JUDGE WILL CLOSE CLUBS FOR MEDICAL MARIJUANA

A federal judge in San Francisco struck a possibly fatal blow to
medical-marijuana clubs Thursday, saying he would order closure of six
Northern California clubs for violating federal laws against distributing
drugs.

Proposition 215, the November 1996 initiative that legalized medical
marijuana under California law, did not and could not override the federal
ban on marijuana, said U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer.

He rejected the clubs' argument that they were entitled to furnish the drug
because their customers, many of whom suffer from AIDS or cancer, cannot
survive without marijuana to ease the pain and side effects of therapy.

Nevertheless, San Francisco's largest medical marijuana club, now called
the Cannabis Healing Center, said it would defy the order, risk a
contempt-of-court charge, and offer a "medical necessity" defense when
brought to trial.

Checked-by: jwjohnson@netmagic.net (Joel W. Johnson)