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Previous Volume 351:1380-1383 September 30, 2004 Number 14 Next

	Since this article has no abstract, we have provided an extract of the first 100 words of the full text and any section headings.

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The Controlled Substances Act is a 1970 law designed to prevent drug abuse and trafficking and to control the authorized distribution of narcotics, barbiturates, and other scheduled drugs. Nearly 35 years after its passage, the act is at the center of heated legal controversies about the medical use of marijuana and physician-assisted suicide. Cases related to both of these issues test the power of Attorney General John Ashcroft, the conservative former senator from Missouri, who is a long-standing opponent of both activities.

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States license physicians and regulate the practice of medicine; the federal government enforces drug laws. . . . [Full Text of this Article]

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Gostin, L. O. (2005). Medical Marijuana, American Federalism, and the Supreme Court. JAMA 294: 842-844 [Full Text]