LA. BACKS CALIF. WOMAN IN MEDICAL MARIJUANA CASE

Louisiana is on the side of the California marijuana user in the U.S.
Supreme Court case that tests the federal government's reach in enforcing
anti-drug laws. Louisiana Attorney General Charles Foti and his
counterparts in Alabama and Mississippi filed a friend-of-the-court brief
arguing that the California case endangers the sovereignty of the states.

"I want to make sure that the right of our doctors who prescribe marijuana
for medical use is upheld," Foti said.

Louisiana law allows doctors to prescribe marijuana for glaucoma and cancer
patients and victims of some other ailments. Foti said the Legislature
passed those laws after careful scrutiny.

"Our Legislature has the right to determine what is in the best interests
of the people," Foti said.

"They received testimony from patients that are suffering" and decided
using marijuana is OK "where the patient has a valid use to stop the pain,"
he said.

The brief strongly opposes the federal government's prosecution of a
California woman with a brain tumor who grows and processes her own marijuana.

The treatment is prescribed by a doctor and legal under California law.

The brief says federal officials claim to override state law because of
their constitutional right to regulate interstate commerce.

The marijuana user's "conduct is neither interstate nor commerce," the
attorneys general say in their brief, because she is growing the plants
herself and using them only for herself.

The federal government also claims its right to prosecute such cases is
essential to control illegal drugs, the attorney generals say.

Those arguments "completely ignore the ongoing efforts of state and local
law enforcement," Foti and the two other legal officers say.

Actually, Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi have strong anti-drug laws and
enforce them, the brief says.

"The states of Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi do not appear here to
champion (or even to defend) the public policies underlying California's
so-called 'compassionate use' law," the brief says.

"The point is that, as a sovereign member of the federal union, California
is entitled to make for itself the tough policy decisions that affect its
citizens," the brief says.