There have been several significant developments in medical marijuana news since the Supreme Court decision earlier this month that the federal government has the right to prosecute medical marijuana patients.

Just yesterday, federal agents raided three medical marijuana dispensaries in San Francisco, along with several homes and businesses. The agents stated that the raids were part of an investigation into a large scale drug trafficking ring. Medical marijuana advocates are waiting to find out more, given that the raids came so close on the heels of the Raich decision.

In better news, Oregon and Hawaii, the two medical marijuana states whose resolve appeared to waver after the Supreme Court decision, have renewed their commitment to patients' rights.

Oregon suspended its patient registration program after the Supreme Court decision in order to assess the ruling's impact. After reaching the conclusion that the ruling does not invalidate the state's program, the Oregon Department of Human Services has resumed issuing medical marijuana cards, and expects to be caught up from a backlog of applications this week.

The Attorney General of Hawai'i, Ed Kubo, has retracted an alarmist assertion that the state's medical marijuana program was "dead" because doctors could now be prosecuted for recommending medical marijuana. Under intense pressure from groups including the Drug Policy Forum of Hawai'i, whose president is Alliance board member Pam Lichty, and the ACLU of Hawai'i, Kubo recently said that he would not prosecute doctors for certifying patients to use marijuana. Doctors can recommend marijuana not only under Hawai'i law but under federal law, thanks a 2002 9th Circuit Court ruling upholding the right of doctors to give such a recommendation and of patients to receive it.

There is positive medical marijuana news north of the border as well. GW Pharmaceuticals, the company that makes the marijuana-derived medicine Sativex, has announced that its product is now available by prescription in Canada. The drug is approved for use by multiple sclerosis patients, and will be marketed by Bayer AG.