COURT NIXES MEDICAL MARIJUANA

The Supreme Court handed medical marijuana users a major defeat
Monday, ruling that a federal law classifying the drug as illegal has
no exception for ill patients.

The 8-0 decision was a major disappointment to many sufferers of AIDS,
cancer, multiple sclerosis and other illnesses. They have said the
drug helped enormously in combatting the devastating effects of their
diseases.

Justice Stephen Breyer did not participate because his brother, a
federal judge, initially presided over the case.

"In the case of the Controlled Substances Act, the statute reflects a
determination that marijuana has no medical benefits worthy of an
exception (outside the confines of a government-approved research
project)," Justice Clarence Thomas wrote for the unanimous court.

Thomas noted the act states marijuana has "no currently accepted
medical use."

The federal government triggered the case in 1998, seeking an
injunction against the Oakland Cannabis Buyers Cooperative and five
other marijuana distributors.

U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer, brother of the justice, sided with
the government. All the clubs except the Oakland group eventually
closed down, and the Oakland club turned to registering potential
marijuana recipients while it awaited a final ruling.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the lower court, ruling
that medical necessity is a legal defense. Charles Breyer followed up
by issuing strict guidelines for making that claim.

Voters in Arizona, Alaska, California, Colorado, Maine, Nevada, Oregon
and Washington also have approved ballot initiatives allowing the use
of medical marijuana. In Hawaii, the legislature passed a similar law
and the governor signed it last year.

The cooperative argued that a drug may not yet have achieved general
acceptance as a medical treatment, but may still have medical benefits
to a particular patient or class of patients.

Thomas said the argument cannot overcome the intent of Congress in
approving the statute.

"It is clear from the text of the act that Congress has made a
determination that marijuana has no medical benefits worthy of an
exception," Thomas wrote.

"Unwilling to view this omission as an accident, and unable in any
event to override a legislative determination manifest in a statute,
we reject the cooperative's argument."