On May 14, supporters of marijuana use for medicinal purposes suffered another setback, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a federal law classifying the drug as illegal has no exception when it comes to treating seriously ill patients.

Justice Clarence Thomas, in his opinion, said marijuana has no medical benefits worthy of an exception to the Controlled Substance Act. Obviously not a practicing physician, Thomas most certainly relied on studies concluding the drug has no effect on ill patients.

Not surprisingly, though, those studies go both ways. A 1998 study by the Office of National Drug Control Policy funded a study by the Institute of Medicine, which concluded that marijuana is effective in four circumstances – for reducing nausea and vomiting from chemo, for reducing rapid weight loss from AIDS, for alleviating some types of pain, and for treating muscle spasms associated with multiple sclerosis.

The Supreme Court, though, looked past such findings as they continued America’s assault on seriously ill patients looking to ease the pain of difficult and horrific illnesses.

Drugs like morphine and Vicodin, made by ever-influential pharmaceutical companies, are readily available, despite the fact that they are highly addictive.

Marijuana, a drug that doesn’t speed you up, knock you out, or destroy your heart muscles, can be effective for settling stomachs, reviving appetites and easing pain.

The ruling of the Supreme Court is both distant and ignorant and proves Washington politicians are out to make marijuana evil, even if it’s an 80-year-old cancer patient smoking it.

editorialboard: Michelle Kann, Tim Paluch, Jocelyn Marcus, Zach Calef, Ruth Spangler, Cavan Reagan