MEDICAL MARIJUANA ISSUE SNUFFED FROM FEDERAL TRIAL

A jury has been selected and opening arguments will begin today in
the federal trial of Merced marijuana activist Dustin Costa, but it
is unlikely there will be any debate on the hotly disputed issue of
the drug's medicinal value.

Before his arrest, Costa was president of the Merced Patients Group,
a private cannabis club that claimed 230 members.

The club helped connect people with doctors who give recommendations
for marijuana and those who supply the drug.

Costa, 60, is facing a three-count indictment charging him with with
growing more than 100 marijuana plants, equivalent to nearly 9
pounds, in February 2004 with the intent to distribute. Costa also
faces a charge of possession of a firearm "in furtherance of drug
trafficking crime."

Robert Rainwater, Costa's attorney, had hoped to use medical
marijuana as part of Costa's defense strategy, but earlier, U.S.
District Judge Anthony W. Ishii ruled that evidence wouldn't be
admissable unless brought up by federal prosecutors.

That isn't likely. To Assistant U.S. Attorney Karen Escobar, this
trial has nothing to do with medical marijuana.

"The law is the law," she said, and Costa broke it.

Because of a prior marijuana cultivation conviction, Costa faces a
10-year mandatory minimum sentence, and the possibility of spending
the rest of his life in prison if he is convicted on all the charges.

Costa supporters and medical marijuana activists had looked to this
trial with great anticipation in the tussle between California and
the federal government over the issue of marijuana's medicinal value.

Not only is this the first trial in the nation in three years
involving claims of medical marijuana, but also the first since a key
U.S. Supreme Court decision on the issue last year, said Kris Hermes,
legal campaign director with Americans For Safe Access, a group that
advocates for medical marijuana laws.

"It's a pretty big milestone event," he said.

California voters in 1996 approved Proposition 215, which gives ill
people the right to use marijuana for medicinal purposes when cleared
by a doctor. Ten other states followed California's lead.

In 2002, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals stopped the Bush
administration from prosecuting Oakland resident Angel Raich -- who
used marijuana to fight chronic pain -- as well as her suppliers. In
June 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned that decision, and the
federal government then cracked down on medical marijuana dispensaries.

Hermes -- who is sitting in on Costa's trial -- said more than 90
people across the nation in circumstances similar to Costa's are
awaiting trial. Some of those, such as Bakersfield resident Joe
Fortt, are due to be tried in Fresno.

But in this case, it is unlikely medical marijuana will be an issue,
and Hermes said it was "outrageous" that the drug's medicinal uses
couldn't be used as a defense.

Escobar disagreed. During jury selection, she questioned a woman who
supported medical marijuana, telling her "that is a California law,
not a federal law."

Escobar told the woman -- who eventually was seated on the jury --
that a juror must follow the law whether they agree with it or not,
and cultivating and selling marijuana is illegal.