FEDERAL JUDGE DELAYS RULING ON POT CLUBS

SAN FRANCISCO -- A judge heard four hours of oral arguments Tuesday in the
federal government's case against six medical marijuana clubs, but
postponed his decision on whether to shut them down until after April 16.

U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer said he had hoped to find a middle
ground between Proposition 215, California's 1996 medical marijuana
initiative, and the U.S. Justice Department's desire to enforce the 1970
U.S. Controlled Substances Act, which makes it a crime to distribute pot
for any purpose.

Breyer concluded, however, that he would have to choose sides because "the
federal government is not going to change its position."

Among the issues he said he would consider are whether Congress had
medicinal uses in mind when it outlawed marijuana, and whether the federal
government has ever used an injunction to regulate conduct that is legal
under state law. He did not suggest what his answers would be.

The marathon hearing came in the federal government's civil case against
six Bay Area marijuana clubs, about one-third of those in California. Two
of the clubs, in San Francisco and Santa Cruz, are not operating.

Before the hearing, Michael Yamaguchi, the chief federal prosecutor in San
Francisco, said the suit was filed "to send a clear message regarding the
illegality of marijuana cultivation and distribution."

In court, Mark Quinlivan, a lawyer with the U.S. Department of Justice in
Washington, argued that "a state initiative cannot supplant the will of the
people of the United States" as expressed by Congress in passing the 1970
law.

He said there would be no way the clubs could modify their activities to
bring themselves into compliance with the statute, which classifies
marijuana as a useless and dangerous substance. The only way sick people
can get legal access to pot, he said, is either to persuade Congress to
change the law or to persuade the federal bureaucracy to reclassify the
drug.

Kate Wells, one of a small army of lawyers on the other side, argued that
the federal law and the state initiative could co-exist. The purpose of the
statute, she said, was to stop "illegal" drug trade and "improper" drug
use, not regulated pot distribution under measures such as Proposition 215.

Attorney Bill Panzer told Breyer that asking Congress to change the law
would be futile because it has been ignoring scientific evidence of the
medical value of marijuana for 101 years.

"Congress has determined the world is flat," Panzer said. "This court has
the authority to declare the world is round."

J. Tony Serra urged Breyer to weigh the government's amorphous interest in
closing the clubs against the "pain and death and agony" of people who use
marijuana to relieve their symptoms.

Copyright ) 1998 The Sacramento Bee