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:: 12.18.2003 ::
Medical pot wins a legal victory
U.S. appeals court ruling is likely to face a challenge Medical marijuana advocates scored a potential legal breakthrough Tuesday when a federal appeals court ruled that two Northern California women could use locally grown pot without risking federal prosecution.
The federal ban on marijuana is probably unconstitutional as applied to individuals who obtain the drug without buying it, get it within their state's borders and use it for medical purposes on their doctors' advice and in compliance with state law, said the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco -- the first court ever to issue such a ruling.
The 2-1 decision could be short-lived, however. The appeals court has regularly seen its precedent-setting decisions, particularly those by liberal panels, overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court. In 2001, the high court overruled a Ninth Circuit decision that would have allowed marijuana cooperatives to supply the drug to patients who could not be treated by legal substances. Heard this on NPR yesterday but didn't get around to researching it til today... the quote's from SFGate.
:: Deb 9:32 AM :: permalink ::
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