Source: https://biotech.law.lsu.edu/cases/research/people_v_privitera.htm
Timestamp: 2019-04-26 01:48:29+00:00

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Opinion by Clark, J., with Tobriner, Mosk, Richardson and Manuel, JJ., concurring. Separate dissenting opinions by Bird, C. J., and Newman, J.
 Viewed in the light most favorable to the judgments (see People v. Reilly (1970) 3 Cal. 3d 421 , 425 [ 90 Cal. Rptr. 417 , 475 P.2d 649] ), the evidence amply supports the jury's conclusion that defendants were involved in a common plan to import, prescribe, sell and distribute laetrile (also referred to as amygdalin or vitamin B-17) to cancer patients. Dr. Privitera prescribed laetrile for cancer patients and referred his patients to Turner and Disney as suppliers of laetrile. Disney referred patients to Dr. Privitera for treatment. Leslie and Disney worked as distributors in various residential areas. Defendants told prospective users that laetrile is an effective treatment or cure for cancer. Laetrile has not been approved for that purpose by one of the designated governmental agencies.
 Defendants appeal on the ground the statute is unconstitutional. They contend the right of privacy protected by the federal and California Constitutions includes a right to obtain laetrile or, more generally, a right of access to drugs not recognized by the government as effective. Fundamental rights, defendants point out, may be regulated only to the extent necessary to achieve a compelling state interest. Defendants argue the purported right to obtain laetrile is fundamental and therefore the regulation challenged here must be reviewed under the compelling state interest standard. Section 1707.1 is found to be unconstitutional, defendants conclude, when measured against that standard.
 However, a fundamental privacy right is not at stake here. The interest defendants allege is, apparently, "the interest in independence in making certain kinds of important decisions." (Whalen v. Roe (1977) 429 U.S. 589, 599-600 [51 L.Ed.2d 64, 73, 97 S.Ct. 869].) But the kinds of "important decisions" recognized by the high court to date as falling within the right of privacy involve "'matters relating to marriage, procreation, contraception, family relationships, and child rearing and education'" (Whalen v. Roe, supra, 429 U.S. at p. 600, fn. 26 [51 L.Ed.2d at p. 74], quoting Paul v. Davis (1976) 424 U.S. 693, 713 [47 L.Ed.2d 405, 420-421, 96 S.Ct. 1155]), but do not include medical treatment.
 Significantly, when danger to health exists Roe v. Wade indicates that state regulation shall be tested under the rational basis standard. (410 U.S. at p. 163 [35 L.Ed.2d at pp. 182-183].) Indeed, the high court held in Roe v. Wade that a state may -- without encroaching upon any right of privacy -- further its important interests "in the areas of health and safety" by requiring abortions be performed at licensed institutions which "insure maximum safety for the patient" and prohibiting performance of abortion by a person not a physician as defined by state law. (410 U.S. at pp. 149, 150, 163-165 [35 L.Ed.2d at pp. 175, 182-184].) The lesson of Roe v. Wade for our case is that a requirement that a drug be certified effective for its intended use is a reasonable means to "insure maximum safety for the patient."
 matter to which privacy status does not attach and which may be regulated by the government, providing a rational basis for such regulation exists.
 characterized as 'terminal' who could actually be helped by legitimate therapy and (2) patients clearly susceptible to the benefits of legitimate therapy who would be misled as to Laetrile's utility by the limited approval program or who would be able to obtain the drug through the inevitable leakage in any system set up to administer such a program." (42 Fed.Reg. 39805.) Substantial evidence in the administrative record appears to support the conclusion reached by the commissioner.*fn6 Certainly the record in this case does not inspire one with confidence that advocates of laetrile would cooperate with a regulation restricting it to "terminal" cancer patients. In studied defiance of current law, Dr. Privitera prescribed and administered the drug as a cancer cure, advised his patients to discontinue conventional treatment, and warned them not to let their regular physicians know they were taking laetrile.
 health and safety of its citizens? We conclude section 1707.1 does satisfy this standard and that it therefore does not encroach upon the federal constitutional right of privacy.
 a right of privacy intended to protect conduct of the sort engaged in by defendants, we have no hesitation in holding that section 1707.1 does not offend that constitutional provision.
 The reason for the rule is well illustrated here. While conceding a federal customs agent is not, per se, a "peace officer" under California law (see Pen. Code, § 7 , subd. 8, and § 830 et seq.), the People suggest Agent Nadel may nevertheless have acquired such status by a process of cross-deputization. As the issue was not raised below, the People had no occasion to pursue the point and, therefore, defendants may not raise it now.
