HIGH COURT TO RULE ON MEDICAL POT

Oakland Plaintiff A Celebrity At S.F. Conference Panel

SAN FRANCISCO -- Oakland's Angel Raich moved through the crowd like a
rock star.

With a U.S. Supreme Court ruling imminent in her medical-marijuana
case, she was a head-turning honored guest at the annual conference of
the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws this
weekend at the Cathedral Hill Hotel.

"My whole image has changed, and I take that with great honor" she
acknowledged Thursday, moments before taking part in a panel
discussion of people who've tangled with the federal government on
medical marijuana. She said she takes comfort in knowing she's
"speaking on behalf of so many patients," and this buoys her when
she's feeling down or in pain.

Raich and Oroville resident Diane Monson sued federal officials in
2002 to halt raids against medical marijuana patients and providers
operating under California's 1996 compassionate use law. The 9th U.S.
Circuit Court of Appeals in 2003 ruled in their favor, ordering an
injunction to halt the raids.

The U.S. Supreme Court heard their case last November and will rule on
it sometime between now and the end of the court's session this June.
Anticipation is running high within NORML and other marijuana advocacy
groups.

"These women are the embodiment of thousands and thousands of other
patients out there today who don't have a voice, who feel like they're
not recognized in this gray area of law, medicine and culture," said
Allen St. Pierre, a longtime NORML officer who became its executive
director in January.

Raich's and Monson's lawyers argued that the U.S. Constitution's
commerce clause lets Congress regulate only interstate commerce, and
that Californians' medical marijuana use neither crosses state lines
nor is commerce. The idea that the federal government shouldn't be
allowed to infringe upon state powers is a classic conservative
argument; several states without medical marijuana laws filed
friend-of-the-court briefs on the women's behalf.

The government claims it has a right to regulate local activity that's
an essential part of a larger regulation of economic activity.
Marijuana trafficking regularly crosses state lines and involves money
changing hands, it says, so all marijuana -- even that grown within a
single state -- affects the overall black-market supply and so can be
federally banned.

Raich reiterated Thursday that if she wins, "it really is a major
victory for patients everywhere," spelling an end to the federal
government's "war on patients" in all states with medical marijuana
laws.

But if she loses, she noted, all those state laws will still stand,
and the status quo conflict between those laws and federal law will
remain. If that happens, she said, it'll be "just the beginning of the
next new fight for me" as she pressures Congress to change federal
law. She said she has "tricks up my sleeve ... that will help bring
this issue to the next plateau."

St. Pierre agreed there's "no downside to their legal effort" -- a
victory could embolden other states to pass medical marijuana laws,
while a defeat leaves patients and providers no worse off than they
were before.

The NORML conference continued through Saturday with speeches, panel
discussions and breakout sessions on topics such as student activism,
police tactics and hemp cultivation.