POT BACKERS VOW FIGHT FOR RIGHT TO USE

OAKLAND -- Creighton Frost of San Ramon speaks in a hoarse croak, the only
voice his cancer-ravaged throat will allow.

"The cancer I got, I got from tobacco, which as we all know is our
government's favorite weed," he said. "It's ironic that its least favorite
weed is what's keeping me alive."

Frost was among patients who appeared Monday at Oakland City Hall with
leaders of the Oakland Cannabis Buyers Cooperative in a show of solidarity,
vowing to continue fighting the federal government for the right to use
marijuana as medicine.

Last week, the federal government asked the U.S. Supreme Court to consider
and eventually overturn a 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that
cleared the way for a federal judge to let the cooperative start dispensing
marijuana again.

The high court won't consider the government's request for review until the
court's new term starts in October. The government also has asked the 9th
Circuit to stay the federal judge's decision -- and so prevent any
marijuana dispensation -- at least until then; the 9th Circuit could rule
on that request by the end of this week.

"We will fight these with all the resouces we have," Robert Raich, the
Oakland cooperative's attorney, vowed Monday. "This is not about hippies
who are trying to get stoned. This is about patients who are trying to get
the medicine they need to stay alive."

All of this court action surrounds a temporary injunction the government
sought to keep the Oakland cooperative from dispensing the drug while the
full case is argued. Raich said he doesn't expect any progress will be made
on getting the case before a jury until all of this hoopla over the
injunction is sorted out.

California voters in 1996 passed Proposition 215, which was meant to let
seriously ill patients get and use marijuana without fear of prosecution.

The federal government contends Congress has completely banned marijuana
possession and use after finding the drug is risky and lacks any recognized
medical value, and that no state law, judge or cooperative can second-guess
that judgment.

Dr. Michael Alcalay, the cooperative's medical director, said he uses
marijuana to combat the nausea and weight loss associated with AIDS-related
illnesses and the harsh anti-retroviral drugs used to combat HIV.

"If it weren't for medical marijuana, I wouldn't be here to talk to you
today," he said.

Yvonne Westbrook of Richmond said she uses marijuana to fight the muscle
spasticity and pain created by multiple sclerosis. She is wheelchair-bound
and said she appreciated the district judge's ruling to allow the
cooperative to dispense marijuana.

Raich said the federal government "has engaged in a cynical political
process using medical patients as pawns." Republican presidential candidate
George W. Bush's accusations that Democratic candidate Al Gore is "soft on
drugs" have driven the Clinton/Gore administration to enforce a draconian
drug policy, he said.

Raich said he was told the decision to seek Supreme Court review of the 9th
Circuit's ruling was made "at the highest levels of government."