Court Allows Calif. Women to Use Medical Marijuana

Court Allows Calif. Women to Use Medical Marijuana
12/18/2003

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, Calif., has reversed a district-court ruling and will allow two California women to use marijuana for medical purposes, Reuters reported Dec. 17.

The ruling pertains to a lawsuit filed by Angel Raich and Diane Monson against U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft.

Raich, who has an inoperable brain tumor, and Monson, who suffers from severe back pain, sought an injunction against the 1970 federal Controlled Substances Act that makes marijuana illegal. Their lawsuit claimed that the federal drug law was unconstitutional.

In 1996, California voters approved a measure that permits growing and possession of marijuana for medical purposes.

In reversing the district-court ruling, the three-judge appeals panel said, "We find that the appellants' class of activities -- 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."

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