 We have considered defendants' remaining contentions and find them to lack merit.
 BIRD, C. J. I respectfully dissent.
 Under California Health and Safety Code section 1707.1,*fn1 it is a misdemeanor to sell, deliver, prescribe or administer any drug or device to be used in the diagnosis, treatment, alleviation or cure of cancer which has not been approved by the designated federal agency (21 U.S.C.S. § 355) or by a state board ( Health & Saf. Code, § 1704).
 We view the evidence in the light most favorable to the judgments. (People v. Reilly, 3 Cal. 3d 421 , 425 [ 90 Cal. Rptr. 417 , 475 P.2d 649]. ) The defendants were involved in a common plan to import, distribute and prescribe laetrile (also referred to as amygdalin or vitamin B-17) to cancer patients. Defendants Turner and Davis were the importers and chief suppliers of the drug. Defendants Leslie and Disney worked as the distribution network in various residential areas. Dr. Privitera prescribed amygdalin for cancer victims (or to undercover state agents represented to be cancer victims). Dr. Privitera referred patients to Turner and Davis to buy the amygdalin; Disney referred patients to Dr. Privitera for treatment.
 Dr. Privitera points out that many cancer victims have investigated and evaluated the merits of surgery, radiation therapy or chemotherapy the aid of competent medical advice and have made the highly personal decision [that] the benefits from such therapy [are] not sufficient to justify the risks which include disfigurement, debilitation, and accelerated death and for this reason have chosen to seek amygdalin as a treatment; other cancer victims have been advised that their condition is hopeless, their case is terminal and as a last resort before certain death, seek amygdalin.
 treatment to be received by cancer-ridden patients. It is in the nature of man that such right exists.
 This principle, now of constitutional dimension, has been embraced by many decisions in a variety of situations.*fn2 (See In re Lifschutz, 2 Cal. 3d 415 , 432, fn. 12 [ 85 Cal. Rptr. 829 , 467 P.2d 557 , 44 A.L.R.3d 1], and Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113, 151-153 [35 L.Ed.2d 147, 175-177, 93 S.Ct. 705, 726].) This concept, when placed in the doctor-patient relationship is the "right to decide independently, with the advice of his physician, to acquire and to use needed medication." (Whalen v. Roe, 429 U.S. 589, 603 [51 L.Ed.2d 64, 75, 97 S.Ct. 869, 876, 878]; Doe v. Bolton, 410 U.S. 179, 197 [35 L.Ed.2d 201, 215-216, 93 S.Ct. 739, 750].) In re Lifschutz, supra, 2 Cal. 3d 415 , 431, 432, makes this profound insight concerning Griswold : "Indeed, the decision's concern for valued aspects of individual privacy may ultimately aid in protecting man from the dehumanization of an everencroaching technological environment."
 This broad premise authorizes the invasion of the doctor-patient zone of privacy by the state to prohibit the doctor prescribing certain species of drugs. (Blinder v. Division of Narcotic Enforcement, 25 Cal. App. 3d 174 [ 101 Cal. Rptr. 635]. ) The People point to Whalen v. Roe, supra, 429 U.S. 589, 603, fn. 30 [51 L.Ed.2d 64, 75, 97 S.Ct. 869, 878], and Paris Adult Theatre I v. Slaton, 413 U.S. 49, 65, 67 [37 L.Ed.2d 446, 461-463, 93 S.Ct. 2628], in support of this broad position.
 At the heart of the People's defense of Health and Safety Code section 1707.1 is the premise, Legislature declared,*fn3 that early and accurate diagnosis of cancer materially reduces the likelihood of death, prolongs useful life; where false or misleading representations are made to the public, large numbers rely upon such falsities, and needlessly die of cancer.
 state licensed physician to "state sanctioned alternatives"?*fn4 To resolve these contrapoised contentions we must carefully analyze the nature of the right protected.
 Judge Cardozo in Schloendorff v. Society of New York Hospital, 211 N.Y. 125 [105 N.E. 92, at page 93] stated: "Every human being of adult years and sound mind has a right to determine what shall be done with his own body; . . . ."
