SUPREME COURT BLOCKS CALIFORNIA CLINIC FROM DISTRIBUTING MARIJUANA

LOS ANGELES -- The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday barred a California clinic
from distributing marijuana to patients for medicinal purposes, throwing
into turmoil the state's groundbreaking law that allows the practice.

Acting on an emergency request from the Clinton administration, the court
voted 7-to-1 to prohibit the operation of an Oakland cannabis club that is
at the center of a four-year legal battle between the federal and state
governments.

The court's decision doesn't overturn the medicinal marijuana initiative
that California voters approved in 1996, and it doesn't effectively ends
marijuana distribution to patients around the state.

That main issue of Proposition 215's legality is still before a federal
appeals court. Because of the uncertain situation -- the federal government
insists that marijuana distribution to people with cancer, AIDS and other
diseases is illegal -- local governments around California continue to
allow patients either to grow marijuana or use it with the blessing of
health departments. A few other cannabis clubs operate with local support;
others have gone underground.

In an effort to determine whether marijuana has medical value, the
University of California on Tuesday announced a new cannabis study center
to include researchers, doctors and patients throughout California.

Dr. Igor Grant, a professor of psychiatry at the University of California
at San Diego who will serve as the center's director, said the Supreme
Court decision shows why the center is needed. "Without reliable,
substantial information about marijuana, I'm doubtful that any progress
will be made" in resolving the controversy, he said.

The center will focus on conditions for which anecdotal evidence and early
research suggest that marijuana might be useful to relieve pain, nausea and
loss of appetite: cancer, HIV and multiple sclerosis.

The Justice Department sought the Supreme Court's help after a federal
court this summer allowed the Oakland club to keep distributing marijuana
to patients with a doctor's prescription, until the legal case is resolved.

Federal lawyers had argued that the ruling set a dangerous precedent and
provided a justification for illegal drug trafficking.

Initiatives similar to California's have been passed in Alaska, Arizona,
Hawaii, Maine, Nevada, Oregon and Washington state. The issue will be on
the ballot in November in Colorado.

Advocates expressed concern that Tuesday's decision signaled that the
Supreme Court may eventually strike down California's law. But for now they
said it would not have significant implications for most patients around
the state who are using the drug.

"The clubs are only part of this -- there are other ways that local
governments are giving it their tacit approval and helping patients," said
Gina Pesulima, a spokeswoman for Americans For Medical Rights, a group that
led the campaign for the California law and other similar ones around the
country.

"This is a small bump in the road. The important issues in this case will
be decided later," said Robert Raich, a lawyer for the Oakland club. "It is
a travesty that the Clinton-Gore administration is trying so vigorously to
keep the only medicine that works away from patients who so desperately
need it."

- -- The Los Angeles Times and Associated Press contributed to this report.