COURT RULES IN FAVOR OF MEDICAL-USE POT

Doctors Who Recommend Use Not In Danger Of Losing Licenses

SAN FRANCISCO - A federal appeals court ruled for the first time Tuesday
that the government cannot revoke the prescription drug licenses of doctors
who recommend marijuana to sick patients.

The court also ruled that the Justice Department may not investigate
doctors merely for recommending marijuana, since this would interfere with
the free-speech rights of doctors and patients.

"An integral component of the practice of medicine is the communication
between doctor and a patient. Physicians must be able to speak frankly and
openly to patients," Chief Circuit Judge Mary Schroeder said.

The unanimous opinion by a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court
of Appeals upholds a 2-year-old court order that prohibited such federal
action before any doctors' licenses were revoked.

Federal prosecutors argued that doctors who recommend marijuana use are
interfering with the drug war and circumventing the government's judgment
that the illegal drug has no medical benefit.

But the San Francisco-based court, noting that doctors are not allowed to
dispense marijuana themselves, said physicians had a constitutional right
to speak candidly with their patients about marijuana without fear of
government sanctions.

Doctors who recommend marijuana in the nine states including Colorado that
have medical marijuana laws "will make it easier to obtain marijuana in
violation of federal law," government attorney Michael Stern had said.

Other states allowing medical marijuana are Alaska, Arizona, California,
Hawaii, Maine, Nevada, Oregon and Washington. All but Maine fall under the
9th Circuit jurisdiction.

Justice Department spokeswoman Susan Dryden said the decision was
"currently under review" and declined to say whether the government would
appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court or ask the 9th Circuit to reconsider.

Graham Boyd, an American Civil Liberties Union attorney, said the ruling
preserves state medical marijuana laws by preventing the federal government
from silencing doctors.

"If a doctor can't recommend it, then no patient can use it," he said.
"This was the federal government's first line strategy, to shut down doctor
recommendations."

In a concurring opinion, Judge Alex Kozinski wrote that there was a wealth
of evidence that may support marijuana use for sick patients, and said the
government attacked doctors as a means to paralyze California's medical
marijuana laws.

"The federal government's policy deliberately undermines the state by
incapacitating the mechanism the state has chosen for separating what is
legal from what is illegal under state law," Kozinski wrote.

The case was brought by patients' rights groups and doctors who said they
have been fearful of recommending marijuana, even if it's in a patient's
best interest.