LOCKYER PUSHES TO PROTECT MEDICAL MARIJUANA LAW

Attorney General Bill Lockyer urged the U.S. Supreme Court yesterday to stop
federal interference with California's medical marijuana law.

The court is scheduled to hear arguments March 28 over rulings by lower
federal courts that would allow the Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative to
distribute marijuana to patients with cancer, AIDS and other diseases who
can't benefit from legal drugs.

California's Prop. 215, which paved the way for medical marijuana laws in
eight other states, allowed patients whose doctors had recommended the drug
to use it without risking prosecution under state law. Advocates say
marijuana can have life-saving powers in combatting pain, nausea and loss of
appetite suffered by some AIDS and cancer patients.

But President Clinton's Justice Department invoked the federal ban on
marijuana in suits seeking to shut down several Northern California
dispensaries, including the Oakland cooperative.

After losing early rounds in the case, the Oakland organization, supported
by city officials, scored a major victory when the federal appeals court
ruled last year that patients able to show a medical necessity could obtain
marijuana under Prop. 215, the Justice Department persuaded the Supreme
Court to review the case.

The ruling, due by the end of June, is likely to determine the scope of
medical marijuana laws in states that already have them and others that are
considering them.