 Without specific reference to a constitutional basis, the right to choose what may be a suicidal medical course has been upheld. In Erickson v. Dilgard, 44 Misc.2d 27 [252 N.Y.S.2d 705, 706] a New York court sustained the unwilling Jehovah's Witness' objection to a needed blood transfusion despite risk of death. The court there said at page 706: ". . . it is the individual who is the subject of a medical decision who has the final say and that this must necessarily be so in a system of government which gives the greatest possible protection to the individual in the furtherance of his own desires."
 For analogy we look to the very heart of this right of choice of medical procedures, the right to beget or not to beget a child. In the case of Griswold v. Connecticut, supra, 381 U.S. 479 the Supreme Court held unconstitutional a Connecticut statute prohibiting the use of contraceptives. Following Griswold a series of United States Supreme Court cases have attempted to ascertain the boundaries of this aspect of privacy. The outer limits have not yet been determined. However, it is made clear by decision that unjustified government interference with personal decisions ". . . relating to marriage, Loving v. Virginia, 388 U.S. 1, 12 (1967); procreation, Skinner v. Oklahoma, 316 U.S. 535, 541-542 (1942); contraception, Eisenstadt v. Baird, 405 U.S. at 453-454; id., at 460, 463-465 (White, J., concurring in result); family relationships, Prince v. Massachusetts, 321 U.S. 158, 166 (1944); and child rearing and education, Pierce v. Society of Sisters, 268 U.S. 510, 535 (1925), Meyer v. Nebraska, supra " (Roe v. Wade, supra, 410 U.S. 113, 152-153 [35 L.Ed.2d 147, 177, 93 S.Ct. 705, 726]) violate this concept.
 The California Supreme Court has set forth as a "postulate" or "axiomatic" the right to choose one's own "lawful" treatment. In Cobbs v. Grant, 8 Cal. 3d 229 , at page 242 [ 104 Cal. Rptr. 505 , 502 P.2d 1] , the court, in determining the duty of the physician to secure the informed consent of the patient to treatment, said: "Preliminarily we employ several postulates. . . . The second is that a person of adult years and in sound mind has the right, in the exercise of control over his own body, to determine whether or not to submit to lawful medical treatment."
 Aden v. Younger, 57 Cal. App. 3d 662 [ 129 Cal. Rptr. 535] , held unconstitutional the provisions of Welfare and Institutions Code section 5326.4 requiring substantive review by a medical committee of a voluntary, competent patient's consent to choice of electro-shock treatment.
 right found must be balanced against the state -- the public interest protected.
 Doe v. Bolton, supra, 410 U.S. 179, 200 [35 L.Ed.2d 201, 217, 93 S.Ct. 739, 751], states if a physician is licensed by the state he is recognized by the state as capable of expressing acceptable clinical judgment. If he fails in this, professional censure and deprivation of his license are remedies available and "reliance must be placed on the assurance given by his license . . . that he possesses the requisite qualifications."
 but also the historic bases of state charters." (People v. Brisendine, supra, 13 Cal. 3d 528 , 549-550.) We therefore must evaluate the rights infringed by section 1707.1 in light of our own Constitution.
 The California Supreme Court first addressed the significance of the new provision in White v. Davis, supra, 13 Cal. 3d 757 , 773-776. In that case the complaint asserted certain government surveillance and data-gathering activities abridged students' and teachers' constitutional right of privacy. In reversing a judgment entered upon the sustaining of a general demurrer, the court concluded the activities challenged did fall within the aegis of article I, section 1. The court "[intimated] no opinion as to the resolution of the ultimate constitutional question after trial" (White v. Davis, supra, 13 Cal. 3d 757 , 776), and did not purport to sketch "the full contours of the new constitutional provision." (Id., at p. 773.) Nevertheless, we are aided by its observations and analysis.
 The rights here relied upon by Privitera do not fall within that "more focused privacy concern" of White v. Davis, supra, 13 Cal. 3d 757 ; but rather relates to the "enormously broad and diverse field of personal belief and action." The state here does not seek to surveil or collect data about laetrile users or distributors. It seeks to circumscribe an even more profound compelling interest, that right which is but an "outward manifestation of the inward domain of the consciousness," the right to be left alone.
 " The right of privacy is the right to be left alone. It is a fundamental and compelling interest. It protects our homes, our families, our thoughts, our emotions, our expressions, our personalities, our freedom of communion, and our freedom to associate with the people we choose.
