DdC

San Francisco -- A federal appeals court ruled today that a law outlawing marijuana may not apply to sick people with a doctor's recommendation in states that have approved medical marijuana laws.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, ruling 2-1 in a rare late-afternoon filing, said prosecuting these medical marijuana users under a 1970 federal law is unconstitutional if the marijuana isn't sold, transported across state lines or used for non-medicinal purposes.

``The intrastate, noncommercial cultivation, possession and use of marijuana for personal medical purposes on the advice of a physician is, in fact, different in kind from drug trafficking,'' Judge Harry Pregerson wrote for the majority.

The court added that ``this limited use is clearly distinct from the broader illicit drug market, as well as any broader commercial market for medical marijuana, insofar as the medical marijuana at issue in this case is not intended for, nor does it enter, the stream of commerce.''

The decision was a blow to the Justice Department, which argued that medical marijuana laws in nine states were trumped by the Controlled Substances Act, which outlawed marijuana, heroin and a host of other drugs nationwide.

The case concerned two seriously ill California women who sued Attorney General John Ashcroft. They asked for a court order letting them smoke, grow or obtain marijuana without fear of federal prosecution.

The case underscores the conflict between federal law and California's 1996 medical marijuana law, which allows people to grow, smoke or obtain marijuana for medical needs with a doctor's recommendation.

A U.S. District judge tossed the case in March, saying the Controlled Substances Act barred him from blocking any potential enforcement action against medical marijuana patients Angel Raich and Diane Monson. Today's ruling sends the case back to the district judge.

Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Nevada, Oregon and Washington state have laws similar to California, which has been the focus of federal drug interdiction efforts. Agents have raided and shut down several medical marijuana growing clubs.

The appeals court, the nation's largest, does not have jurisdiction over Colorado and Maine.

The case is Raich v. Ashcroft, 03-15481.

David Kravets has been covering state and federal courts for a decade.

Complete Title: Federal Appeals Court OKs Medical Marijuana in Some Cases By David Kravets
Source: Associated Press December 16, 2003

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US Appeals Court Sets Aside Federal Marijuana Law By Adam Tanner
Source: Reuters December 16, 2003
San Francisco -- A federal appeals court allowed two very sick California women on Tuesday to use marijuana, setting aside longstanding federal drug laws that bar such cultivation even for medical purposes. Growing marijuana for medical purposes is legal in California under a 1996 voter-approved state law, but the measure clashes with federal law.
Continued...cannabis news...17975.shtml

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DdC

Medical Pot Users Win Key Ruling
By Henry Weinstein
Source: Los Angeles Times December 16, 2003

Federal officials may not prosecute marijuana smokers whose doctors say pot is their only medical relief — at least so long as the users grow their own or obtain it from other growers without charge, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday.

The 2-1 decision from the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco would protect many medical marijuana users from prosecution in California and six other Western states — Alaska, Arizona, Hawaii, Nevada, Oregon and Washington — that have laws approving the use of marijuana for medical purposes.

Read More... http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread17976.shtml

Prophet Saddam

Awesome news!

You've gotta love the 9th Circuit - always on the leading edge. Let's see how far the government is going to take this case. Spending our money to prosecute people we've already said we want left alone.

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Governor

The best part of the ruling is the impact it will have in the governments appeal to the Supreme Court. They have to argue that cruelty and ignorance has precedence over pain and suffering. I'm sure they won't argue it that way but that's exactly what their case boils down to.

Every attack on medical patients will only serve to expose the lies associated with keeping marijuana a schedule 1 narcotic. It's a lose lose situation for the government yet their corporate masters will take their last breaths fighting legalization.

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'Marijuana is responsible for evolution itself' Dr. Robert Melamede
"Fuck the monkeys" Ken Gorman
potgov@yahoo.com
420 Medicine

Acorn#1

the 9th circuit is the most overturned appeals court in the land, hopefully the supremes won't want to hear this one.

DdC

DeMaris Strohm heard from a friend yesterday that a federal appeals court ruled that state laws protect medical marijuana users from federal prosecution. The West Seattle grandmother promptly burst into tears.

"I said, 'Praise God!' and I started crying — out of happiness that I can have my grandson come and stay with me and not worry about the federal government busting down my door," said Strohm, 50.

She has used marijuana with a doctor's permission since 1997 for pain and extreme weight loss after a brutal car accident.

Yesterday, a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in a victory for states' rights, ruled unconstitutional federal prosecutions of medical marijuana patients in states that have approved laws allowing such use of the drug.

If patients are authorized by a doctor under state laws, and aren't transporting marijuana across state lines or selling it, their growing, possession or use of marijuana is not "drug trafficking," Judge Harry Pregerson wrote for the majority.

His ruling sends the case back to the California district judge who declined to protect two patients from federal prosecution.

Quoting from a previous court decision, Pregerson's ruling notes: "It is particularly important that in the field of criminal law enforcement, where state power is pre-eminent, national authority be limited to those areas in which interstate commerce is truly affected. ... The police power is, essentially, reserved to the states."

