|
Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
|
|
US: US Court Rules Against Dying Woman On Medical Marijuana
Playfuls.com, Romania
Thursday 15 Mar 2007 A US federal appeals court on Wednesday ruled that a fatally ill California woman could be prosecuted for using medical marijuana that her doctor says is the only thing keeping her alive. The ruling against cancer patient Angel Raich by the Ninth District Court of Appeals highlighted the dichotomy between California state law, which permits the use of marijuana for medical purposes, and federal law set in Washington that bans it. Raich had proactively petitioned the court to issue a ruling on whether she could be arrested for drug use. Suffering from scoliosis, a brain tumour, chronic nausea and other ailments she eats or smokes marijuana every couple of hours on doctor's orders to ease her pain and bolster her appetite. The case centred on Raich's right to use marijuana to keep her alive when legal drugs fail, but the three-judge appeals panel ruled the US has not reached the point where "the right to use medical marijuana is 'fundamental' and 'implicit in the concept of ordered liberty.'" The court did say however that if Raich was arrested and prosecuted, she could argue that she possessed marijuana as a last resort to stay alive, in what is known as a "medical necessity defence." In a statement following the ruling, Raich said she would appeal to the US Supreme Court. "The court has just sentenced me to death," Raich said. "My doctors agree that medical cannabis is essential to my very survival." http://www.playfuls.com/news_005470_US_Court_Rules_Against_Dying_Woman_On_Medical_Marijuana.html
After you have finished reading this article you can click here to go back.
|
This page was created by the Cannabis Campaigners' Guide.
Feel free to link to this page!