JUDGE RULES AGAINST MEDICAL NECESSITY DEFENSE IN ACTIVISTS' MARIJUANA TRIAL

LOS ANGELES (AP) --Two activists cannot use medical necessity as a defense
against charges that they grew thousands of marijuana plants, a federal
judge has ruled.

They also cannot refer to their medical conditions, the medical uses of
marijuana or California's Proposition 215, which allowed the personal use
of marijuana for medical purposes, U.S. District Judge George King ruled
Friday. Todd McCormick, who suffers from bone cancer, and Peter McWilliams,
who has AIDS and cancer in remission, are accused of possessing marijuana
with intent to distribute, distribution of marijuana, and conspiracy to
grow marijuana.

Officials arrested them after they found more than 6,000 plants growing in
a Bel-Air mansion and three other leased locations in Los Angeles County.

McWilliams, a self-help publisher, faces accusations of financing the
operation, while McCormick and others are accused of growing the pot and
trying to sell it to the Los Angeles Cannabis Buyer's Club, which has
dispensed the drug since Californians voted in 1996 to legalize it for
medical use.

They are scheduled to stand trial Nov. 16.

McWilliams said Friday he is devastated by the judge's decision.

"It's frustrating to be in a state where voters voted that I can have this
medication," he said. "I am needlessly dying at the prime of my career."

A spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office refused to comment beyond the
judge's ruling.

McWilliams said he has admitted to growing marijuana for his own use. He
says he can only keep down his AIDS medication by smoking it. His health
has suffered since his arrest in July 1998, he said.

At a previous court appearance, officials had to keep a trash can near him
as he suffered bouts of nausea.

King's ruling disallowed a defense based on medical necessity because it
"is not available as a matter of law," since Congress has ruled marijuana
has no medical merit.

In California, Proposition 215 recognizes some medical benefits, but
federal officials say state laws do not apply to federal offenses.

The judge excluded the other information on grounds that it was irrelevant
to the charge of growing marijuana. He also said the information does not
apply to distribution charges because the government plans to drop charges
of intent to distribute.

The ruling was in response to a request from prosecutors to exclude certain
evidence at trial, including information about Proposition 215, the
possible medical uses of marijuana, the defendants' medical conditions, and
any reference to the Closed Single Patient Investigative New Drug Program,
a project in which a few people in the United States have received
government permission to use marijuana.

At the time he was arrested, McCormick was conducting a research project
that involved breeding several strains of marijuana and studying their
effects on the human body, McWilliams said. He intended to approach major
institutions for support later.

"He was just doing botany," McWilliams said. "He's a botanist."

He said that was part of the reason McCormick was growing so many plants.