|
|
Article: Last resorts and fundamental rights: the substantive due process implications of prohibitions on medical marijuana.
- Article from:
- Harvard Law Review
- Article date:
- April 1, 2005
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2005 Harvard Law Review Association. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
Angel McClary Raich suffers from "more than ten serious medical conditions, including an inoperable brain tumor, life-threatening weight loss, a seizure disorder, nausea, and several chronic pain disorders." (1) For years, she sought relief in one conventional treatment after another, but found each to be ineffective or to "result in intolerable side effects." (2) As the federal district court observed when deciding Raich's challenge to the federal Controlled Substances Act, (3) "[t]raditional medicine [had] utterly failed" her. (4) Finally, in 1999, Raich tried marijuana on the advice of a nurse; she experienced immediate--but not total--relief from her nausea and her ...