Snatching Victory from the Jaws of Defeat
The recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling and the House of Representatives vote on medical marijuana have shown that we are now well on the way to guaranteeing legal access to medical marijuana for seriously ill patients nationwide. And the route by which we will get there has become increasingly clear.
This may seem like a surprise, as many media reports characterized the June 6 Supreme Court ruling in Gonzales vs. Raich and the June 15 House vote on an amendment to stop federal prosecution of medical marijuana patients as setbacks.
In fact, both were significant steps forward.
While the court ruled that the Constitution allows the federal government to arrest medical marijuana patients even if their conduct is legal under state law, it did not strike down the medical marijuana laws currently on the books in 10 states. And Justice John Paul Stevens, writing for the majority, went out of his way to note that patients Angel Raich and Diane Monson had made "strong arguments that they will suffer irreparable harm, because, despite a congressional finding to the contrary, marijuana does have valid therapeutic purposes."
Stevens also expressed hope that Raich, Monson and their supporters "may one day be heard in the halls of Congress." He noted that they had raised significant arguments related to medical necessity and due process that were not addressed in the ruling, pointedly leaving the door open to future litigation. It is a near certainty that these issues will reach the Supreme Court, which has already telegraphed that it will view the medical necessity argument sympathetically.
And while the House did defeat a bipartisan amendment designed to stop the U.S. Justice Department from prosecuting patients in states with medical marijuana laws, even this 264-161 loss marked forward progress.
The full House has voted on medical marijuana four times: The first was on a non-binding resolution opposing medical marijuana that passed by a 311-94 margin in 1998. And the same amendment that the House took up on June 15 failed in 2003, and 2004, by margins of 273-152 and 268-148, respectively.
The number of House members willing to support medical marijuana has increased by 67 in only seven years. Just 57 more and we win.
And switch they will, because public opinion is demanding it. In a national Mason-Dixon poll taken June 8-11, voters were asked, "Should the federal government prosecute medical marijuana patients, now that it has been given the okay to do so by the U.S. Supreme Court?" By a greater than four-to-one margin, voters said "no." That response cut across age, gender, and political party affiliation, with Republicans saying "no" to arrests by more than three to one.
The impetus for the Supreme Court ruling and the shifting landscape in Congress comes from the 10 states with medical marijuana laws. As more and more pass such laws ---- Vermont and Montana joined the list last year ---- the pressure on Congress to finally bring federal law into the 21st century grows.
That pressure will keep growing. A medical marijuana bill passed the Rhode Island Senate by a crushing 34-2 vote on June 7 ---- the day after the Supreme Court ruling ---- and the bill already has enough co-sponsors in the Rhode Island House to assure passage.
That's just the beginning. The Marijuana Policy Project is committed to working with local patients and their supporters to pass medical marijuana laws in additional states through their legislatures or ballot initiatives.
And we will win. Like the American Nurses Association, the American Public Health Association and dozens of other medical organizations, the American people understand that arresting patients with cancer, AIDS, or multiple sclerosis for using medical marijuana when their doctor has recommended it is pointless and cruel.
It may sound cliched, but it's true: When the people lead, the leaders will follow. On medical marijuana, it's happening every day. And the day when no patient in this country need to fear arrest and jail for using a doctor-recommended medicine is not far off.
