SALES NOT SANCTIONED IN MEDICAL POT RULING

Marijuana: Buying and Selling Issue Is Still Pending Appeals Court.

SAN FRANCISCO -- A decision by a federal appeals court here approving
the use and cultivation of medical marijuana did not address the
broader question of whether medical marijuana can be bought and sold.

That issue is still pending before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of
Appeals. A three-judge panel of the same court ruled Tuesday that a
federal statute outlawing marijuana cannot apply in states with laws
permitting sick people to use marijuana with a doctor's
recommendation.

In Tuesday's ruling, the appeals court said prosecuting medical
marijuana users under a 1970 federal drug law is unconstitutional if
the marijuana isn't sold, transported across state lines or used for
nonmedicinal purposes.

The court said states were free to experiment with their own laws and
that the Constitution's Commerce Clause forbade federal intervention
because the laws at issue did not impact commerce outside a state's
boundaries.

"That means people could cultivate and consume cannabis for medical
purposes free of federal interference, subject to state law," said
Randy Barnett, a Boston University constitutional law scholar.

Alaska, Arizona, California Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Nevada, Oregon
and Washington have laws that allow persons to grow, smoke or use
medical marijuana with a doctor's recommendation.

The Drug Enforcement Administration, refusing to recognize medical
marijuana laws, has raided several California patients' back yards,
along with pot clubs that sell marijuana to the sick. Most clubs, the
only avenue by which many patients can obtain marijuana, have gone
underground for fear of being raided.

California's 7-year-old medical marijuana law, the nation's first,
does not expressly allow the sale of marijuana, but authorities in San
Francisco, Oakland, Santa Cruz and elsewhere have tacitly allowed
clubs to operate.

The Justice Department declined comment on whether it would appeal
Tuesday's decision. The ruling was the first time the federal
Controlled Substances Act, which outlaws marijuana, heroin, LSD and
other drugs, was declared unconstitutional as applied to medical marijuana.

"We are currently reviewing the court's ruling," Justice Department
spokesman Charles Miller said. "No determination has been made as to
what our next step will be."

Jeff Jones, director of the Oakland Cannabis Buyer's Cooperative, said
the 9th Circuit panel's decision could bolster his bid to resume
selling pot to the sick. Federal authorities shut the club down
several years ago.

"We feel our case is more ripe now for an interpretation that creates
affordable and safe access for these patients," Jones said.

The Oakland cooperative has a lawsuit pending before the 9th Circuit
that it hopes will resolve the remaining legal questions. A decision
in the cooperative's case is expected here any day.