JUDGE REJECTS OAKLAND TRY TO SHIELD MEDICAL-POT CLUB

SAN FRANCISCO -- A judge on Monday rejected a novel attempt to protect
operators of the Oakland Cannabis Buyers Cooperative from federal drug
charges by making the club a city agency.

Earlier, U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer enjoined the Oakland club and
others from implementing Proposition 215, the 1996 state initiative that
legalized marijuana for seriously ill patients whose doctors recommend it.
Breyer said the law conflicted with the federal Controlled Substances Act.

Oakland responded in July with an ordinance designating operators of the
club in that city as city officials, claiming the designation gave them
immunity from prosecution under a section of the federal law that was
designed for undercover agents participating in drug deals.

Defense lawyer Gerald Uelmen said in court Monday that the city's action
was ``a good-faith effort'' to ``harmonize'' Proposition 215 and the
federal law.

Breyer replied, ``While I think it's creative, it's not persuasive.'' He
said the city lacked the power to carve away part of the federal anti-drug
law.

In rejecting the strategy, Breyer did not foreclose other defenses.

Federal prosecutors had asked him to cite three of the clubs -- in Oakland,
Ukiah and Fairfax -- for violating his injunction.

The judge refused to act on the request and tentatively set another hearing
for Sept. 28 to consider whatever specific evidence of violations the
government can muster.

He also said he will consider defense arguments that individual patients
cannot be prosecuted because their actions were justified by ``medical
necessity.''

Mark Quinlivan, a lawyer with the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington,
D.C., said the government would oppose any such immunity grant.

(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service.)

Checked-by: Pat Dolan