 Based upon the "legislative intent" derived from the express language of the election brochure we conclude a right, of California constitutional dimension, was enacted. This right is not just a shield against threats to personal freedom posed by modern surveillance and data-collecting activities. This state-protected right of privacy encompasses a fundamental and compelling interest of the cancer patient to choose or reject his or her own medical treatment on the advice of a licensed medical doctor. This right can be abridged only where there is compelling need.
 the doctor to furnish the state with a copy of every prescription for such drugs did not unconstitutionally deprive a person of the right to decide independently with the advice of his physician to acquire or to use needed medication.
 In Blinder v. Division of Narcotic Enforcement, supra, 25 Cal. App. 3d 174 , 181, the authority of the State of California to regulate prescription by a doctor of a narcotic, habit forming, dangerous drug was vindicated. Plaintiff physician sought to prescribe the use of methadone as a necessary and effective method for the treatment of narcotic addiction. The statutes challenged by Dr. Blinder provided for treatment of addicts at certain places and specified periods of time and limited use of methadone in the treatment of other diseases. The court in Blinder held the limitations upon the prescription of methadone for treatment of addicts ( Health & Saf. Code, §§ 11391 and 11395) were an appropriate exercise of the police power of the state and did not constitute a denial of equal protection of law or constitute cruel and unusual punishment. Concerning the right of the doctor to practice without state interference, Blinder v. Division of Narcotic Enforcement, supra, 25 Cal. App. 3d 174 , at page 181, states: "It is well established, moreover, that although the right to practice medicine, like the right to practice any other profession, is a valuable property right [citation], this right may not be exercised free of reasonable restrictions. 'The state clearly has the power to regulate professions in the interest of public health, safety and welfare.' [Citations.]" It should be noted in Blinder, as in Whipple, as in Robinson, and in Whalen v. Roe, supra, the drugs subject to this broad police power are drugs which are dangerous drugs in the sense that they are narcotic, habit forming, hallucinatory or toxic. Their use or misuse "concerns others." Laetrile is not in this class. It is generally conceded to be a harmless drug. Its alleged evil lies in its "ineffective" treatment of cancer.
 The sole case authority submitted for the proposition that the state has the right under its police power to interfere in the doctor-patient relationship where the drug prescribed is amygdalin is People v. Privitera, 55 Cal. App. 3d Supp. 39 [ 128 Cal. Rptr. 151] , where the same Dr. Privitera was charged in the Municipal Court of Los Angeles with a series of misdemeanor violations of section 1707.1 (here charged as the substantive crime, the object of a felony conspiracy). The trial court there sustained defendant's demurrer on the ground section 1707.1 was unconstitutional. The Appellate Division of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County reversed and denied section 1707.1 was overbroad, arbitrary or unreasonable. It was within the constitutional power of the Legislature to prohibit the prescription of amygdalin for cancer treatment. For its authority the appellate division relied upon the cases we cite which warrant state intervention in the doctor-patient area in the control, distribution, use of narcotics and other dangerous drugs.
 The district court in Rutherford v. United States, supra, found that the FDA, under 21 United States Code section 355, had: ". . . abdicated its duty to make a clear determination of whether the drug laetrile should or should not be placed in commerce though the drug has been in use for many years and thousands of persons have been treated with it."
 The court further found that from the records, testimony and exhibits that: ". . . laetrile is not lethal in any sense of the word. It is not harmful to the human body and when used in proper amounts under proper control and supervision can effect relief from cancer disease to the satisfaction of many who are privileged to use the same." (Rutherford v. United States, supra, 399 F.Supp. 1208, 1212.) In view of this failure of the Federal Drug Administration to act in accordance with the constitutional intent, the court found that Rutherford and others were wholly without means or resources to comply with the provisions of 21 United States Code section 355 (b),*fn10 further that each of them was denied "the freedom of choice for treatment by laetrile to alleviate or cure their cancer."
 victimization of cancer victims by playing on their desperate need. The court observed where a person is terminally ill with cancer and unresponsive to other treatments: ". . . the public harm is considerably reduced. Such a person would not be avoiding other methods of treatment generally [accepted] . . . ." Thereupon the court enjoined the United States Customs Service from interfering in Carnohan's possession and moving in interstate commerce not in excess of a three-month supply of laetrile pending completion by the FDA of its study.
 The Legislature has found the state's compelling interest derives from its "interest" in the "effective diagnosis, care, treatment or cure of persons suffering from cancer." ( Health & Saf. Code, § 1700.) Further the Legislature found: ". . . accurate and early diagnosis of many forms of cancer, followed by prompt application of methods of treatment which are scientifically proven . . . reduces the likelihood of death from cancer . . . ." The People argue these are compelling reasons to deny cancer victims the prescription by a doctor of as yet an unapproved drug.
