News in brief - Jan. 12, 2004

Mental health parity law renewed - Medical marijuana case allowed to proceed

Mental health parity law renewed

Congress has extended protections on mental health insurance coverage through 2004. Despite strong support and a desire to commemorate the work of the late Minnesota Sen. Paul Wellstone, legislation to broaden parity measures stalled in the Senate at the end of last year.

The current law expired in 2001 but has been extended each year since. Mental health advocates have pushed Congress to close loopholes in the law that allow managed care companies to set different co-payments and deductibles for mental health services.

Medical marijuana case allowed to proceed

Two California residents can go forward with a lawsuit that seeks to make it unconstitutional for the federal government to prosecute patients growing and using medical marijuana after a physician recommends the treatment.

In a 2-1 decision, a panel of judges on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Angel McClary Raich and Diane Monson "demonstrated a strong likelihood of success on the merits" of their case. The court said the public interest considerations and the burden the women face if they are denied access to the drug also swayed them in allowing the lawsuit to go forward.

Raich has been diagnosed with more than 10 serious medical conditions, including an inoperable brain tumor and several chronic pain disorders, and Monson has severe chronic back pain and constant, painful muscle spasms.

Raich, Monson and two individuals who help Raich grow marijuana filed the lawsuit against U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft after Drug Enforcement Agency agents went to Monson's home and seized and destroyed six cannabis plants. Medicinal marijuana is legal under California law, but federal law makes any use of the substance illegal.