12/16/2003: Angel McClary Raich, her caregivers, and Diane Monson won in an historic Ninth Circuit court decision in their injunction against Ashcroft, the DEA Chief, and the Federal Gov 't. In a decision with far-reaching implications, a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals sent the case of Raich v. Ashcroft (see pdf) back to the district court for the issuing of an injunction against any further arrests or prosecutions of medical marijuana patients and their providers. The ruling declares that the Controlled Substances Act - the 1970 federal law that makes marijuana illegal in all circumstances - is unconstitutional as applied to medical marijuana because the federal ban relies on the presence of interstate commerce to override state laws, such as California' s, that expressly legalize medical use.
The judges said that personal medicinal use of marijuana on the advice of a physician, when it happens within one state and does not involve money changing hands, is conduct federal law cannot reach. The case under consideration involved the local production and consumption of marijuana in accordance with California state law.
Americans for Safe Access