| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
Torkel
Cannabis Sacrament Minister
Joined: 23 Nov 2004
Posts: 1396
Location: West Virginia, USA
|
 Posted: Tue May 31, 2005 4:33 pm Post subject: High Court To Examine Medical Marijuana |
 |
|
| Quote: |
High Court To Examine Medical Marijuana
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05/n860/a11.html
Newshawk: Kirk
Rate this article Votes: 0
Pubdate: Sun, 29 May 2005
Source: Baltimore Sun (MD)
Copyright: 2005 The Baltimore Sun, a Times Mirror Newspaper.
Contact: letters@baltsun.com
Website: http://www.baltimoresun.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/37
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?232 (Chronic Pain)
HIGH COURT TO EXAMINE MEDICINAL MARIJUANA
Ruling Would Determine Whether Federal Drug Ban Trumps State Laws On Use
DENVER - Robert Melamede's guidelines for better living go something like this: Eat right, exercise and smoke a little marijuana.
The biology department chairman at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs is among the state's 625 registered legal users of marijuana for medical reasons. He says it eases the pain of his spinal arthritis.
Melamede can't imagine living without it. However, his fate and that of legal users in 10 other states could be affected by a U.S. Supreme Court case in California that will determine whether a federal ban on the drug trumps state laws allowing medical marijuana.
The decision - expected in the next month - may redefine the limits of congressional power under the commerce clause of the Constitution.
Either way, the decision is expected to revive the debate about the medicinal legitimacy of marijuana use and the social implications of legalizing what law enforcement officials call a "gateway" drug, which may lead to harder drugs.
In Colorado, federal law enforcement authorities said the decision would determine whether they could prosecute medical marijuana producers.
Bill Weinman, a federal Drug Enforcement Administration supervisor based in Denver, called medical marijuana a ploy by those who want to legalize the drug. He said his agency does not target sick and dying people but carefully evaluates whether growers are trafficking in the drug.
"This whole medical marijuana thing is a scam," Weinman said. "You don't smoke your medicine."
The question before the court is whether the Controlled Substances Act, a comprehensive 1970 federal law regulating a broad range of drugs including marijuana, exceeds Congress' power to regulate commerce.
Government lawyers argue that homegrown medical marijuana would affect a $10.5 billion illicit market.
Erik Neusch, a lawyer who wrote a law journal article on the constitutional issues raised by medical marijuana laws, said that during the past decade, the Supreme Court has rendered several decisions that have deferred to states' rights.
"What will be interesting is to see whether the Supreme Court continues on this path of broadening states' rights," he said.
"If they were internally consistent, they would strike down the federal government's attempts to prosecute medical marijuana use in the states," Neusch said. "But I don't think that's going to happen."
If the decision favors states' rights, more states probably will pass measures allowing medical marijuana use, said K.K. DuVivier, an associate law professor at the University of Denver.
"There has been [a movement] since the 1980s," she said. "People are trying to get around" federal law.
However, she predicted that if the decision were to favor federal enforcement of a marijuana ban, enforcement would vary locally.
"If local agencies say they're not going to put any funding into it and they make it a lower priority, the federal government will come in occasionally to make raids, but they won't have the presence to really enforce it," DuVivier said.
In 2000, Colorado voters overwhelmingly approved Amendment 20, legalizing the medicinal use of marijuana for those who get a doctor's approval and register with the state. In addition to Colorado, states with some form of legalized marijuana use include Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Nevada, Oregon, Vermont and Washington.
Melamede suffers from ankylosing spondylitis, a painful, progressive, rheumatic disease that mainly affects the spine but can also affect other  s, tendons and ligaments.
Melamede is hopeful that a favorable decision by the Supreme Court would encourage doctors to be more liberal about prescribing marijuana.
|
Peace,
Torkel 
_________________
Miller vs U.S. (230 F 2nd 486,489): "The claim and exercise of a Constitutional right cannot be converted into a crime."
Miranda vs Arizona (384 U.S. 436, 125): "Where rights secured by the Constitution are involved, there can be no rule-making or legislation which would abrogate them."
HAGANS vs LAVINE (415 US 533 N-3,note 5): "Once JURISDICTION is challenged it must be proven by the Plaintiff." |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
|
|
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
|
|
Public Forum
Members only forum
Members Group
| 
