NewsMax.com Wires
Saturday, June 2, 2001

A recent U.S. Supreme Court decision spurred Gov. Bill Owens and Attorney General Ken Salazar to issue a letter to the president of the Colorado Medical Society as a warning to all state doctors. They both opposed the law, approved by voters in November.

Owens and Salazar said the "legal underpinnings" of the program were uncertain in light of a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling in a California case, but they stressed that regardless of the Colorado law, the use, possession and distribution of marijuana are against federal law.

"We send this letter to warn medical doctors in Colorado of the peril of potential federal prosecution if the doctor writes the note required for a patient to receive a medical marijuana registry card in Colorado," they said. "It is possible that doctor can be prosecuted successfully under federal drug laws."

In a separate letter to the acting U.S. attorney in Colorado, they urged the Department of Justice to prosecute "to the fullest extent" anyone who violates the federal anti-drug laws.

In a ruling May 14, the Supreme Court ruled that cannabis buyers clubs, used by medical marijuana users in California, are illegal. The high court said there was no scientific basis for the medical use of marijuana, but it did not overturn the California law.

In September, a federal judge in California ruled that federal efforts to bar doctors from discussing medical marijuana with patients violated the doctors' right of free speech.

Rich Caschette, a former federal prosecutor in Denver, told the Denver Post that the federal law prohibiting the sale and use of marijuana should cause concern among doctors.

"I certainly would be wary if I were a physician," he said.

The Colorado law permits chronically ill patients to possess up to 2 ounces of pot and six marijuana plants if they have a letter from their doctor and are approved for the state registry.

Copyright 2001 by United Press International.

All rights reserved.

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