SUPREMES NIX MEDICAL MARIJUANA

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 8-0 on May 14 that federal law does not allow
a "medical necessity" exception to the prohibition of the distribution of
marijuana.

The decision is a setback, but not a death knell, to a growing movement
that has passed medical marijuana laws in eight states, including California.

The ruling didn't overturn any state laws. Rather, Justice Clarence Thomas
wrote that marijuana's listing by congress as a Schedule 1 drug under the
Controlled Substance Act meant that it "has no currently accepted medical
use in treatment in the United States."

The ruling reverses a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision that ruled
federal law exempt third-party providers who cultivate and supply marijuana
to patients who would suffer "serious harm if they were denied cannabis."

The court also made it clear that its decision does not infringe on the use
of medical marijuana by individual patients, an issue that was "not
presented" to the justices.