OAKLAND POT CLUB SAYS HIGH COURT RULING MERELY A "BUMP IN THE ROAD"

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- An Oakland medical marijuana club, barred by the U.S.
Supreme Court from dispensing pot to sick people, says the legal setback is
merely a "bump in the road" and that the true test lies ahead when a lower
court reviews the case more closely.

The court voted 7-1 Tuesday to grant an emergency Clinton administration
request and postpone the federal court rulings that would have allowed the
Oakland Cannabis Buyer's Cooperative to distribute the illegal drug for
medicinal use.

It's the latest legal rift between federal narcotics laws and Proposition
215, the initiative approved by voters in 1996 which created a state
provision for medical marijuana use and distribution.

The Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative said it has not given out
marijuana to ailing AIDS and cancer patients for almost two years since a
court injunction against doing so was put in place.

But the cooperative hopes to prevail on the merits of the case before the
9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and resume giving out cannabis buds and
pot brownies to qualified patients.

The cooperative's attorney, Robert Raich, called the high court's decision
a politically motivated move to cripple the club's state-granted rights to
provide medical marijuana.

"This is just a bump in the road and we will have other opportunities at
future proceedings to present this case on its merits," Raich said.

The case now goes back to the appeals court and the club's briefs are due
Sept. 19.

"We have an election coming up and the Gore campaign feels it needs to
prove that it is tough on drugs," Raich said. "Even if that means
preventing some seriously ill Americans from getting access to the medicine
they so desperately need. They might well die. They would go blind. They
would be crippled. Those are pretty severe repercussions."

The club continues to issue identification cards and sell hemp products
while the legal issues regarding medical marijuana are ironed out. The club
has about 3,000 members.

Despite the fight for pot rights in California, federal law says marijuana
has no medical purposes and cannot be administered safely under medical
supervision.

Initiatives similar to California's have been passed in Alaska, Arizona,
Hawaii, Maine, Nevada, Oregon and Washington state.

In the California case, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that
"medical necessity" is a "legally cognizable defense" to a charge of
distributing drugs in violation of a federal law, the Controlled Substances
Act.

"The federal government waltzed into the Supreme Court and said this
injunction prohibited the federal government from enforcing the Controlled
Substances Act," Raich said. "That's ridiculous. California puts thousands
of people in prisons each year who are violating the laws against
recreational use of marijuana."

The case is U.S. v. Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative, A-145.