A cancer-stricken judge in New York has become an unlikely voice in support of legalizing the use of medical marijuana, with the admission that he smokes pot to ease the side-effects of his treatments.
Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Gustin Reichbach, who is being treated for pancreatic cancer, wrote in a New York Times article on Thursday that he had been using marijuana provided by friends at “great personal risk” to help him cope with the nausea, sleeplessness and loss of appetite from chemotherapy treatments.
“This is not a law-and-order issue; it is a medical and a human rights issue,” wrote Reichbach, 65, who has spent 21 years on the bench in Kings County Supreme Court and continues to hear cases even as he receives cancer treatment.
In the past, admitting to taking a few puffs of marijuana has been enough to derail some judges’ careers. US appeals court Judge Douglas Ginsburg saw his nomination for the US Supreme Court go up in smoke in 1987 after admitting he had used marijuana several times in the 1960s and 1970s.
Last year, a Georgia judge was removed from the bench for various infractions, including publicly admitting to smoking pot regularly.
New York is not among the US’ 16 states and the District of Columbia that allow medical marijuana. Cannabis remains an illegal narcotic under federal law.
Under New York’s Code for Judicial Conduct, judges are required to “respect and comply with the law.”
First-time possession of less than 25g of marijuana is punishable by maximum fine of US$100.
While Reichbach’s editorial amounted to an admission he broke the law, his story is more likely to elicit admiration than condemnation, judicial ethics experts said.
“It’s brave and wonderful, but it’s heart-wrenching,” said Ellen Yaroshefsky, a law professor at the Benjamin Cardozo School of Law. “There are key moments in history where a judge makes a bold stand. This is one of the moments, and we should be proud of it.”
In New York, disciplinary actions involving judges are handled by the state’s Commission on Judicial Conduct, which reviews allegations of criminal activity and other wrongdoing and decides on an appropriate reprimand. That could range from a confidential cautionary letter to dismissal, although more serious forms of punishment require approval from the state’s chief judge.
Counsel for the commission Robert Tembeckjian declined to say whether any inquiry could or would be opened into Reichbach’s statements.
“Information relating to the conduct of judges that appears in newspapers is routinely reviewed by the commission,” he said.
The Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office did not immediately comment on whether any action was being contemplated against the judge, but first-time possession of a small amount of marijuana is classified as a civil offense.
State court system spokesman David Bookstaver also declined to address whether Reichbach might face consequences for the editorial, saying only that “everyone’s thoughts in the court system are with Justice Reichbach as he battles a very serious disease.”
One potential conflict that could arise from Reichbach’s comments is his ability to hear cases involving marijuana possession said Monroe Freedman, a law professor at -Hofstra University.
“He has admitted to unlawful conduct,” Freedman said. “Ordinarily, that could be a problem, but it is a very narrow, specific situation and I would hope nothing would come of it that would be adverse to the judge.”
Support for medical-marijuana legislation is gaining support among New Yorkers. A poll from Siena Research Institute released on Wednesday found that 57 percent of New Yorkers supported establishing a legal framework allowing doctors to prescribe marijuana for cancer, chronic pain and other illnesses.
On Tuesday, a New York Assembly committee approved -medical-marijuana legislation, and the Democratic-controlled assembly appears poised to pass it for the third time in five years. A spokesman for the New York State Senate Republican majority said that chamber was unlikely to act on the measure this year.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of