The Supreme Court, yesterday, decided that federal authorities could prosecute individuals using marijuana for medicinal purposes even in those states which have legalized the practice—of which Ohio is one. Neither Indiana, nor Kentucky, have medical marijuana legislation.
Gonzales v. Raich, case 03-1454, decided June 6, 2005.
Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, writing in dissent, commented that “The states’ core police powers have always included the authority to define criminal law and protect the health, safety, and welfare of their citizens.” An article posted this morning on Law.Com explores the “states’ rights” connotation which may encourage Congressional action.
H.R. 2087, introduced May 4th. by Rep. Barney Frank of Massachusetts and currently in the House’s subcommittee on Health, proposes “to provide for the medical use of marijuana in accordance with the laws of the various states.”
The medical uses of marijuana have been being discussed for some time. An article appearing in Perspectives on Addictions Nursing in June 1993 provides some background & history for those interested, and a Chicago Tribune article, Sunday, prophetically focused on the “long-smoldering debate over how dangerous the most widely used illegal drug in America really was, and whether it should be the central focus of the nation’s war on drugs.”
Ohio’s current provisions were authorized in August 1995 with the passage of Senate Bill 2, creating an affirmative defense “pursuant to the prior written recommendation of a licensed physician, possessed solely for medicinal purposes.” Senate Bill 74, introduced Feb. 22nd., would further amend Ohio’s medical marijuana law.
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