The 9th Circuit has a reputation for being frequently overturned by the Supreme Court. But legal experts say its batting average is about the same as other circuits, and its reputation likely the result of the cutting-edge issues that often arise first in California or other states within its jurisdiction.

The U.S. Justice Department had argued that state laws allowing medical use of marijuana were superseded by the federal Controlled Substances Act, a 1970 law that puts marijuana in the same category as heroin and other drugs it deems to have no medicinal use.

In many states, including Washington, the clash between federal and state laws has left medical marijuana patients fearful of federal prosecution.

In some cases, said Douglas Hiatt, a Seattle attorney who represents such patients, the unwavering federal position that marijuana is always illegal has put pressure on state prosecutors to go after patients.

"People are living in limbo and being charged under state law. There are lots of people being arrested wrongly under state law," he said.

Strohm said she has lived in fear of federal prosecution since she began using marijuana. But after her 1986 accident, she said, she tried 14 different pharmaceutical drugs and all had the same side effect: loss of appetite. Only marijuana has helped
keep her from wasting away, she said: At almost 5 feet 7, she now weighs 102 pounds.

"Now, I can bring my grandson over to visit for a month in the summertime. I wanted him far away from me because of the danger zone," she said. "I didn't want to have the DEA bust down my door and take me away while he was there and traumatize him."

The California case that reached the 9th Circuit involved two women, Angel McClary Raich and Diane Monson.

Like Washington and seven other states, California has passed a law allowing certain patients to legally use marijuana.

Raich, a 38-year-old Oakland woman, has been diagnosed with more than 10 serious medical conditions, including an inoperable brain tumor, and has used marijuana for more than five years. Her doctor said she has tried all other legal alternatives, but they were ineffective or had intolerable side effects.

Monson, an Oroville resident, has severe chronic back pain and muscle spasms caused by a degenerative spinal disease. Her doctor, as well, said alternative medications haven't worked for her.

Monson grows her own, while two caregivers supply Raich.

Last year, deputies from the county sheriff's department and agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration came to Monson's home. They disagreed about whether her marijuana use was legal, but after a three-hour standoff, the DEA agents seized and destroyed her six plants.

The two women, along with Raich's caregivers, filed suit last year against John Ashcroft, the U.S. attorney general, and Asa Hutchinson, the administrator of the DEA. The plaintiffs maintained that the federal law was unconstitutionally being enforced against them. They asked for an injunction barring federal prosecution, but the district court refused.

Yesterday's ruling returns the case to the district court to grant the injunction.

Randy Barnett, a Boston University constitutional law professor, said the ruling by the 9th Circuit is precedent-setting.

"It's the first time there's been a ruling that the application of the Controlled Substances Act to the application of cultivation of medical cannabis is unconstitutional," he said.

Federal drug-enforcement agents have raided and shut several medical marijuana growing clubs in California over the past few years.

In 2001, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that medical marijuana clubs could not dole out medical marijuana based on the so-called "medical necessity" of patients, even if they have a doctor's recommendation to use marijuana.

Justice Clarence Thomas wrote that an Oakland pot club could not defend its actions against federal drug laws by declaring it was dispensing marijuana to the medically needy.

Hiatt, the Seattle attorney, said the states'-rights argument may be difficult for the federal government to challenge.

"For the Bush administration to fight this would be very difficult and very hypocritical, because they'd be fighting against the very conservative doctrines they've been venerating for the past few years."

Times staff reporter Ian Ith and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Appeals Court Upholds Medical Marijuana Use By Carol M. Ostrom
Source: Seattle Times December 17, 2003
Contact: opinion@seatimes.com * Website

Related Articles & Web Sites



Long U.S. Battle Over Medical Marijuana Seen Ahead
By Adam Tanner and Dan Sorid
Source: Reuters December 17, 2003
San Francisco -- Saying that marijuana saved her life, a woman with a brain tumor said on Wednesday that many legal fights lay ahead despite a federal appeals court's decision to set aside federal drug laws in her case. "I feel that the battles are just beginning," Angel Raich, who has an inoperable brain tumor, told a telephone news conference. "I have no doubt that the attorney general, John Ashcroft, will once again try to attack sick, disabled and dying Americans."
Read More...cannabisnews. ..17984.shtml

Medical Marijuana Decision Does Not Sanction Sales By David Kravets
Source: Associated Press December 17, 2003
San Francisco -- A decision by a federal appeals court here approving the use and cultivation of medical marijuana did not address the broader question of whether medical marijuana can be bought and sold. That issue, the next legal battle in the medical marijuana movement, still is pending before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. A three-judge panel of the same court ruled Tuesday that a congressional act outlawing marijuana can not apply in states with laws permitting sick people to use marijuana with a doctor's recommendation.
Read More...cannabisnews. ..17986.shtml

Raich v. Ashcroft in PDF

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Peter will be smiling down on this one...
DdC