HIGH COURT DISALLOWS `MEDICAL MARIJUANA'

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court ruled Monday that federal law bars the
distribution of marijuana even to people who say they must have it to
alleviate symptoms of serious illness, dealing a setback to the
movement for ``medical marijuana'' laws and limiting the impact of
the state laws already on the books.

Ruling 8-0 in a case involving a California ``cannabis cooperative''
that supplied the drug to patients suffering from cancer, AIDS and
other illnesses, the court said that federal law allows no ``medical
necessity'' exception to the general prohibition on selling or
growing marijuana.

Federal law ``reflects a determination that marijuana has no medical
benefits worthy of an exception,'' the court said in an opinion
written by Justice Clarence Thomas. The court upheld federal
authorities' ability to obtain a court order shutting down the
cooperative.

The ruling does not directly invalidate ``medical marijuana'' laws
now on the books in nine states, mostly in the West. Those states
remain free to choose not to prosecute people who use marijuana for
medical purposes, and the federal government rarely prosecutes
individuals for marijuana use.

However, in those states, the ruling is likely to doom large, public
distribution centers - confining the use of ``medical marijuana'' to
private, small-scale settings outside the usual scope of federal
enforcement efforts.

In addition, the court might have deterred additional states from
joining the ``medical marijuana'' movement, which appeared to be
gaining popular acceptance in recent years.

California Attorney General Bill Lockyer said the ruling was
``unfortunate'' and that ``the responsibility for determining what is
necessary to provide for public health and safety has traditionally
been left to the states.''