OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) - Washington's high court Thursday upheld the state's ban on the medical use of marijuana, rejecting a plea from a cancer-stricken lawyer who wants to smoke pot to relieve his pain.
Ralph Seeley, who has a rare form of bone cancer, had argued that his constitutional rights were being violated by federal and state laws that allow doctors to prescribe cocaine and opium but not marijuana.
But the state Supreme Court ruled 8-1 that the government's authority to protect its citizens outweighs a cancer patient's desire to relieve his pain.
The high court reversed a judge's ruling that struck down the state's ban on the medical use of marijuana.
``I wonder how many minutes of Seeley's agony the Legislature and/or the majority of this court would endure before seeing the light,'' said the lone dissenter, Justice Richard Sanders.
Seeley's next hope for relief may come in November. Backers of medical marijuana are trying to put the issue on the ballot for voters to decide.
Last year, voters in California and Arizona approved ballot issues legalizing marijuana for medical use, but Arizona's lawmakers blocked it.
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