No Breakthrough for Medical Pot
Despite this week's refusal by the Supreme Court to uphold gag orders against doctors who tell their patients about the benefits of marijuana, AIDS and cancer sufferers still have a long way to go before they can smoke their pot in peace.
"I don't think this is a big victory for medical marijuana," said Vikram Amar, a law professor at the University of California Hastings College of the Law. "Unless the federal government can't criminalize its use or cultivation, big deal. Doctors can recommend it, but no one can act on the recommendation."
To make things more complicated, the Supreme Court's decision isn't permanent, doesn't cover the entire nation and suggests nothing about the court's views on medical marijuana in general.
Eight states allow patients to take marijuana for medical reasons, although it cannot be prescribed. Others provide varying levels of protection to patients and research subjects. But both the Clinton and Bush administrations have worked to keep the drug out of the hands of patients in the first place by muzzling doctors and prosecuting marijuana growers.
In the latest legal twist, the justices on Monday refused to hear an appeal of a 9th Circuit Court of Appeals decision that overturned rules prohibiting doctors from discussing marijuana with their patients.
The decision only affects the Western states covered by the famously liberal 9th Circuit. These include seven of the eight states with the most wide-ranging medical marijuana laws: Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Nevada, Oregon and Washington. (Maine is the eighth state.)
Read more at wired
