FEDS' MEDICAL POT CHALLENGE TOSSED

A federal court ruling handed down Wednesday has lifted the hopes of
medical marijuana users by denying a Bush administration request to
toss a lawsuit brought by Santa Cruz city and county officials and
Wo/Men's Alliance for Medical Marijuana members.

WAMM co-founder Valerie Corral called the ruling "hopeful." WAMM had
its medical marijuana seized by federal agents in a 2002 raid.

"Our lawsuit is really much more of an appeal than a lawsuit. It's an
appeal for mercy from the federal government," Corral said. "We're
not asking to break the law. We're asking to have another avenue for relief."

The plaintiffs in the case contend that the federal government is
deliberately interfering with how the state makes the distinction
between legal and illegal marijuana use: the recommendation of a
state-licensed physician to recommend medical marijuana to a sick
patient. The plaintiffs say the federal government is seeking to
disrupt California's medical marijuana law by targeting doctors who
approve their patients' medical marijuana use and local governments
that issue state-approved medical pot cards, among other things.
That, the plaintiffs say, interferes with California's Constitutional
right to make its own laws.

U.S. District Court Judge Jeremy Fogel ruled Wednesday that that
portion of the case can go forward because if the plaintiffs prove
their claims "they may be able to show that the federal
government deliberately is seeking to frustrate the state's ability
to determine whether an individual's use of marijuana is permissible
under California law."

"The federal government can enforce its own laws but it can't tell
the states what laws they can enact," said Graham Boyd, an American
Civil Liberties Union attorney representing WAMM. "If they can't do
that, they also can't use their law enforcement to sabotage the state
laws they don't like."

California voters in 1996 approved Proposition 215, which gave ill
people with a doctor's recommendation the right to use marijuana as a
medication. In the years since, federal drug agents have targeted
medicinal marijuana dispensaries and the doctors who prescribe marijuana.

"Those steps all make it impossible for California and its government
to enforce state laws," Boyd said.

Past lawsuits filed against the federal government have reached the
Supreme Court, but all have failed.

Boyd called this case "novel," explaining that the core claim by the
plaintiffs is that it's chosen to make marijuana illegal for everyone
except for patients and that it has set up mechanisms to distinguish
the two, such as requiring a prescription from a doctor.

"It's an unusual legal claim," Boyd said.

He said he expects the federal government will appeal the ruling, but
that it could also lead to a change in federal drug enforcement efforts.