MARIJUANA CONVICT WON'T FACE DRUG TESTING

Judge Cites Precedent

Citing an Oakland case's precedent, a federal magistrate in San Francisco
refused Monday to order drug testing for a Sonoma County man who has been
freed from federal prison camp to appeal his medical marijuana conviction.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Edward M. Chen said the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of
Appeals' ruling last December in Raich v. Ashcroft -- which said the
federal government lacks jurisdiction over noncommercial, medical marijuana
activity entirely within California's borders -- means courts must "tread
very lightly" on medical marijuana issues.

Convicted of marijuana cultivation, Keith Alden was sentenced in December
2002 to 44 months in federal prison, but he went free April 1 after a panel
of three 9th Circuit judges -- citing the Raich ruling -- ordered him freed
pending an appeal of his conviction. He's the first person released from
prison due to the ruling.

A federal judge in San Jose last week cited the ruling to forbid the
government from staging further raids against a Santa Cruz-area medical
marijuana cooperative, now suing federal officials over a 2002 raid.

The Justice Department last week petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to
review and overturn the ruling; the plaintiffs' lawyers have until May 20
to file a brief explaining why the precedent should stand.