Washington, DC: The Supreme Court this week declined to review a unanimous Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision upholding the rights of physicians to discuss the medicinal use of marijuana with their patients. The Bush administration had asked the Supreme Court in July to overturn the ruling, arguing that it prevented the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) from protecting the public from the threat of illegal drugs.
By rejecting the government’s appeal, the Court upheld the Ninth Circuit’s October 2002 decision enjoining the Justice Department from revoking physicians’ federal licenses to prescribe medicine if they discuss marijuana with their patients. In eight states, the possession and use of marijuana is legal if a physician recommends it.
“All the way up the chain – from the US District Court, to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, to the US Supreme Court – the courts have unequivocally stated that a physician’s recommendation to his or her patient to engage in marijuana therapy is Constitutionally protected speech,” said NORML Executive Director Keith Stroup. “This decision by the Supreme Court frees physicians who wish to discuss the use of medicinal cannabis with their patients from the heavy-hand of government intrusion or sanction.”
Writing for the Ninth Circuit last October, Chief Judge Mary Schroeder opined that a doctor’s recommendation regarding the use of medicinal marijuana “does not itself constitute illegal conduct” and therefore “does not interfere with the federal government’s ability to enforce its laws.”
Plaintiffs in the case – a coalition of California physicians and patients – initially filed suit in 1997, shortly after federal officials threatened to sanction any doctors who complied with California’s Proposition 215, the “Medical Use of Marijuana Act.” US District Judge Fern Smith issued a preliminary injunction against the Justice Department in 1997. That injunction was made permanent in 2000.
For more information, please contact NORML Executive Director Keith Stroup at (202) 483-5500.