GOVERNMENT TO APPEAL COURT RULING ALLOWING OAKLAND CLUB TO DISTRIBUTE POT
TO SERIOUSLY ILL PATIENTS

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- The Justice Department will appeal a district court
judge's ruling that clears the way for an Oakland club to distribute
marijuana for medicinal purposes, according to court documents filed here
Tuesday in federal court.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Quinlivan submitted a notice to appeal to the
9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last week's decision by U.S. District
Court Judge Charles R. Breyer, which could clear the way for a slew of new
marijuana clubs. Quinlivan declined to comment Tuesday.

Under Breyer's decision, the Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative could
provide marijuana to those who face imminent harm from serious medical
conditions, and to those for whom legal alternatives to marijuana don't
work or cause intolerable side effects.

In his ruling, Breyer noted that the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had
ordered him in September to consider an exemption for patients who face
imminent harm and have no effective legal alternative to marijuana. The
appellate panel found the government had failed to rebut evidence that
marijuana is the only effective treatment for a large group of seriously
ill patients.

The victory for the Oakland club is the latest development in a years-old
conflict between federal narcotics regulations and Proposition 215, which
has been tangled up in court since California voters approved it in 1996.

The California initiative allows seriously ill patients to grow and use
marijuana for pain relief, with a doctor's recommendation, without being
prosecuted under state law. But federal law says marijuana has no medical
purpose and cannot be administered safely under medical supervision.

Measures similar to California's initiative have passed in Alaska, Arizona,
Hawaii, Maine, Nevada, Oregon and Washington state.