MEDICAL-MARIJUANA ADVOCATES PERSIST DESPITE RULING, LEADER SAYS

BOCA RATON -- Despite a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that many
considered a blow to the medical-marijuana movement, supporters of such
laws have pressed on with state ballot initiatives and lobbying campaigns,
the director of a marijuana-policy reform group told an audience at Florida
Atlantic University Wednesday.

Rhode Island is teetering on the edge of becoming the 11th state to allow
patients to use marijuana medically, and two Michigan cities have
medical-marijuana ballot initiatives coming up in the next few weeks, said
Rob Kampia, director of the Washington, D.C.-based Marijuana Policy Project.

"If we had won the Supreme Court case, the federal government's war on
medical marijuana would have effectively been over," Kampia said. "The case
doesn't change anything. It just maintains the status quo."

The U.S. Supreme Court decided in a 6-3 decision in June that the federal
government has the authority to ban using and cultivating marijuana, even
for patients growing small amounts for their own medical use in states that
allow it.

In the case Gonzales vs. Raich, two California women who grow marijuana to
treat serious medical conditions sued the government to stop enforcement of
the federal ban on the drug. The ruling didn't overturn laws, such as
California's, that allow medical use of marijuana.

Kampia, who spoke to an audience of about two dozen FAU students, became
involved in the politics of marijuana after he spent three months in jail
for growing pot while a student at Penn State. His experience made him
angry, but he said t was nothing like what other marijuana users endured
recently.

Among the stories Kampia told was one about a quadriplegic man in
Washington, D.C., who died in custody after he didn't receive the medical
attention he needed while in jail on marijuana-possession charges.

"D.C. has bigger problems than a quadriplegic who's using marijuana for
medical purposes," Kampia said.

The Supreme Court ruling indicated that Congress, not the court, must
change the federal law, Kampia said. And his organization has moved closer
to garnering the 218 votes needed to pass a bill in the House. A recent
vote on an amendment that would have prohibited the federal government from
spending money to go after medical-marijuana users in states where it's
legal failed. But the amendment had 161 votes, more than ever.

"We're probably not going to succeed within the year," Kampia said, "but
the end is in sight."