MEDICAL POT LAWSUIT AGAINST U.S. REJECTED

Santa Cruz County and its local medical marijuana cooperative have lost
their novel suit to block federal government interference with the supply
of legal pot. U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel in San Jose issued an
opinion late Thursday saying he sympathized with patients who depend on pot
to ease their suffering -- a legal option under California state law.

But Fogel said he was powerless to enjoin raids by the U.S. Justice
Department and Drug Enforcement Administration. In one such raid last
September, 167 plants were confiscated at the Wo/Men's Alliance for Medical
Marijuana outside Santa Cruz, a city-sanctioned cooperative.

The lawsuit, Santa Cruz County v. John Ashcroft, was based on a number of
constitutional grounds, including an asserted personal right of patients to
control the circumstances of their death.

Regional DEA spokesman Richard Meyer said, "We were confident it would be
found without merit."

Santa Clara University law professor Gerald Uelmen said the legal team that
filed the suit may try to salvage it with amendments.

Evidence that only marijuana works for some patients and that a court order
could be limited to pot, as opposed to other narcotics, could be enough to
change Fogel's mind, Uelmen said.

"For us," said Meyer of the DEA, "it's going to be business as usual."