 Without question, Health and Safety Code section 1707.1 is an attempt at exercise of legislative power in the area of public health to protect the cancer victim. The legislative concern expressed section 1700 reflects a well founded and appropriate concern for misleading and false claims of cures for cancer. The section states a truism when it finds: "Various persons in this State have represented and continue to represent themselves as possessing medicines, . . . skills, . . . for the effective diagnosis, treatment, or cure of cancer, which representations are misleading to the public, . . . ."
 The premise that "various persons," -- con man, snake oil salesman, -- have made or will make false and misleading representations to the public concerning the diagnosis, treatment and cure of cancer certainly warrants, as rational means, the law which prohibits and makes criminal such acts. Health and Safety Code section 1714 accomplishes this precise purpose. It prohibits a false representation with intent to defraud of any device or substance or treatment as an effective cure for cancer. Dr.
 Privitera does not contest the appropriateness of Health and Safety Code section 1714 as it does fit the announced legislative purpose.
 has not given its prior approval to the exercise of his best medical judgment.
 by prohibiting the use of amygdalin or any other unapproved modality by the licensed physician, yet under the law of this state and the United States any individual can possess, use, self-treat, his condition, whatever it may be, by use of amygdalin, to his heart's content without liability.*fn13 In effect it turns the whole matter of treatment back to the cancer patient himself if he is unwilling to accept the "state sanctioned alternatives."
 There remains one further concern. The evidence in this case shows without exception the cancer victims, whether People's or defense's witnesses, were knowledgeable persons fully aware of the nature of the "state sanctioned alternatives" before seeking treatment from Dr. Privitera. Many were unwilling to accept the orthodox alternatives; many unwilling to accept the verdict of "terminal." These are not wide-eyed country bumpkins seeking to be conned. The class actions filed against governmental authorities to compel the availability of the drug in question illustrate the desperate seeking of the cancer victims.*fn14 We need cite only one witness as a basis for a composite picture: The patient is a "senior" citizen with diagnosed cancer of the prostate; treatment recommended -- prostate removal and castration; female hormone treatment for the rest of his life. The victim simply refused to accept these alternatives and sought amygdalin treatment.
 of the Rutherford and Carnohan decisions. Matter of Quinlan, supra, 70 N.J. 10 [355 A.2d 647, 663], states the premise eloquently: ". . . no external compelling interest of the State could compel Karen to endure the unendurable, only to vegetate a few measurable months with no realistic possibility of returning to any semblance of cognitive or sapient life. We perceive no thread of logic distinguishing between such a choice on Karen's part and a similar choice which, under the evidence in this case, could be made by a competent patient terminally ill, riddled by cancer and suffering great pain; such a patient would not be resuscitated or put on a respirator . . . and a fortiori would not be kept against his will on a respirator."
 By selective quotation the majority opinion downgrades the right of privacy in California, which "relates, of course, to an enormously broad and diverse field of personal action and belief . . . ." (White v. Davis (1975) 13 Cal. 3d 757 , 774 [ 120 Cal. Rptr. 94 , 533 P.2d 222]. ) What the California Constitution in article I, section 1, guarantees is an inalienable right of "pursuing and obtaining safety, happiness, and privacy." By no means do those words merely mirror United States Supreme Court opinions. In White v. Davis, supra, Justice Tobriner's opinion for a unanimous court noted approvingly these statements from the official election brochure that help illuminate privacy's full scope: "'The right of privacy is the right to be left alone. It is a fundamental and compelling interest. It protects our homes, our families, our thoughts, our emotions, our expressions, our personalities, our freedom of communion and our freedom to associate with the people we choose . . . .'" (Id., at p. 774.) "'The right of privacy is an important American heritage and essential to the fundamental rights guaranteed by the First, Third, Fourth, Fifth and Ninth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution. This right should be abridged only when there is a compelling public need . . . .'" (Id., at p. 775.) In this case I detect no such need.
 *fn* Retired judge of the municipal court sitting under assignment by the Chairperson of the Judicial Council.
