OAKLAND ALLOWS EMERGENCY MARIJUANA USE

Associated Press

OAKLAND, Calif. - A public health emergency was declared after a federal
court closed the city's medical marijuana club, leaving 2,200 patients with
no legal source for the drug that they say quells the pain of AIDS and cancer.

Tuesday night's 5-4 City Council vote, believed to be the first of its
kind, allows officials to develop other means of selling marijuana to
people who can no longer get the drug at the Oakland Cannabis Buyers'
Cooperative.

"We're definitely making history," said Jeff Jones, executive director of
the club. "It's another time the city has come out and allowed patients to
keep their rights."

San Francisco and Berkeley have previously declared medical emergencies to
allow distribution of intravenous needles to drug users to curb the spread
of HIV. But no other city has passed such a measure to allow use of
marijuana for medical reasons.

"It's going to be devastating," said Dave Fratello of the closure. His
group, Americans for Medical Rights, sponsored Proposition 215, the 1996
ballot measure that legalized marijuana use for medical reasons in California.

Proposition 215 allows patients and caregivers to possess and grow
marijuana without prosecution under California law, as long as a doctor has
recommended the drug to relieve pain from AIDS or cancer treatment,
glaucoma or other conditions.

The Justice Department and state Attorney General Dan Lungren have
repeatedly gone to court to block the law, and Mayor Elihu Harris, who cast
the deciding vote, acknowledged that their declaration is just a "symbolic
gesture."

It won't mean the club will reopen, and the council seemed wary about the
city getting into the distribution business itself. But some council
members were determined to send a message.

Said council member Nate Miley, who sponsored the declaration. "Why is the
federal government interfering with the will of the people?"

The club closed down on Monday after the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
rejected a request to stay open while attorneys appeal a federal judge's
ruling that the city-authorized distribution of marijuana is illegal.

Checked-by: Mike Gogulski