UNANIMOUS COURT STRIKES DOWN MEDICAL USE FOR MARIJUANA

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court handed medical marijuana users a major
defeat Monday, ruling that a federal law classifying the drug as illegal
has no exception for ill patients.

The 8-0 decision was a major disappointment to many sufferers of AIDS,
cancer, multiple sclerosis and other illnesses. They have said the drug
helped enormously in combatting the devastating effects of their diseases.

Justice Stephen Breyer did not participate because his brother, a federal
judge, initially presided over the case.

"In the case of the Controlled Substances Act, the statute reflects a
determination that marijuana has no medical benefits worthy of an exception
(outside the confines of a government-approved research project)," Justice
Clarence Thomas wrote for the unanimous court.

Thomas noted the act states marijuana has "no currently accepted medical use."

The federal government triggered the case in 1998, seeking an injunction
against the Oakland Cannabis Buyers Cooperative and five other marijuana
distributors, including Ukiah's Cannabis Club.

U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer, brother of the justice, sided with the
government.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the lower court, ruling that
medical necessity is a legal defense. Charles Breyer followed up by issuing
strict guidelines for making that claim.

Voters in Arizona, Alaska, California, Colorado, Maine, Nevada, Oregon and
Washington also have approved ballot initiatives allowing the use of
medical marijuana. In Hawaii, the legislature passed a similar law and the
governor signed it last year.

The cooperative argued that a drug may not yet have achieved general
acceptance as a medical treatment, but may still have medical benefits to a
particular patient or class of patients.

Thomas said the argument cannot overcome the intent of Congress in
approving the statute.

"It is clear from the text of the act that Congress has made a
determination that marijuana has no medical benefits worthy of an
exception," Thomas wrote.

"Unwilling to view this omission as an accident, and unable in any event to
override a legislative determination manifest in a statute, we reject the
cooperative's argument."

Advocates of medical marijuana say the drug can ease side effects from
chemotherapy, save nauseated AIDS patients from wasting away or even allow
multiple sclerosis sufferers to rise from a wheelchair and walk.

There is no definitive science that the drug works, or works better than
conventional, legal alternatives.

Several states are considering medical marijuana laws, and Congress may
revisit the issue this year. A measure to counteract laws like California's
died in the House last year.

Thomas was joined by Chief Justice William Rehnquist, Sandra Day O'Connor,
Antonin Scalia and Anthony M. Kennedy. Justice John Paul Stevens wrote a
concurring opinion, joined by Justices David Souter and Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

The case is United States v. Oakland Cannabis Buyers Cooperative, 00-151.