Policy Information Exchange

Noting that the federal government has filed few charges against medical-marijuana users, supporters of medical use of the drug say that this week's Supreme Court ruling against state medical-marijuana laws will have little practical impact.

The New York Times reported June 7 that the Drug Policy Alliance said that there have been fewer than 20 federal prosecutions of medical-marijuana users or growers since 1996 -- the year California passed the nation's first medical-marijuana law. Most of those cases involved operations where 1,000 or more plants were grown, and there is little expectation that the federal government will now go after small-time growers or users.

Medical-marijuana opponents are hopeful that the court ruling will prevent other states from joining the 11 that already have passed laws allowing medical use. In Oregon, one of the states with a medical-use law on the books, officials have stopped issuing new medical-marijuana registration cards until the state attorney general can issue an advisory opinion on the Supreme Court decision. "We need to proceed cautiously until we understand the ramifications of this ruling," said Grant Higginson of the Oregon Medical Marijuana Program.

Montana Attorney General Mike McGrath said state officials won't help federal law-enforcement officers go after medical-marijuana users. "I think it's going to be up to the Bush administration to make a decision as to how it's going to deal with theses cases as a matter of policy," said McGrath. California AG Bill Lockyer said the high court's ruling showed "the vast philosophical difference between the federal government and Californians on the rights of patients to have access to the medicine they need to survive and lead healthier lives."

While some medical-marijuana users and growers were defiant, others feared that the Supreme Court decision could lead to problems with the law. Colorado resident Dana May, who grows marijuana for his own medical use and for two other patients, said the court ruling would end his grow operation.

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