Angel Raich of Oakland, Calif., could be prosecuted for smoking cannabis even though her doctor says it is the only drug keeping her alive.
Ms. Raich has a host of health problems, including a brain tumor and severe scoliosis, that leave her in more or less constant pain and nausea, with nothing resembling an appetite. She and her doctor say that conventional medicines fail to do much for her, but that a joint every few hours brings enough relief from these debilitating symptoms to let her go on, to get her food down and to keep it down.
California state law has allowed marijuana to be prescribed and used in cases like hers since 1996, and a number of other states have followed suit. But federal law does not.
The feds want to reserve the right to prosecute Ms. Raich (see the note below), and her case has already been to the Supreme Court once, on the question of whether the state law protects her from the federal one. The high court said no in 2005, and sent the case back to the appeals court to hear her second claim — that no matter what the statute books say, she has a pre-eminent right to keep herself alive by using the drug her doctor says her life depends on.
Does the fact that Ms. Raich sued pre-emptively, and has not herself been the target of enforcement action, change the answer to the question above? Would it be different if the case before the court still concerned the medical marijuana user whose home actually was raided (she withdrew as a co-plaintiff in 2005)?
Well considering the fact that i myself am a smoker and though i know i cannot do much about the issue of legalizing marijuana, denying someone who is sick and suffering a pain-free life is utter injustice.Of course she's not dangerous nor is she doing any harm to anybody. If she lived in my country (im not gonna say where but weed is holy where i live), i would probably smoke a j with her everyday.
But anyway seriously what if President Bush was utterly ill and the only way to rid the pain was through the joint, what would the Federal Court do then? I bet there is more to it than just banning it as a drug and including it in Schedule I. Its as though a big reefer bud is gonna overthrow the whole of the world and make us slaves if we don't prevent it now. Fuckin dumbasses.
Also Read Weed Save's Bush's Life
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