Nov. 29 (Bloomberg) -- Several U.S. Supreme Court justices expressed doubts that states can let seriously ill patients ease their symptoms by using marijuana, a drug the federal government has designated as illegal.

The Bush administration is appealing a lower court decision allowing two California women to use marijuana on their doctors' recommendation. The administration says the federal Controlled Substances Act, which lists marijuana among the most strictly controlled drugs such as cocaine and LSD, overrides laws in nine states that permit medical use of marijuana.

Backers of California's law seem to think ``everybody is going to get it from a friend or from plants in the back yard,'' Justice David H. Souter told the lawyer for the two women. ``They're going to get it in the street. Why isn't that the sensible assumption?''

The case pits the federal drug law against a line of Supreme Court decisions that tilted the federal-state balance of power toward the states. The court ruled in 1995 that Congress couldn't make it a federal crime to possess a gun in a school zone, and in 2000 the justices struck down a provision that let rape victims sue their attackers in federal court.

The case is Ashcroft v. Raich, 03-1454.

To contact the reporter on this story: Laurie Asseo in Washington at lasseo1@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: November 29, 2004 11:42 EST