MEDICINAL WEED IS ILLEGAL

Federal drug laws do not exempt ailing marijuana users, the Supreme Court
rules Supreme Court plaintiff Diane Monson of Oroville, Calif., smokes
marijuana to relieve back pain. The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that federal
laws supersede state laws permitting patients to use the drug under
doctors' orders.

WASHINGTON -- A medical prescription is not a ticket to legal marijuana,
the U.S. Supreme Court said Monday in a 6-3 ruling.

The justices nonetheless expressed sympathy for those whose illnesses have
been uniquely alleviated by the popular street drug.

In an opinion written by Justice John Paul Stevens, the court held that
state laws do not trump the federal government's authority under the
Constitution to prosecute sick users on federal drug charges.

California's law, passed by voters in 1996, allows people to grow, smoke or
obtain marijuana for medical needs with a doctor's recommendation.

The ruling does not strike down California's law, or similar ones in
Alaska, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Vermont and
Washington state, according to The Associated Press. Besides those states,
Arizona permits marijuana prescriptions but has never instituted a program
to support them. In Maryland, people accused of violating state possession
laws can present evidence to a judge of a medicinal use of the drug; the
judge can then lower the punishment to a $100 fine.

The justices said their decision was "made difficult" by the claims of the
two California women who brought the appeal -- Angel McClary Raich of
Oakland and Diane Monson of Oroville. The women said they would suffer
irreparable harm if their supply of legal marijuana dried up because of the
ruling.

But the justices said the state exemption for medical marijuana was certain
to add to the street supply of marijuana.

"In contrast to most prescriptions for legal drugs, which limit dosage and
duration of the usage, under California's law the doctor's permission to
recommend marijuana is open-ended," the majority said.

The high court suggested that the issue belongs in the political arena.

Medical marijuana proponents can turn to administrative avenues to have it
reclassified from a banned Schedule I drug to a Schedule II drug restricted
to medical use, the justices said.

"But perhaps even more important than these legal avenues is the democratic
process in which the voices of voters allied with these [women] may one day
be heard in the halls of Congress," it said.

Raich, who has a brain tumor and has credited marijuana with relieving her
misery to the point that she no longer requires use of a wheelchair, said
she will be beating a path to Congress.

"We're not going away," Raich said.

Monson, who has chronic back spasms, said she was "very disappointed" with
the ruling.

"I think it's just a blow to compassion everywhere," she said. "But I'm
going to ... continue to do what I think is right."