COURT SAYS STATES, DOCTORS KNOW BEST

The U.S. Supreme Court has rejected Attorney General John Ashcroft's
attempt to weaken states' rights and meddle in the doctor-patient
relationship.

The high court declined to review an appellate court ruling that the
federal government cannot punish doctors for so much as talking to
their patients about the medical benefits of marijuana.

The San Francisco case in question involved a policy enacted by the
Clinton administration requiring the revocation of federal
prescription licenses of doctors who recommend marijuana. The 9th U.S.
Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that physicians in nine states that
allow the medical use of marijuana (Washington is one) should be able
to speak candidly with their patients without fear of federal
government sanctions. The appeals court did not, however, guard
doctors against prosecution for helping obtain the drug.

Had the Supreme Court taken the case and ruled in favor of the federal
government, it essentially would have invalidated the nine states'
medical marijuana laws.

The high court's refusal to second-guess the ruling may indicate the
justices' reluctance to support the Bush administration's attempt to
punish physicians acting in accordance with Oregon's twice-passed
assisted suicide law. And it's surely another signal that Congress
would do well to finally stop listing marijuana with morphine, opium
and cocaine as a Schedule I substance.