 *fn1 Section 1707.1 provides: "The sale, offering for sale, holding for sale, delivering, giving away, prescribing or administering of any drug, medicine, compound or device to be used in the diagnosis, treatment, alleviation or cure of cancer is unlawful and prohibited unless (1) an application with respect thereto has been approved under Section 505 of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, or (2) there has been approved an application filed with the board setting forth: [ para. ] (a) Full reports of investigations which have been made to show whether or not such drug, medicine, compound or device is safe for such use, and whether such drug, medicine, compound or device is effective in such use; [ para. ] (b) A full list of the articles used as components of such drug, medicine, compound or device; [ para. ] (c) A full statement of the composition of such drug, medicine, compound or device; (d) A full description of the methods used in, and the facilities and controls used for, the manufacture, processing and packing of such drug, medicine or compound or in the case of a device, a full statement of its composition, properties and construction and the principle or principles of its operation; [ para. ] (e) Such samples of such drug, medicine, compound or device and of the articles used as components of the drug, medicine, compound or device as the board may require; and [ para. ] (f) Specimens of the labeling and advertising proposed to be used for such drug, medicine, compound or device."
 *fn5 The court of appeals did not mention or discuss the reasons given by the commissioner.
 *fn7 Article I, section 1 (as reworded by constitutional amendment in Nov. 1974) now reads: "All people are by nature free and independent, and have"A inalienable rights. Among these are enjoying and defending life and liberty, acquiring, possessing, and protecting property, and pursuing and obtaining safety, happiness, and privacy."
"The sale, offering for sale, holding for sale, delivering, giving away, prescribing or administering of any drug, medicine, compound or device to be used in the diagnosis, treatment, alleviation or cure of cancer is unlawful and prohibited unless (1) an application with respect thereto has been approved under Section 505 of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act [21 USCS § 355], or (2) there has been approved an application filed with the board setting forth: "(a) Full reports of investigations which have been made to show whether or not such drug, medicine, compound or device is safe for such use, and whether such drug, medicine, compound or device is effective in such use; "(b) A full list of the articles used as components of such drug, medicine, compound or device; "(c) A full statement of the composition of such drug, medicine, compound or device; "(d) A full description of the methods used in, and the facilities and controls used for, the manufacture, processing and packing of such drug, medicine or compound or in the case of a device, a full statement of its composition, properties and construction and the principle or principles of its operation; "(e) Such samples of such drug, medicine, compound or device and of the articles used as components of the drug, medicine, compound or device as the board may require; and "(f) Specimens of the labeling and advertising proposed to be used for such drug, medicine, compound or device."
 *fn2 In Morris L. Ernst's and Alan U. Schwartz's Privacy: The Right To Be Left Alone (1962), the history and broad sweep of this doctrine is documented. Samuel D. Warren and Louis D. Brandeis, in The Right to Privacy (1890) 4 Harv. L. Rev. 193, state: ". . . it has been found necessary from time to time to define anew the exact nature and extent of such protection."
"The effective diagnosis, care, treatment or cure of persons suffering from cancer is of paramount public importance. Vital statistics indicates that approximately 16 percent of the total deaths in the United States annually result from one or another of the forms of cancer. It is established that accurate and early diagnosis of many forms of cancer, followed by prompt application of methods of treatment which are scientifically proven, either materially reduces the likelihood of death from cancer or may materially prolong the useful life of individuals suffering therefrom. "Despite intensive campaigns of public education, there is a lack of adequate and accurate information among the public with respect to presently proven methods for the diagnosis, treatment, and cure of cancer. Various persons in this State have represented and continue to represent themselves as possessing medicines, methods, techniques, skills, or devices for the effective diagnosis, treatment, or cure of cancer, which representations are misleading to the public, with the result that large numbers of the public, relying on such representations, needlessly die of cancer, and substantial amounts of the savings of individuals and families relying on such representations are needlessly wasted. "It is, therefore, in the public interest that the public be afforded full and accurate knowledge as to the facilities and methods for the diagnosis, treatment, and cure of cancer available in this State and that to that end there be provided means for testing and investigating the value or lack thereof of alleged cancer remedies, devices, drugs, or compounds, and informing the public of the facts found, and protecting the public from misrepresentation in such matters. "The importance of continuing scientific research to determine the cause or cure of cancer is recognized, and the department shall administer this chapter with due regard for the importance of bona fide scientific research and the clinical testing in hospitals, clinics, or similar institutions of new drugs or compounds."
 *fn4 People v. Privitera, 55 Cal. App. 3d Supp. 39 [ 128 Cal. Rptr. 151].
