Judge Bans
Prosecution of Doctors Who Prescribe Marijuana
Dateline: 9/10/00
A California federal judge has ruled
that the federal government cannot prosecute doctors who
recommend or prescribe marijuana for medically valid
treatment of patients.
On Friday, Sept. 8, 2000, U.S.
District Court Judge William Alsup in San Francisco issued
a permanent injunction banning the federal government from
taking any action, including investigation, leading to the
revocation of a physician's license "merely because
the doctor recommends medical marijuana to a patient based
on a sincere medical judgment."
"This injunction applies
whether or not the physician anticipates that the
recommendation will in turn be used by the patient to
obtain marijuana in violation of federal law," wrote
Judge Alsup in the injunction.
Judge Alsup's issued the injunction
in connection with a class-action lawsuit filed by a group
of California doctors and their patients against Barry
McCaffrey, director of the National Drug Policy. McCaffrey
had threatened that doctors could have their federal
license to practice revoked if they recommended or
prescribed marijuana to their patients.
The U.S. Department of Justice has
not yet stated whether the government would appeal Judge
Alsup's injunction.
This latest volley in the medicinal
marijuana war comes only ten days after the U.S. Supreme
Court, sitting in an emergency session, voted 7-1 to bar
the distribution of marijuana for medicinal purposes in
California. (See: Supreme
Court Bars Medical Marijuana.)
The Supreme Court ruling effectively
overturned California's controversial 1996-passed ballot
initiative -- Proposition 215 -- allowing medical
patients, under doctors' recommendations, to grow and use
marijuana for pain relief. After passage of Proposition
215, several California "cannabis clubs" formed
to distribute the drug to patients. The Supreme Court
ruling did not address medical patients who grow their own
medicinal marijuana.
Voters in the states of Oregon,
Washington, Alaska, Hawaii and Maine have also approved
laws allowing medicinal use of marijuana, while other
states are considering doing so. |
