Setback for Medical Marijuana

>From the Guardian:
[House voted yesterday on this amendment to H.R. 4754]
-By 268-148 to let the federal government continue prosecuting people who use 
marijuana for medical reasons in states where local law allows its use by 
patients. By that vote, the House rejected an amendment by Democrats and some 
conservative Republicans that would have barred the federal government from 
blocking the medical marijuana laws of Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, 
Maine, Nevada, Oregon, Vermont and Washington. 

The Supreme Court said last month that it will decide whether the federal 
government can prosecute patients who use marijuana following a doctor's 
advice.

Last year, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled the 
federal law outlawing marijuana should not apply to people using the drug on a 
doctor's recommendation. The Bush administration appealed that decision - 
which only covers the western states in the 9th Circuit - saying federal anti-
drug laws supersede state laws.

The amendment was offered to a bill providing $39.8 billion next year for the 
departments of Justice, State and Commerce. The Senate has yet to write its 
version of the legislation. 

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