Cancer patient Ralph Seeley has no constitutional right to smoke marijuana to ease his pain, the Washington State Supreme Court ruled Thursday.
In an 8-1 decision, the justices reaffirmed that the Legislature has the authority to protect the public health and safety by regulating drugs.
Seeley, a former News Tribune columnist who is now an attorney, was out of town and unavailable for comment.
But the ruling left his friends seething.
"I've seen what he's gone through," said Tacoma attorney B. Michael Clark, who shared a law office with Seeley for several years. "I've seen the pain.
"He had to put in motions for continuances (on cases) because he literally could not sit in a chair to use a typewriter or computer, he was in so much pain.
"To deny people who are dying any drug is so unjust that it defies description. ... It's just criminal."
Dr. Rob Killian, a Tacoma doctor who launched an initiative to allow the medical use of marijuana and other drugs, said he was proud of Seeley.
"Ralph is one of my heroes," said Killian. "He has put incredible amounts of his life and health on the line for this issue."
Killian, whose initiative has not yet been confirmed for the ballot, said he thinks the court took the easy way out.
"Government has traditionally put politics in front of compassion," he said.
Seeley was diagnosed with chordoma, a rare bone cancer, in 1986. Since then, he's had 12 major surgeries and numerous bouts of radiation and chemotherapy.
He smoked marijuana to relieve his symptoms after some chemotherapy treatments left him vomiting uncontrollably and covered in his own excrement.
He has said he tried a synthetic form but it didn't work. Usually, he vomited the pills. And when he did keep them down, they were so strong that they knocked him out of commission for hours.
He filed suit in Pierce County Superior Court in 1994, arguing his own case, and a year later Judge Rosanne Buckner ruled in his favor. The state appealed her decision.
In ruling against Seeley, the justices also endorsed listing marijuana as a Schedule 1 drug, which means it can't be legally prescribed. The court also noted that state laws governing controlled substances are part of a national plan to control drug abuse.
The lone dissenter, Justice Richard Sanders, said he found the criminal prohibition on marijuana to be unduly oppressive.
"I wonder how many minutes of Seeley's agony the Legislature and/or the majority of this court would endure before seeing the light," he wrote. "Words are insufficient to convey the needless suffering which the merciless State has imposed."
Melissa Burke-Cain, the assistant attorney general who argued the case, was on vacation and couldn't be reached for comment.
Her boss, senior assistant attorney general Hal Dygert, said he was pleased with the ruling, noting the court accepted many of the state's arguments.
He said he felt compassion for Seeley, but believes the justices ruled correctly.
"We need to be concerned not just with his particular interest but with the interests of all," he said.
Lt. Gov. Brad Owen, a vocal drug foe, told The Associated Press the ruling was in the best interests of the people. He said any decision to legalize the medical use of marijuana should come from the federal Food and Drug Administration after thorough scientific analysis.
"What we've said all along is that if in fact there is a medical value to marijuana, it needs to take the same route that cocaine took, that morphine took, so we know the good and the bad about it," Owen said.
Clark said he wasn't sure whether Seeley would ask the U.S. Supreme Court to review the case, but noted it takes a lot of Seeley's energy to fight his disease.
In November, Seeley's surgeon tried to remove another tumor, but he couldn't get it all. Since then, Seeley has undergone several rigorous chemotherapy regimens.
Clark said tests show the tumor has neither grown nor shrunk.
"Ralph Seeley is the toughest guy I have ever met in my life," he said.
"He's just incredible. If anybody can whip it, he can."
© The News Tribune
July 25, 1997