cannabisnews.com: Justices: Doctors Can Discuss Pot





Justices: Doctors Can Discuss Pot
Posted by CN Staff on October 15, 2003 at 07:48:08 PT
By Josh Richman and Staff & Wire Reports
Source: Oakland Tribune 
The U.S. Supreme Court handed a major victory Tuesday to the nine states that allow the medical use of marijuana, refusing to let the federal government punish doctors for recommending the drug to patients. The justices without comment declined to review last year's ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco that said doctors should be able to speak frankly with their patients.
It means "that patients can truly get and physicians can truly give advice about medical marijuana even if the president and the attorney general disagree with that advice," said Daniel Abrahamson, the Oakland-based legal director of the national Drug Policy Alliance, and co-counsel for the doctors and patients who brought this case. Plaintiff and patient Valerie Corral of Davenport -- who also co-founded the Wo/Men's Alliance for Medical Marijuana, raided last year by federal drug agents -- noted that California's 1996 medical marijuana law allows possession and use only with a physician's recommendation. "Without a physician's recommendation, we have no medical marijuana -- we have no access to it, Proposition 215 would be moot," she said, adding she was "savoring this sweet victory" of the high court's decision Tuesday. And plaintiff Dr. Stephen O'Brien, medical director of the East Bay AIDS Center at Alta Bates Summit Medical Center in Berkeley, said the court's rejection of the case means "a load off my mind in terms of my ability to discuss whatever I need to discuss with my patients. "We're all very pleased about it. I think it's a good day for people with HIV, people with chronic illness, and it's a good day for people who want privacy of communication in their doctor's office." The ruling was a setback for the Bush administration, which had threatened to punish doctors who recommend marijuana -- or who simply discuss the drug's benefits -- by revoking the all-important federal licenses they need to write prescriptions, or even by criminal prosecution. Besides California, the other states that have passed medical marijuana laws are Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Nevada, Oregon and Washington. All but Maine fall within the 9th Circuit, and are bound by its now permanent ruling. It's still illegal under federal law to grow, sell or possess marijuana, and federal prosecutors can still go after cultivators, dealers and users, just as they have done in raids on "cannabis clubs" and other locations in California over the past few years. Abrahamson said the ruling signals that "medical marijuana laws at the state level are alive and well," while it also "gives a green light to other states that are considering medical marijuana laws." But he also said the high court's rejection of the case transcends medical marijuana or any other specific drug, and addresses the broader issue of how doctors and patients communicate. "Today's decision really strikes a strong, principled stand for the integrity of the First Amendment even when it comes to controversial issues." It shores up another Constitutional freedom as well, he added: "It's also a strong case for medical practice being determined by the states, not by politicians in D.C." Attorney General John Ashcroft had no comment on the decision, while White House spokeswoman Claire Buchan restated the Bush administration's position, saying: "As a matter of policy, we oppose any efforts to legalize marijuana." John Walters, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, noted that the high court's decision concerned the doctor-patient relationship, not any medical benefits of marijuana. Public officials and medical professionals must "continue to protect the health of American citizens and reduce the harms caused by marijuana and other dependency-producing drugs," Walters said in a statement, adding that growing and selling marijuana remain federal offenses.The Administration said doctors recommending marijuana could lose their federal licenses to prescribe medicine, could be excluded from Medicare and Medicaid programs and could be prosecuted as criminals if they helped their patients actually get the drug. Seven California doctors and some of their patients sued during the Clinton administration, and the Bush administration continued the fight. The justices on Tuesday let stand the 9th Circuit's decision that doctors have a constitutional right to speak candidly with their patients about marijuana. "An integral component of the practice of medicine is the communication between doctor and a patient. Physicians must be able to speak frankly and openly to patients," the 9th Circuit said at the time. In their appeal, federal prosecutors argued that doctors who recommend marijuana are interfering with the drug war and circumventing the government's judgment that the illegal drug has no medical benefit. Staff writer Josh Richman contributed to this report.Source: Oakland Tribune (CA)Author: Josh Richman and Staff and Wire ReportsPublished: Wednesday, October 15, 2003 Copyright: 2003 MediaNews Group, Inc. Contact: triblet angnewspapers.com Website: http://www.oaklandtribune.com/Related Articles & Web Sites:WAMMhttp://www.wamm.org/Drug Policy Alliancehttp://www.drugpolicy.org/Walters vs. Conant, 03-40 - PDFhttp://freedomtoexhale.com/walters.pdfCourt: Ariz. Docs Can Talk Pot with Patientshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17571.shtmlU.S. Appeal Of Marijuana Case Rejected http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17568.shtmlBackers of Medical Marijuana Hail Rulinghttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17566.shtml 
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Comment #2 posted by Jose Melendez on October 17, 2003 at 06:21:19 PT
good LTE by John Wayne
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n1597/a09.html?397
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Comment #1 posted by john wayne on October 15, 2003 at 16:45:40 PT
US government attempted to outlaw speech
Don't forget, this wasn't only the Bushies trying to do this, the Clinton drugrats tried the same manuever. 
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