LIBERTARIANS: MEDICAL MARIJUANA DECISION A 'DEATH SENTENCE'

Libertarians: Supreme Court Medical Marijuana Decision a 'Death Sentence'
Contact: Juan Ros of the Libertarian Party of California,
818-782-8400; E-mail: director@ca.lp.org;
Web site: http://www.ca.lp.org

PANORAMA CITY, Calif., Aug. 29 /U.S. Newswire/ -- A Supreme Court order
handed down today barring the distribution of medical marijuana to sick and
suffering patients in California is tantamount to a death sentence for those
patients, the Libertarian Party of California charged today.

According to the Associated Press, the court voted 7-1 to grant an emergency
Clinton administration request and postpone the effect of a prior federal
court ruling that permitted the Oakland Cannabis Buyers Cooperative (OCBC)
to distribute medical marijuana to patients.

"How many more have to die before the government opens its eyes to the
suffering it is needlessly causing?" asked Libertarian state executive
director Juan Ros.

"The Supreme Court has demonstrated a lack of compassion, a lack of
understanding, and a lack of knowledge of the Ninth and Tenth Amendments to
the Constitution."

On July 17, U.S. District Court Judge Charles Breyer -- brother of Supreme
Court Justice Stephen Breyer -- reversed his own 1998 injunction and ruled
that the OCBC could distribute medical marijuana to patients under
Proposition 215, the landmark ballot initiative approved by voters in 1996.

The U.S. Justice Department had asked the Supreme Court for an emergency
stay of Breyer's ruling. Justice John Paul Stevens was the lone dissenter on
the Court. Justice Breyer disqualified himself from the case.

The result of the Supreme Court's decision is to indefinitely bar the OCBC
and other medical marijuana distribution centers from providing life-saving
medicine to sick patients.

"The War on Drugs continues to escalate and has evolved into a War on the
Sick, a War on the Dying, and a War on the Constitution," Ros added.

The Supreme Court decision comes as the medical marijuana trial of 1998
Libertarian gubernatorial candidate Steve Kubby and his wife Michele opens
in Auburn. The Kubbys were arrested in January 1999, following a raid of
their Olympic Valley home. Both Kubbys face state marijuana charges despite
being patients protected under Proposition 215.

"The death of Peter McWilliams was not enough. The continued persecution of
Steve and Michele Kubby is not enough. Despite the odds, Libertarians will
continue to fight for the rights of patients until this insane War on Drugs
is finally laid to rest," Ros concluded.