HIGH COURT BARS CALIF. CLINIC'S MARIJUANA DISTRIBUTION

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 29 - The U.S. Supreme Court today 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 operations of an Oakland cannabis club that is
at the center of a four-year legal battle between the federal and state
governments.

But the court's decision neither overturns the medicinal marijuana
initiative that California voters approved in 1996 nor effectively ends
distribution of the drug to patients around the state.

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

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.

Five other states have approved the use of medicinal marijuana. The issue
will be on the ballot in two others, Nevada and Colorado, in November.

Advocates for using marijuana medicinally expressed concern that today'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 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, lawyer for Oakland cannabis 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."