 *fn5 Soviet geneticist T. D. Lysenko, controversial dictator of "communistic" biology during the Stalin period, stultified the science of genetics in the U.S.S.R. for at least a generation. He imposed the "state sanctioned alternative," the curious idea that environmentally acquired characteristics of an organism could be transmitted to the offspring through inheritance. Thus, the Stalinist concept of ideological conformity politically implanted in genetics paralyzed this important branch of Soviet science.
 *fn6 Lest the reader suspect these conclusions are alarmist, without relevance to here and now, reference is made to Drug Regulation and Innovation -- Empirical Evidence and Policy Options, by Henry G. Grabowski (1976). This is a summary of studies made -- cost versus benefit analysis of the effects of the 1962 amendment which clothed the Federal Drug Administration with the authority to test new drugs for their "effectiveness" before permitting general prescription and use.
 *fn9 John Stuart Mill, On Liberty, supra, gives substance to the concept of "compelling state interest" when he asserts: ". . . one very simple principle, as entitled to govern absolutely the dealings of society with the individual in the way of compulsion and control, whether the means used be physical force in the form of legal penalties, or the moral coercion of public opinion. That principle is, that the sole end for which mankind are warranted, individually or collectively, in interfering with the liberty of action of any of their number, is self-protection. That the only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others. His own good, either physical or moral, is not a sufficient warrant. He cannot rightfully be compelled to do or forbear because it will be better for him to do so, because it will make him happier, because, in the opinions of others, to do so would be wise, or even right. These are good reasons for remonstrating with him, or reasoning with him, or persuading him, or entreating him, but not for compelling him, or visiting him with any evil in case he do otherwise. To justify that, the conduct from which it is desired to deter him, must be calculated to produce evil to some one else. The only part of the conduct of any one, for which he is amenable to society, is that which concerns others. In the part which merely concerns himself, his independence is, of right, absolute. Over himself, over his own body and mind, the individual is sovereign."
 *fn10 21 United States Code section 355 provides in part: "(a) No person shall introduce or deliver for introduction into interstate commerce any new drug, unless an approval of an application filed pursuant to subsection (b) of this section is effective with respect to such drug."
 *fn11 Stowe was the original plaintiff in the Rutherford case. He was a cancer patient and died in the pending of the suit. Rutherford and Mrs. Schneider filed further papers in the proceedings. Mrs. Schneider, Rutherford's coplaintiff, died before the hearing on the preliminary injunction which was issued by the district court.
 *fn12 Refusing enforcement of Health and Safety Code section 1707.1 is totally compatible with (1) compulsory vaccination, (2) fluoridation of public water supplies, (3) requiring that certain drugs be available to the public on prescription from a licensed doctor, and (4) recognition of a compelling state interest in the health of a prospective mother at approximately the end of the first trimester of pregnancy. (Roe v. Wade, supra, 410 U.S. 113.) Philosopher Mill precisely located the line of demarcation between the individual's control of himself, his own body and mind, and the sovereignty retained by the state saying "there is a sphere of action in which society, as distinguished from the individual, has, if any, only an indirect interest." (Mill, On Liberty, supra.) The much quoted Holmes' observation that freedom of speech does not encompass the right to shout fire in a crowded theater rests upon the readily recognizable danger to society and thus authorizes state intervention. Roe v. Wade, supra, 410 U.S. 113, is a classic example of a silent application of the Mill reasoning by the United States Supreme Court in delineating the line between the mother's control over her own body and a public interest when there is another life and being.
 *fn13 See Ellen S. Hodgson, infra, page 687, footnote 240, pointing out this incongruity. The smuggler of laetrile: ". . . faced a $10,000 fine and five-year prison sentence -- the maximum penalty imposed for smuggling an illegal drug intended for resale in the United States. See 18 U.S.C. § 545 (1970). That only the supplier, not the possessor, of laetrile is subject to criminal prosecution is due to the fact that the drug is not classified as a 'controlled' substance -- like heroin or marijuana -- the possession of which is illegal. However, because the FDA has not officially recognized the drug as 'safe,' it cannot be brought into the country or transported across state lines."
 *fn14 See Hodgson, Restrictions on Unorthodox Health Treatment in California: A Legal and Economic Analysis, 24 UCLA L.Rev. 647, 683, 689, for an excellent and exhaustive review of case and statutory law.
19790315 © 1998 VersusLaw Inc.

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 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 § 1700
 v. 
 v. 
 § 355
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 § 545