PATIENTS, ADVOCATES UNDETERRED BY COURT RULING

Marvin Chavez

The Supreme Court's decision won't deter Marvin Chavez from using
marijuana, even though the Santa Ana resident spent almost two years
in jail on drug charges.

"I'm a patient that isn't ashamed," said Chavez, who has arthritis
and muscle spasms. "Cannabis is my medicine, like any other kind of medicine."

Chavez, 49, led a co-op after the 1996 passage of Prop. 215 to
distribute marijuana to patients recommended by doctors. Prosecutors
said donations to the co-op amounted to the sale of pot, which is not
allowed under the proposition.

Chavez is visited by a parole officer once a month to be tested for
other drug use. He said he has lost 33 pounds due to stress since his
release in August.

"I'm very disappointed in these judges," Chavez said. "What they
decided today is putting the fear, the stress and everything else on
top of the patients' conditions they're suffering already."

-- Blythe Bernhard

Bill Britt

Bill Britt had polio as a child, which led to epilepsy, scoliosis,
muscle spasms and arthritis. Eating marijuana in cookies and brownies
helps ease the symptoms without the side effects of prescribed
medicines, he said.

"It's the only medicine I've found that helps my pain," Britt said.

Britt, 46, recently joined a group of patients in Lake Forest who
grow and distribute cannabis.

"The only thing (the Supreme Court decision) will change is it will
probably close the collective," the Long Beach resident said. "It
will be harder to find the medicine."

Still, Britt said he isn't afraid of the threat of prosecution.

"If the feds want to come and arrest me they can, and I would say
good luck in finding a jury to convict me," Britt said. "We're not
doing large amounts, we're not taking it across state lines, and
we're not selling it."

-- Blythe Bernhard

Anna Boyce

The 74-year-old nurse who helped write Proposition 215 said she will
keep fighting to decriminalize medical marijuana.

"This won't stop us," said Anna Boyce of Mission Viejo. "Now we'll
have to push hard in Congress."

Boyce became involved in the medical-marijuana battle when her
husband, J.J., used the drug during cancer treatment in 1995.

"It brought back his appetite; it allowed him to gain weight," Boyce
said. "They gave him three months and he lived 12 months, so how
could I say it wasn't effective?"

Boyce said she was "sickened and depressed" by the Supreme Court's decision.

"These are people dying and then being prosecuted by their own
government for using a medication," she said.

-- Blythe Bernhard

Philip Denney

Philip Denney will keep doing what he has for six years: dispensing
physician statements to patients he believes would benefit from
medical cannabis.

The 57-year-old doctor, who set up an office in Lake Forest in
February 2004, predicted that federal drug agents will chase down
clubs and dispensaries that sell cannabis to patients. But the former
ER and family-practice doctor said there are too many marijuana users
in California for federal cops to ferret them out - and going after
sick and frail patients would be a political bombshell.

"I would argue that California law enforcement is still required to
enforce state law," Denney said.

Still, his patients were worried Monday.

"The phone is ringing off of the hook," Denney said from his Redding
office. "They don't know what it means. They believe the federal
government is going to break down the door."

-- Jim Radcliffe