After years of debate between the U.S. government and private cooperatives, the Supreme Court ruled that medicinal use of marijuana is not an exception to the Controlled Substance Act.

The Controlled Substance Act outlaws the manufacture, the distribution, the dispense of and/or the possession of a controlled substance.

The only exception to the law is for government-approved research.

The use of medical marijuana has been a controversial issue since 1996, when California became the first state to allow the medical use of the drug for terminally ill patients.

Supporters of medical marijuana argue the drug should be allowed for people with serious and painful illnesses.

“Some studies indicate that medical marijuana may help with glaucoma, multiple sclerosis and for dealing with chemotherapy for cancer,” Dr. Marc Shulman of the Student Health Center said.

However, Shulman said there isn’t enough research available to determine exactly what the effects of medicinal marijuana use are.

“For some patients, there are alternatives, but some patients state that marijuana is the only drug that will work,” he said. “But there is not a lot of research to support that.”

Richard Hughes, professor of psychology, said the Supreme Court’s May 14 ruling did more than just come down against drug use in cooperatives.

“The Supreme Court shut down the use of medical marijuana, but it also shut down the state laws associated with marijuana and left a door open for government research,” he said.

Hughes said the reason the Supreme Court made its decision was because there was increasing number of state legislatures legalizing medicinal marijuana.

Nine states have legalized the use of the drug for medicinal purposes.

Hughes said the Supreme Court wanted more evidence showing the positive effects of using marijuana to cope with an illness.

“We need more research into marijuana before state legislatures start allowing marijuana,” he said.

Hughes said there is a problem with allowing people to smoke medicinal marijuana because it might cause forms of cancer, but he said it’s different when it comes to terminally ill patients.

“When dealing with a terminally ill patient there should be no restriction unless it is going to accelerate their terminal condition,” he said. “They should be allowed to take any form [of marijuana].”