PATIENTS SEEK MEDICAL POT INJUNCTION

Oakland Pair Join Action Saying Civil Rights Are Being Violated by the
Goverment

Medical marijuana patients and growers who earlier this month sued U.S.
Attorney General John Ashcroft filed papers Wednesday asking a judge to
block the government from violating their civil rights.

Attorney Robert Raich said a hearing on the motion for preliminary
injunction is scheduled for Dec. 4 before U.S. Magistrate Judge Edward Chen
of San Francisco.

The lawsuit filed Oct. 9 against Ashcroft and Drug Enforcement
Administration chief Asa Hutchinson is both a response to the U.S. Supreme
Court's 2001 ruling against the Oakland Cannabis Buyers Cooperative, and a
reaction to recent DEA raids against medical marijuana patients and providers.

This case's plaintiffs are patients Angel McClary Raich of Oakland -- the
attorney's wife -- and Diane Monson of Oroville, plus two "John Doe"
marijuana growers from Oakland who supply Raich. It argues that the federal
officials are constitutionally barred from regulating growth and use of
medical marijuana in California.

The federal government still deems all marijuana growth, possession or use
illegal, even though California voters OKed medical use in 1996. Alaska,
Arizona, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Oregon and Washington have similar laws.