COURT TACKLES MEDICINAL-POT CASE

The U.S. Supreme Court agreed Monday to decide whether people who provide
marijuana to seriously ill people to ease their misery should be exempt
from federal anti-drug laws. The court accepted a dispute from California,
where voters in 1996 adopted a proposition allowing patients to grow and
use marijuana for medical needs. Eight other states have similar laws. The
case could affect patients' access to marijuana nationwide and steer debate
over the benefits and harms of using the drug for pain relief and other
treatment.

"For cancer patients, marijuana can relieve the nausea that accompanies
chemotherapy," says Santa Clara University law professor Gerald Uelmen,
representing a cannabis cooperative. "There's also evidence that marijuana
stimulates the appetite and helps AIDS patients keep their weight up."

The Justice Department, which says medicinal-marijuana efforts conflict
with U.S. controlled-substances laws, tried to block the activities of the
Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative, which was set up to distribute the
drug after California passed Proposition 215. The department won an
injunction barring the co-op from selling marijuana, even to people whose
doctors said that they would suffer imminent harm without it.

But the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit reversed, saying there
could be a common-law "medical necessity" defense to prosecution. The
appeals court cited a "public interest in the availability of a
doctor-prescribed treatment (to) relieve the pain and suffering of a large
group of persons" with serious illnesses.

The 9th Circuit said the lower court judge -- who happens to be Charles
Breyer, the brother of Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer -- should have
considered the needs of patients who had no legal alternative to obtaining
the drug. (Justice Stephen Breyer has recused himself from the case.)

The Justice Department says the 9th Circuit's action cannot be squared with
a federal law that bans marijuana because of its potential for abuse. It
adds that Congress opposes efforts to legalize marijuana without valid
scientific evidence and approval by the Food and Drug Administration.