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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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(1) Federal Court Rules Doctors Cannot Be Penalized
NORML News
Thursday 14 Sep 2000 Subject: (1) Federal Court Rules Doctors Cannot Be Penalized Over Marijuana Recommendations (2) Green Party Candidate Nader Supports Marijuana Legalization Source: NORML News Date: September 14, 2000 Federal Court Rules Doctors Cannot Be Penalized Over Marijuana Recommendations San Francisco, CA: U.S. District Judge William Alsup ruled last Thursday that doctors may recommend marijuana to patients who may benefit from it without fear that federal authorities may strip them of their license to prescribe medicine, or otherwise impose sanctions. When the voter-approved medical marijuana law known as Proposition 215 passed in 1996, the Clinton administration announced that doctors who recommended marijuana faced losing their federal license to prescribe medicine. In January 1997, doctors and patients statewide filed a class action suit against the federal government alleging the government's threat violated their free speech rights under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. In his decision Judge Alsup expanded a previously granted temporary injunction that prevented the government from revoking a doctor's license to prescribe medicine and made it permanent. "Contrary to the government's argument, it is not true that a mere recommendation will necessarily lead to the commission of a federal offense," Alsup wrote in his decision. "To the contrary, such recommendations can lead to lawful and legitimate responses. In the marketplace of ideas, few questions are more deserving of free-speech protection than whether regulations affecting health and welfare are sound public policy." In further citing the importance of a doctor being able to freely treat his or her patients, Alsup wrote, "[I]t will be the professional opinion of doctors that marijuana is the best therapy or at least should be tried. If such recommendations could not be communicated, then the physician-patient relationship would be seriously impaired." "My hope is that this ruling effectively puts an end to the fear that physicians have been experiencing," said Graham Boyd, Esq., Director of the American Civil Liberties Union's National Drug Program, who represented the doctors and patients suing the federal government. "(This decision) puts the federal government on notice that if they do threaten doctors, they'll be back in court and they'll lose." For more information, please contact Graham Boyd, Esq., of the ACLU at (203) 787-4188. Green Party Candidate Nader Supports Marijuana Legalization Santa Fe, NM: Consumer advocate and Green Party presidential candidate Ralph Nader announced last Friday, in a press conference held with New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson (R), that he supports the legalization of marijuana, and if elected, would attempt to overhaul what he called the nation's "self-defeating and antiquated drug laws." Nader suggested the billions of dollars spent on incarceration and law enforcement would be better spent on treatment and education programs to reduce drug use. "Addiction should never be treated as a crime, it has to be treated as a health problem," Nader said. "We do not send alcoholics to jail in this country. Over 500,000 people are in our jails who are non-violent drug users." Nader has previously indicated his support for industrial hemp. "Industrial hemp has the potential to dramatically reduce our dependence on petroleum-based products," Nader said. "Yet, it is illegal to grow industrial hemp in the United States due to misguided laws which equate it with a drug, all scientific evidence to the contrary. Many other western nations grow industrial hemp, including Canada, France and the UK and export tons to the United States." For more information, please visit www.votenader.com.
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