Medicinal Marijuana and the Due Process Clause

• There is no “substantive right,” under federal law, to use marijuana for medicinal purposes.

The use of marijuana for medicinal purposes, being contrary to a prior Ninth Circuit case decision and not a “substantive right,” remains illegal under federal law.  Its continuing illegality under federal law does not violate the Due Process Clause.   The fact that multiple states have legalized the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes has no effect on federal law.

In 2017, defendant Richard Langley plead guilty to possession of child pornography (per 18 U.S.C. § 2252(a)(4)(B)) in federal court.  He was sentenced to time served (56 days) with ten years of supervised release (i.e., probation).  The conditions of Langley’s supervised release included that he “not commit [a] federal, state or local crime,” “not illegally possess a controlled substance,” and “refrain from any unlawful use of a controlled substance.”  It is a statutory requirement under federal law (18 U.S.C. § 3583(d)) that these conditions be imposed. Defendant accepted these conditions (the alternative being that he stay in jail) despite being prone to smoking a little doobie once in a while.  He claimed that smoking marijuana was necessary for him in order to alleviate the pain he felt from a previous amputation of his right leg below the knee; the result of a motorcycle accident.  Sometime that same year, defendant returned to the federal district court and asked that his ....