United States Users and supporters of medical marijuana see the Supreme Court's ruling against a medical necessity defense to the prohibition laws as a serious, but not fatal, setback for legalization efforts. Despite the Supreme Court's denial of medical exemption for the manufacture and distribution of marijuana under federal law, many of California's medical marijuana dispensaries remain open. Parties who grow or distribute marijuana for medical purposes may not raise the defense of medical necessity under federal law, the Supreme Court has ruled, 8-0. A day before the Supreme Court heard arguments in a high-profile medical marijuana case, prohibitionist Republican lawmakers sparred with advocates of the medical use of pot. United States With the Supreme Court set to hear oral arguments in a legal battle over state-level efforts to legalize marijuana for medical use, local government actions vary.
Some officials enforce prohibition, while others cooperate with pot growers and distributors.
A recent survey conducted by Physicians Online suggests that more than half of doctors support the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes. Only 6.2 percent categorically oppose its use. As oral arguments began over the limits of federal power to overrule state-level medical marijuana laws, several Supreme Court justices seemed skeptical of the argument that pot is medicine, and that this provides a medical necessity defense against prohibition. Nearly half of U.S. physicians with opinions support legalizing marijuana as a medicine, according to the results of a national survey presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Addiction Medicine. In the past five years, eight states have approved measures allowing patients with certain medical conditions to smoke marijuana.