ABC -October 14, 2003

WASHINGTON (Oct. 14) - The Supreme Court cleared the way Tuesday for state laws allowing ill patients to smoke marijuana if a doctor recommends it. Justices turned down the Bush administration's request to consider whether the federal government can punish doctors for recommending or perhaps just talking about the benefits of the drug to sick patients. An appeals court said the government cannot.

Nine states have laws legalizing marijuana for people with physician recommendations or prescriptions: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Nevada, Oregon and Washington. And 35 states have passed legislation recognizing marijuana's medicinal value.

Advertisement

But federal law bans the use of pot under any circumstances.

The case gave the court an opportunity to review its second medical marijuana case in two years. The last one involved cannabis clubs.

This one presented a more difficult issue, pitting free-speech rights of doctors against government power to keep physicians from encouraging illegal drug use. A ruling for the Bush administration would have made the state medical marijuana laws unusable.

Some California doctors and patients, in filings at the Supreme Court, compared doctor information on pot to physicians' advice on ''red wine to reduce the risk of heart disease, Vitamin C, acupuncture, or chicken soup.'' The administration argued that public heath - not the First Amendment free-speech rights of doctors or patients - was at stake.

...Keith Vines, a prosecutor in San Francisco who used marijuana to combat HIV-related illnesses, was among those who challenged a federal policy put in place during the Clinton administration. That policy required the revocation of federal prescription licenses of doctors who recommend marijuana. ''If the government is zipping them up, and we're not being told about options, that's negligence,'' Vines said. Policy supporters contend that the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration must be allowed to protect the public.

The San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said that physicians should be able to speak candidly with patients without fear of government sanctions, but they can be punished if they actually help patients obtain the drug.

The case is Walters v. Conant, 03-40. 10-14-03 1631EDT

<  Ex-Intel Greg Thielmann is back: Powell misled U.S. Nation | FBI: Moussaoui not involved in 9/11  >