SUPREME COURT TO DECIDE MEDICAL MARIJUANA CASE

The U.S. Supreme Court said on Monday it would decide whether marijuana can
be distributed for medicinal uses to seriously ill patients, a case pitting
the federal government against a California cannabis club.

The high court agreed to hear a U.S. Justice Department appeal of a ruling
that would allow marijuana clubs to resume service for patients who can
prove that cannabis was a medical necessity.

The court's decision to hear the case marked the latest development in a
conflict between federal narcotics laws, which prohibit distribution of
marijuana, and a 1996 California voters' initiative known as Proposition 215.

The California initiative allows seriously ill patients to grow and use
marijuana for pain relief as long as they have a doctor's recommendation.
Similar measures have been adopted in a number of other states.

In 1998, the Justice Department won an injunction from U.S. District Judge
Charles Breyer in San Francisco prohibiting the Oakland Cannabis Buyers'
Cooperative and other similar medicinal marijuana clubs from distributing
cannabis.

The Oakland club openly distributed marijuana to numerous people on May 21,
1998. Breyer rejected the club's request to modify his injunction to allow
marijuana for seriously ill patients.

Appeals Court Allows Marijuana For Medical Necessity:

A U.S. appeals court, however, agreed with the club last year. It ruled
Breyer should amend the injunction to allow the clubs to resume service for
those who can prove that cannabis was a medical necessity.

The appeals court said Breyer failed to give enough consideration to the
possibility that marijuana was an indispensable treatment for people served
by the club, including AIDS and cancer patients.

The appeals court ruled that medical necessity could be a defense to a
charge of distributing drugs in violation of a federal law, the Controlled
Substances Act.

In July, Breyer said the club could give marijuana to sick people facing
"imminent harm" from serious medical conditions and for whom legal
alternatives to marijuana do not work or cause intolerable side effects.

The Justice Department got the Supreme Court to issue a stay of Breyer's
order, and it also sought review from the appeals court.

The Justice Department also appealed to the Supreme Court, saying the case
presented "an issue of exceptional and continuing importance."

The Justice Department said the appeals court ruling disregarded the
provisions of federal law banning marijuana distribution outside strictly
controlled circumstances and undermined enforcement of federal drug laws.

Attorneys for the club said the appeal should be denied because it
presented no compelling reason for review. They said the ruling did not
depart from established precedent.

The decision "has no impact on the government's ability to prosecute
individuals for violating federal drug laws," they said.

The Supreme Court will hear arguments in the case next year, with a
decision due by the end of June.