On June 6, the Supreme Court handed down a split ruling, finding that the federal government has the ability to prosecute medical marijuana patients. While the ruling was disappointing to advocates for medical marijuana, the decision’s effect is to maintain the status quo. The Drug Enforcement Agency can still raid the homes of patients, it can still arrest and confiscate the property of patients, and it can still prosecute and imprison patients. The government’s position on medical marijuana and its ability to act on that position remains the same today as it did before the ruling.

Anyone who lights up a joint for medicinal purposes isn't likely to be pursued by federal authorities, despite a Supreme Court ruling that these marijuana users could face federal charges, people on both sides of the issue say.

Before becoming the medical consultant to the Hospice Foundation of America, Dr. William M. Lamers worked for three decades with terminally ill cancer patients, helping to ease their pain. When asked for his opinion on Monday's 6-3 U.S. Supreme Court decision supporting a nationwide ban on medicinal marijuana, he didn't mince words. "I think it's a tragedy that a drug that's apparently safe and is effective as an analgesic, a real pain reliever, isn't available to patients who need it."

Before Monday's 6-3 Supreme Court ruling in Gonzales vs. Raich, federal agents had the authority to break down the doors of medical marijuana patients and haul them off -- and they still can. But should cancer patients who smoke pot worry about federal agents sending them to the clink? The reality is that more than 99 percent of all marijuana arrests are made at the state or local level. So if you live in California, where marijuana has been legal for medical purposes since the Compassionate Use Act of 1996, your medical marijuana card makes you pretty safe.

Erin Hildebrandt moved her family from Maryland to Oregon last June for one reason: She wanted to live in a state where she could use marijuana legally. But the Supreme Court's ruling Monday that state medical marijuana laws do not protect Hildebrandt and thousands of other medical-marijuana users from federal prosecution has her fearing the worst.

Anyone who lights up a joint for medicinal purposes isn't likely to be pursued by federal authorities, despite a Supreme Court ruling that these marijuana users could face federal charges, people on both sides of the issue say.

Terminally ill patients who smoke marijuana to alleviate pain can be prosecuted for violating federal drug laws, even if their own state laws allow them to use marijuana for medical purposes, the Supreme Court ruled Monday.

Oregon stopped issuing medical marijuana cards to sick citizens on Monday, but people could still get pot with a doctor's prescription there and in nine other states despite the Supreme Court ruling, and nobody in law enforcement appeared eager to make headlines arresting ailing citizens.

The federal government may prosecute patients who use marijuana even in states with laws allowing medicinal use of the drug, the Supreme Court ruled Monday.

Federal authorities may prosecute sick people who smoke marijuana for medicinal purposes, even in states that have legalized the practice, the Supreme Court ruled Monday.

ASA's press release on the Decision

The U.S. Supreme Court Monday ruled doctors can be blocked from prescribing marijuana for patients suffering from pain caused by cancer or other serious illnesses.

The two plaintiffs in the medical marijuana case decided by the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday say they will defy the ruling and continue to smoke pot, even at the risk of arrest by federal authorities.

Oakland resident Angel Raich said she will continue to use medical marijuana under her doctor's care, despite today's U.S. Supreme Court ruling that the federal government can continue to enforce the federal ban on put in states and localities that have medical cannabis laws.

An Oakland patient who says she needs medical marijuana to survive said today she plans to keep on using the drug and to continue her legal battle despite losing her case in U.S. Supreme Court.