COURT EXEMPTS MEDICINAL POT FROM FEDERAL BAN

In a move that emboldens California patients who rely on medicinal
marijuana, a federal appeals court on Tuesday ruled that those who grow
their own crop or get it for free are exempt from a U.S. law that bans the
drug.

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco upheld the arguments of
two seriously ill California women, including one from the East Bay, who
said their private use in a state that passed a medicinal marijuana law
should not make them vulnerable to federal raids.

The 2-1 decision, handed down Tuesday afternoon, directly affects Oakland
resident Angel McClary Raich and Diane Monson of Butte County, and provides
a rare victory for advocates of California's medicinal marijuana law, which
contradicts federal drug laws. It could also be a promising development in
the pending case of a Santa Cruz County couple whose cannabis cooperative
was raided last year.

Federal officials could not be reached late Tuesday, but a Drug Enforcement
Agency spokesman in San Francisco said it was too early to say how the
ruling would affect how agents do their work, which ``targets large-scale
distributors of drugs.''

The court on Tuesday ruled that prosecuting medicinal marijuana users under
the 1970 Controlled Substances Act is unconstitutional in states that allow
such use under the advice of a doctor, if the cannabis isn't sold or
transported across state lines or used for non-medicinal purposes.

``The intrastate, non-commercial cultivation, possession and use of
marijuana for personal medical purposes on the advice of a physician'' is
different from drug trafficking, the court wrote in its majority opinion.
``Moreover, this limited use is clearly distinct from the broader illicit
drug market.''

Gerald F. Uelmen, the attorney representing Valerie and Michael Corral of
the Wo/Men's Alliance for Medical Marijuana in Santa Cruz County, said he
was ``optimistic'' the court's rationale could apply to his case, which
stems from a Sept. 5, 2002, federal raid on the cooperative.

``Closed cooperatives who grow and share among themselves also do not
affect interstate commerce,'' he said. ``This is a very important decision
for patients in California. This is great news.''

Robert Raich, an Oakland attorney who presented arguments on behalf of his
wife, Angel McClary Raich, and her two unidentified suppliers, along with
Oroville resident Monson, was ``ecstatic'' with the decision.

``This is the way it should be,'' Raich said from his home Tuesday night.
``Certainly for the time being, I know my wife is safe and can use the
medicine that keeps her healthy.''

McClary Raich, who relies on marijuana to cope with an inoperable brain
tumor and seizures, felt that her life was threatened by the rash of
federal raids on medicinal suppliers, her husband said.

Monson, whose home was raided in August 2002, grows her own crop to
alleviate symptoms of a degenerative spinal disease, court records show.

Both women filed the lawsuit in October 2002 against Attorney General John
Ashcroft and Drug Enforcement Administration Chief Asa Hutchinson, in an
effort to ward off federal interference. A district judge ruled against
them in March, prompting Raich to take the suit to the 9th Circuit Court.

The decision was a blow to the Justice Department, which argued that
medicinal marijuana laws in nine states were trumped by the Controlled
Substances Act, outlawing marijuana, heroin and a host of other drugs
nationwide.

California voters in 1996 became the first in the country to pass a
medicinal marijuana initiative, Proposition 215, the Compassionate Use Act.
Since its passage, bitter legal battles have pitted federal drug laws
against those advocating states' rights.

In July 2002, the state Supreme Court ruled that Californians who have a
doctor's approval to smoke marijuana are protected from conviction for
violating state drug laws. But in 2001, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a
ruling that made it impossible for third parties to provide medicinal
marijuana to seriously ill patients without running afoul of federal drug
laws. As a result, several Bay Area medicinal pot clubs were shuttered.

Eight other states have adopted similar medicinal marijuana laws, including
Alaska, Arizona, Hawaii, Nevada, Oregon and Washington state -- which are
under the jurisdiction of the 9th Circuit Court.