U.S. ASKS HIGH COURT TO REVIEW POT RULING

Oakland club got approval in medical marijuana case

SAN FRANCISCO - The Justice Department has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to
review a lower court ruling that would allow the Oakland Cannabis Buyers
Cooperative to resume dispensing medical marijuana to patients.

A September ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found that
federal drug laws did not bar claims of "medical necessity" for patients who
require marijuana to alleviate pain.

But the Justice Department said Friday that ruling was in error, and told
the Supreme Court that such allowances for marijuana distribution would
"threaten the government's ability to enforce the federal drug laws."

The Oakland marijuana dispensary was one of five such Northern California
facilities that were ordered shut down in 1998 by U.S. District Judge
Charles Breyer in response to a Justice Department lawsuit.

The appeals court stepped in last year and asked Breyer to reconsider his
decision, adding that the Justice Department did not adequately address
evidence presented that medical marijuana was the only effective treatment
for many patients' pains.

Breyer gave the Justice Department an opportunity to present new evidence on
the claims of medical necessity, but received no response.

He ruled July 17 that the Oakland marijuana dispensary could resume
providing dosages to patients.

The Justice Department's appeal to the high court could gut the state
medical marijuana law, passed as Proposition 215 in 1996 to enable seriously
ill patients to use the drug with a doctor's consent.

"It is disappointing that the federal government is trying to prevent
patients from having access to the medicine they require," said Robert
Raich, an attorney for the Oakland Cannabis Buyers Cooperative.

In the government's petition to the Supreme Court, it argues that marijuana
is among the Controlled Substances Act's most restricted drugs and has no
accepted medical use.

Proponents of medical marijuana say the drug helps boost their appetite and
wards off symptoms of arthritis, glaucoma and other ills.