The 6-to-3 decision on Monday, a firm reassertion of federal authority, showed a deep fissure within the coalition that over the past decade has provided the majority for a series of decisions curbing congressional power and elevating the role of the states.

Two members of that coalition, Justices Anthony Kennedy and Antonin Scalia, voted this time to uphold federal government authority.

Interstate Commerce Argument

The decision overturned a 2003 ruling by a US appeals court that had shielded California's Compassionate Use Act, the medical-marijuana initiative adopted by California voters nine years ago, from federal drug enforcement.

The appeals court held that Congress lacked constitutional authority to regulate the noncommercial cultivation and use of marijuana that did not cross state lines.

But "the regulation is squarely within Congress's commerce power," Justice John Paul Stevens said for the majority on Monday. He added that the court's precedents had clearly established "Congress' power to regulate purely local activities that are part of an economic 'class of activities' that have a substantial effect on interstate commerce."

The decision was not necessarily the last word on medical marijuana.

Not Proven Safe or Effective

Under the terms of the opinion, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco will now consider other challenges to the application of federal drug law. They include an argument made by the two patients who brought the case that depriving them of what they say is the only drug that eases their suffering from a variety of painful conditions amounts to a violation of their constitutional right to due process.

Because the two women, Angel McClary Raich and Diane Monson, prevailed in the 9th Circuit on their Commerce Clause argument, the appeals court did not address the other issues.

In addition, Stevens suggested that the executive branch might reclassify marijuana for medical purposes or that Congress might take up the matter.

John Walters, the administration's director of national drug control policy, said, "To date, science and research have not determined that smoking a crude plant is safe or effective."

The House of Representatives is to vote next week on an appropriations amendment to bar the Justice Department from spending money to enforce federal drug laws against patients' using marijuana for medical purposes.

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