MARIJUANA USE GETS A BOOST

The news that U.S. District Judge Charles R. Breyer has modified a previous
injunction against California cannabis clubs is good news on the medical
marijuana front. The federal government's previously unyielding wall of
marijuana prohibition is beginning to crumble. It's about time.

Breyer's ruling almost certainly clears the way for the Oakland Cannabis
Buyers Cooperative to begin dispensing marijuana to certain patients.
Medical marijuana became legal in California through a 1996 ballot
initiative, though the federal government refuses to accept that fact.

In addition to Breyer's decision, University of California San Francisco
medical school researcher Donald Abrams reported promising results earlier
this month at the international AIDS conference in Durban, South Africa, on
his pioneering studies on the use of marijuana by AIDS patients. Dr.
Abrams' research showed no damage to the immune systems of patients in his
study, but noted improved appetites and ability to hold down food and medicine.

In San Francisco, meanwhile, District Attorney Terence Hallinan kicked off
a new program of issuing city identification cards for medical marijuana
users that are intended to protect patients from arrest by local law
enforcement agencies. As Jeff Jones, executive director of the Oakland
cooperative, said, "You can go to the same window where you apply for a
copy of your birth certificate and get a cannabis card. From what patients
tell us, the program ... is working smoothly."

The San Francisco ID card program doesn't change federal law, but Breyer's
decision affects the way federal law is applied in limited but significant
ways. Breyer issued an injunction against the Oakland Cannabis Buyers
Cooperative and five other northern California medical cannabis
distribution centers in May 1998, forbidding them to distribute cannabis to
patients.

The Oakland cooperative appealed Breyer's injunction and last September the
federal 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ordered him to reconsider the case
after allowing the club to offer a "medical necessity" defense that would
create exceptions to federal laws against marijuana use. On Monday, Breyer
modified his injunction "as a result of the government's failure to offer
any new evidence and in light of the 9th Circuit court's opinion."

Specifically, Breyer ruled that under federal laws the Oakland cooperative
could distribute marijuana to patients who meet certain criteria. They must:

Suffer from a serious medical condition.

Face "imminent harm" if they do not have access to marijuana.

Need marijuana for treatment of a medical condition or to alleviate
symptoms associated with the condition.

Have no reasonable alternative to cannabis because they have tried other
available legal treatments and those treatments that either have not worked
or have produced intolerable side effects.

The ruling also doesn't require a physician's certification because, as
Raich put it, "Under the law if it's a necessity that settles it, no
authority figure is needed."

It is also worth noting that the federal government has not challenged
California's medical marijuana law in court. So under that state's
constitution, California officials are obliged to enforce the law as written.

The next step, as Jeff Jones said, is for the federal government to
recognize medical reality and remove marijuana from Schedule I under the
Controlled Substances Act. Schedule I is reserved for drugs that have no
recognized medical use and cannot be used safely under a doctor's supervision.

Federal courts and recent medical research have now recognized that there
are accepted and safe medical uses for marijuana. The Drug Enforcement
Administration should act immediately on a petition currently pending to
reschedule marijuana and cease its cruel and unjustified war on sick people.

Now is the time for Ohio's lawmakers to pass laws allowing for the medical
use of marijuana.