SUPREME COURT TO HEAR MEDICAL MARIJUANA CASE

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to rule on whether federal
authorities can override state law when it comes to medical marijuana.
The news came June 28 in the final days of this session and the appeal
likely will be heard early next year.

Federal officials have continued to prosecute medical use of marijuana
in California and elsewhere despite the enactment of state laws that
allow and regulate medical use of marijuana. They have justified it
under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) that classifies marijuana as
a dangerous drug and have said that federal authority to regulate
interstate commerce overrides state law.

Last December a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court ruled in
Raich v. Ashcroft that "the intrastate, noncommercial cultivation,
possession and use of marijuana for personal medical purposes on the
advice of a physician--is, in fact, different in kind from drug
trafficking ... . Further, the limited medical use of marijuana as
recommended by a physician arguably does not raise the same policy
concerns regarding the spread of drug abuse."

"The cultivation, possession, and use of marijuana for medical
purposes and not for exchange or distribution is not properly
characterized as commercial or economic activity," the 2-1 majority
wrote. Therefore, "The CSA, as applied to the facts of this case, is
unconstitutional under the Commerce Clause."

The legal reasoning drew heavily upon a 1995 interstate commerce
opinion penned by U.S. Supreme Court Justice William H. Rehnquist,
which limited federal authority in that arena.

Attorney General John Ashcroft appealed the Raich decision April 20.
The Supreme Court ruling, when it comes, will either strike down those
legal protections now afforded citizens of the states covered by the
Ninth Circuit, or extend it to the entire country.