LOCKYER BACKS "NECESSITY" DEFENSE, ASKS FEDS TO DROP OPPOSITION

A federal appeals court decision that could allow some seriously ill
patients to use marijuana has won the endorsement of state Attorney General
Bill Lockyer, who wants the Clinton administration to drop its objections.

In a letter last week to U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno, made public
Thursday by supporters of an AIDS patient who wants to use the drug,
Lockyer urged the government not to appeal the precedent-setting Sept. 13
ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The 3-0 ruling indicated
``medical necessity,'' the need to violate a law to prevent more serious
harm, would be a valid defense to the prosecution of a marijuana patient or
provider under federal drug laws.

``The voters in my state have endorsed the medicinal use of marijuana,''
Lockyer wrote, referring to Proposition 215, the 1996 initiative that
allows the cultivation and use of marijuana to treat symptoms of certain
serious illnesses, with a doctor's recommendation.

``The court's decision holding that a citizen may present evidence that use
of marijuana, under certain narrow conditions, may be a lawful exception to
the federal drug laws is consistent with the expression of (the voters')
will.''

The letter was dated Oct. 6. U.S. Justice Department spokeswoman Gretchen
Michael said Thursday the department hasn't received it yet and hasn't
decided whether to seek a rehearing of last month's ruling. Its deadline is
in late October.

Lockyer supported Proposition 215 and has said he was influenced by the
deaths of his mother and sister from leukemia. He supports a state bill
that would set standards for medical use of marijuana and let county health
departments issue registration cards to anyone with a doctor's
recommendation for the drug.

Lockyer has met with Reno and federal drug chief Barry McCaffrey and urged
them, with little apparent success, to ease the federal government's
resistance to California's implementation of its initiative.

Since passage of Proposition 215, the Justice Department has repeatedly
said marijuana remains banned by federal law, with no medical exception;
has threatened to act against doctors who prescribe the drug; and has sued
to shut down six Northern California clubs that distribute marijuana to
patients.

That lawsuit, which has led to closure of four of the clubs, was the basis
of the Sept. 13 ruling. The court ordered a federal judge to reconsider his
injunction of last year, which barred marijuana distribution at the clubs,
and consider an exemption for patients who face imminent harm and have no
effective legal alternative to marijuana. The court said the government has
offered nothing to contradict ``evidence that cannabis is the only
effective treatment for a large group of seriously ill individuals.''

The ruling, if it stands, would affect four other states in the 9th Circuit
- -- Arizona, Oregon, Washington and Alaska -- that have laws protecting
medical marijuana users against state prosecution.

The ruling has already been invoked by medical marijuana users, including
Peter McWilliams, an AIDS and cancer patient whose lawyers said they were
asking the appeals court Thursday to let him resume smoking marijuana
because his condition is deteriorating.

McWilliams, a writer and publisher, was arrested in Los Angeles in July
1998 and charged by federal authorities with conspiring to grow thousands
of marijuana plants, which he said were intended to supply medical
marijuana clubs.

He was freed on $250,000 bail the next month, on condition that he obey all
laws, including federal drug laws. McWilliams' lawyers said he has been
taking Marinol, a legal drug with the active ingredient of marijuana, but
it is ineffective and his condition has worsened to the point that he might
not live until his trial date Nov. 16.