“The Supreme Court’s action today protects doctors and patients from government censorship of open and honest discussions in the exam room,” said Graham Boyd, Director of the ACLU’s Drug Policy Litigation Project, who argued the ruling in the Ninth Circuit. “Patients deserve access to accurate information about all possible medicines from their doctors, including medical marijuana.”

“The First Amendment protects the right of doctors to express their opinions about the value of medical marijuana not just when they are giving a speech but when they are giving advice to individual patients,” said Ann Brick, staff attorney at the ACLU of Northern California and co-counsel in Walters v. Conant. “It is the patients who will benefit mostly from today’s announcement.”

The ACLU represents 15 doctors and patients in California who have suffered as a result of the federal government’s threats to doctors regarding the discussion of marijuana as medicine. In the decision upheld by the Supreme Court, Ninth Circuit Chief Judge Mary Schroeder stated that the government’s attempt to bar doctors from recommending medical marijuana strikes at “core First Amendment interests of doctors and patients” to speak frankly and openly.

The case arose after California voters passed Proposition 215 in November 1996, making it legal for patients to grow and possess marijuana for medical use when a doctor recommends it. The Clinton administration reacted by threatening to revoke the licenses of physicians who recommended medical use of marijuana. The Bush Administration continued that policy.

Dr. Marcus Conant, lead plaintiff in this case and AIDS specialist, said today’s announcement “means that I can do my job again and have real conversations with my patients about medical marijuana as part of their treatment options.”

Another plaintiff, Judith Cushner, a breast cancer survivor, said, “It’s good to know that the federal government can’t gag my doctors anymore and that I can get straight answers from them about every aspect of my medical care.”

Since the case was first filed in 1997, nine states have approved medical marijuana ballot initiatives or laws (Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Nevada, Oregon and Washington) and others are considering measures.