A federal judge has quashed a subpoena that sought to give a grand jury access to the medical-marijuana treatment records of Oregon patients, the Oregonian reported Sept. 6.

Chief U.S. District Judge Robert H. Whaley sided with the state of Oregon -- which has a medical-marijuana law on the books -- and the Hemp and Cannabis Foundation in denying the request to turn over the medical records of 17 patients to a grand jury considering a case against medical-marijuana growers. Whaley cited privacy considerations in his ruling, and said the request was unreasonable.

"There is an obvious tension between the state's authorization of the production and use of marijuana as a medicine and the federal authority to make such activity a crime," Whaley said in his decision. "The point at which that tension should be broken by the compelled production of records to a federal grand jury has not been reached with these subpoenas."

D. Paul Stanford, CEO of the Hemp and Cannabis Foundation, said the ruling will "protect medical marijuana patients' records and confidentiality. There are limits to the government's power to intimidate doctors and patients, and fortunately, the federal courts have delineated those limits."