regard to marijuana.
In a brief filed jointly with NACDL, NORML argues that state laws permitting patients to use medical marijuana do not conflict with federal drug laws, and that the medicinal use of marijuana is an individual right that must be recognized by the court. “As a matter of individual liberty, it should be beyond the power of the federal government to regulate the medicinal use of cannabis when the voters or legislatures of states decide it should be legalized for medical use,” the authors argue. “Once the voters of a state have adopted an initiative or a state legislature has enacted a statute protecting the medical use of cannabis, the people of that state have compellingly expressed their public policy, even if that public policy differs from that of the federal government. Federalism mandates that state public policy is entitled to presumptive deference.”
NORML further maintains that a patient’s medical marijuana use should be protected under the Constitution’s right to privacy, including the “right to be left alone,” and substantive due process. “This Court has already recognized a substantive due process right to be free from suffering and pain” in a right-to-die case (Cruzan v. Director, Missouri Dep’t of Health, 1990), the authors state. “A fortiori, it naturally flows from that case that there is also a parallel right patients in chronic pain or the terminally ill have to alleviate their pain and suffering when they want to live.”
Lead author of the brief, attorney John Wesley Hall of Little Rock, Arkansas said, “When the medical use of cannabis can restore some quality and dignity of life to a seriously ill or dying patient, that person should have a constitutional right to use it.” Hall is a member of the NORML Legal Committee and serves on NACDLs Board of Directors. NORML Legal Committee member Michael Cutler of Boston, Massachusetts also contributed to the brief.
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last year that patients who risk suffering “imminent harm” without access to medical marijuana, and have exhausted all other legal remedies, are exempt from federal laws otherwise outlawing its use. The Justice Department is appealing that decision.
For more information, please contact attorney John Wesley Hall at (501) 371-9131 or R. Keith Stroup, NORML Executive Director, at (202) 483-5500.
