JUDGE PROTECTS 2 MEDICAL POT USERS

SAN FRANCISCO -- A federal judge in San Francisco, following instructions
of a U.S. appeals court, has issued a preliminary injunction shielding two
ill women from federal prosecution for using medical marijuana.

U.S. District Judge Martin Jenkins issued the injunction protecting Angel
Raich of Oakland and Diane Monson of Oroville on Friday.

The order bars officials of the U.S. Justice Department and Drug
Enforcement Administration from arresting or prosecuting the women for
using medical marijuana. The officials also are forbidden to seize the
patients' marijuana or seek civil sanctions against them.

The preliminary injunction was ordered by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of
Appeals in San Francisco in December.

The circuit court ruling was a rare federal court victory for medical
marijuana advocates in the conflict between federal law criminalizing
marijuana and a 1996 California voter initiative that allows patients to
use marijuana upon a doctor's recommendation.

Meanwhile, Raich said Tuesday, "I am elated knowing that I am the first
medical cannabis patient to be protected by the judicial branch of government."

Raich suffers from an inoperable brain tumor, chronic pain and severe
weight loss, and Monson suffers from a degenerative spine disease that
results in chronic back pain and muscle spasms.

But the federal appeals court last year based its ruling in the Raich case
on a different legal ground -- the power of Congress to regulate interstate
commerce.

The appeals court said the U.S. Controlled Substances Act, which is based
on the commerce-regulation power, shouldn't apply to the two women because
their marijuana growing and use were noncommercial and conducted within
California.

The U.S. Justice Department has appealed that decision to the U.S. Supreme
Court.

Both say they need marijuana to alleviate their pain and their symptoms.