Medical marijuana has never been legal in Kansas, but Lawrence resident Bob Eye had a stake in the outcome of Monday’s U.S. Supreme Court decision on the issue.

Eye is an attorney for Ed Rosenthal, an Oakland, Calif., who was convicted in 2003 of growing a warehouse full of marijuana for medicinal reasons. A federal appeals court had put Rosenthal’s conviction on hold pending the outcome of Monday’s decision.

“That opinion is going to make getting the convictions reversed more difficult,” Eye said Monday by phone from his Topeka office.

In 1996, California voters approved the use of medical marijuana with a doctor’s recommendation, but federal officials vowed they wouldn’t allow distribution networks to thrive.

That vow resulted in Rosenthal’s convictions, though a federal judge gave Rosenthal a minimal penalty in the case.

Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Congress – not the states – gets to make the rules regarding drug legality.

Eye said Congress was unlikely to legalize marijuana use for medical reasons, even though some polls have shown public support for such a measure.

“Unfortunately, that disconnect is going to keep a lot of people who could benefit greatly from getting that medicine,” Eye predicted.

Eye said he had met Angel Raisch and Diane Monson, the two women whose use of marijuana was under consideration in Monday’s case.

“Right now my thoughts are with them. I am very concerned their health situations will deteriorate,” he said. “I’m also concerned the federal government will take this signal to have a more aggressive attitude toward enforcement against medical marijuana.”