SIX MEDICAL MARIJUANA CLUBS CLOSE

Copyright 1998 The Associated Press.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- A federal judge today ordered closure of six medical
marijuana clubs in Northern California, saying prosecutors were likely to
prove the clubs were violating antidrug laws. U.S. District Judge Charles
Breyer 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 pain and the side effects of therapy.

A "medical necessity" defense might be available in individual cases, but
can't be used by a club that distributes marijuana to a large number of
patients with different diseases, Breyer said.

In 1996, California voters approved Proposition 215, which changed state law
to allow patients suffering from certain serious illnesses to possess
marijuana for medical use, with a doctor's recommendation. But the Clinton
administration, which fought the initiative both before and after its
passage, filed civil suits in January to halt operation of six clubs -- two
in San Francisco and one each in Oakland, southern Marin County, Santa Cruz
and Ukiah.

Federal prosecutors argued that national antidrug laws override the proposition.

"Laws which are passed by Congress cannot be supplanted by state law,"
Justice Department lawyer Mark Quinlivan told Breyer during a hearing in
March. He said advocates of medical marijuana must turn to Congress and
federal health authorities, not the courts.

In his ruling today, the judge agreed the proposition could not override
federal law.

He also rejected the clubs' argument that an injunction should be denied
because the federal government has thwarted studies on medical marijuana and
ignored evidence that the drug is safe and effective. Breyer acknowledged
that it took more than 20 years for the federal government to consider, and
deny, the last formal request to reclassify marijuana. But he said medical
marijuana advocates had been unable, so far, to convince the government to
allow medical use of marijuana. Noting that a new request was sent to Health
and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala in December, Breyer said, "One
would expect the secretary to act expeditiously on the petition in light of
the expressed concerns of the citizens of California."

Checked-by: Melodi Cornett