COURT SETBACK

Decision Adds To Ambiguity About Sale Of Medical Marijuana

Tens of thousands of sufferers of cancer, AIDS and other illnesses can
testify to the benefits of medicinal marijuana.

The federal government, however, says those medical benefits don't exist.
And when push came to shove, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously came down
in defense of the government's position Monday.

Although not surprising, given the conservative court's leanings, the vote
is a blow for patients and their families who had hoped clarity and common
sense would emerge from this debate. It wasn't to happen.

With its 8-0 decision, the high court reversed a 9th U.S. Circuit Court of
Appeals ruling that found medical necessity can be a legal defense in
marijuana cases. The case involved a federal injunction against the Oakland
Cannabis Buyers Cooperative and a half-dozen other distributors of medical
marijuana.

In the majority opinion, Justice Clarence Thomas wrote that under the
Controlled Substances Act of 1970, Congress found "marijuana has no medical
benefits worthy of an exception." Furthermore, he noted that the act
specifically spells out that marijuana has "no currently accepted medical use."

Such archaic findings fly in the face of the best empirical evidence
available: the testimony of those who need it most. Patients note how
medical marijuana helps spur appetites, clear up vision and combat the
side-effects of chemotherapy and other treatments.

Nonetheless, the high court stood by the unequivocal wording of the law --
and in the process let stand a situation that's mired in ambiguity.

On one hand are state initiatives passed in Arizona, Alaska, Colorado,
Maine, Nevada, Oregon, Washington and California (Proposition 215) that
allow the use of medical marijuana. And on the other are unrelenting
federal rules that continue to rank marijuana as a Schedule 1 controlled
substance -- with such addictive drugs as heroin -- and allow no exceptions
for its use.

The ruling underscores the need for federal leadership in changing the
classification of marijuana and providing allowances for medical use. Until
it emerges, California cancer patients are still locked in the same
bureaucratic nightmare: They can use medical marijuana. They just can't buy it.