The California Supreme Court has ruled unanimously against compassionate care. This is a serious blow to many medical Marijuana patients in California who are too sick to cultivate their own medicine.

The Court held that, in order to be protected under the Act, a primary caregiver must consistently provide care, independent of any assistance in taking medical marijuana at or before the time he or she assumed responsibility for assisting with medical marijuana. To illustrate some examples of appropriate caregivers under the Act, the Court states: "The spouse or domestic partner caring for his or her ailing companion, the child caring for his or her ailing parent, the hospice nurse caring for his or her ailing patient -- each can point to the many ways in which they, medical marijuana aside, attend to and assume responsibility for the core survival needs of their dependants."

On the other hand, the Court said, a "defendant whose caregiving consisted principally of supplying marijuana and instructing on its use, and who otherwise only sporadically took some patients to medical appointments, cannot qualify as a primary caregiver under [California's Compassionate Use] Act."

Sadly, a lot of medical Marijuana patients don't have a daughter, partner or spouse to help them cultivate and use their medicine. In this reporter's opinion; this is a giant step backwards for California. Update: Here's an article about the change in Ukiah, CA.