U.S. CHALLENGES CALIFORNIA MEDICAL MARIJUANA LAW

SAN FRANCISCO, March 24 (Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Justice on
Tuesday launched the strongest challenge yet to California's medical
marijuana clubs, asking a judge to shut them down for violation of federal
drug laws.

In a bid to quash the nation's first large-scale experiment with medical
marijuana use, government lawyers told a U.S. District Court that
California's 1996 state law allowing sick people to use marijuana must take
a back seat to national laws forbidding the cultivation and distribution
the drug.

"What this case is about, make no mistake about it, is upholding federal
law," government attorney Mark Quinlivan said. "A state initiative cannot
supplant the will of the people of the United States."

After hearing impassioned arguments from both sides of the medical
marijuana debate, Judge Charles Breyer told attorneys to file final legal
briefs by April 15, after which he would make a ruling.

The federal case against six northern California marijuana clubs is the
toughest legal battle to emerge in the wake of California's Proposition
215, the medical marijuana provision approved by 56 percent of the state's
voters in 1996.

The clubs, spearheaded by San Francisco's Cannabis Cultivators Club,
dispense the drug to thousands of victims of AIDS, cancer, glaucoma, and
other serious diseases, many of whom say it is the only treatment which
works. "Without marijuana, I cannot function," Dixie Romango, who suffers
from multiple sclerosis, told a rally of about 100 people outside the San
Francisco courthouse. "The doctors know our needs, not the federal
government."

California's courts have already ruled that the 20-odd clubs around the
state are illegal because they are not "primary caregivers" to their
members -- a condition set by the state law.

Federal officials on Tuesday broadened the attack, saying club operations
are an "outright and flagrant" violation of the 1970 Controlled Substances
Act, under which Congress categorized marijuana as a dangerous drug subject
to the strictest possible controls.

"We have requested these injunctions in order to send a clear message
regarding the illegality of marijuana cultivation and distribution," U.S.
District Attorney Michael Yamaguchi said.

The clubs have won strong support from a number of local officials, who say
the federal government should respect the will of California's voters and
allow local governments time to develop an "airtight" system to monitor
club operations.

Four California mayors wrote a letter to President Bill Clinton last week
asking him to drop the fight against the clubs, and San Francisco Mayor
Willie Brown has pledged that if the clubs close the city will step in to
distribute marijuana to seriously ill patients.

At the rally, as the sweet scent of marijuana smoke drifted over the
courthouse steps, local politicians, patients and clergy vowed to fight for
the drug.

San Francisco District Attorney Terence Hallinan, one of the clubs
strongest official supporters, said he always supports the right of a sick
person to take "a harmless puff on a marijuana cigarette."

"I do feel that truth and justice will prevail and in the end we will be
able to continue supplying marijuana to people who require it," Hallinan
said to cheers from the crowd.

Lawyers for the clubs said they would approach the battle from a number of
angles, arguing that they fulfill a "medical necessity" for patients and
are beyond the scope of federal drug laws designed primarily to stop
trafficking.

"This is not a backdoor way to legalize marijuana. This is a frontdoor way
to deal with a real problem in our society," said lead attorney Bill Panzer.

Copyright 1998 Reuters Ltd.