MEDICAL POT GOES TO HIGH COURT

On Monday, November 27, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to decide whether
medical marijuana can be provided to patients who demonstrate "medical
necessity." Cannabis distribution - for medicinal or any other reason - is
currently illegal under federal laws. Many patients use the herb to relieve
loss of appetite related to AIDS, to relieve nausea caused by cancer and
anti-HIV drugs, and for several other illnesses, including cancer and
glaucoma.

This week's decision is the latest involving the case of the Oakland
Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative. In January 1998, the federal government filed
a lawsuit against the OCBC and five other California buyers' clubs to
prevent them from providing medical marijuana. Federal Judge Charles Breyer
issued a preliminary injunction imposing such a ban, and the Oakland club
stopped selling marijuana in October of that year.

However, in September 1999, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed
Breyer's ruling and instructed him to reconsider the case. The court stated
that the OCBC had "identified a strong public interest in the availability
of a doctor-prescribed treatment that would help ameliorate the condition
and relieve the pain and suffering of a large group of persons with serious
or fatal illnesses," and that the federal government had "offered no
evidence to rebut evidence that cannabis is the only effective treatment for
a large group of seriously ill individuals."

This past July, Breyer reversed himself and allowed the OCBC to provide
cannabis to patients once again. The Clinton administration appealed the
lower court ruling, arguing that the distribution of medical marijuana
"threatens the government's ability to enforce the federal drug laws." This
past August, the Supreme Court ruled 7-1 that the Oakland club could not
distribute medicinal cannabis while the case was under appeal. Supreme Court
Justice Stephen Breyer, the brother of Charles Breyer, recused himself from
the case.

According to OCBC lawyer Annette Carnegie, the federal Controlled Substances
Act does not prohibit the provision of marijuana for medical purposes. She
said that choices about the use of medicinal cannabis "are best made by
physicians and not by the government."

The OCBC argument is based on California's Proposition 215, the medical
marijuana initiative passed by the state's voters in November 1996. Citizen
initiatives in favor of medical cannabis have since passed in seven other
states and the District of Columbia, including Colorado and Nevada, which
passed such propositions earlier this month. Hawaii has the only medical
marijuana law put into effect by a state legislature.