COURT PROTECTS POT USE WITH DOCTORS' APPROVAL

SAN FRANCISCO - Ailing Californians who use or grow marijuana with a
physician's approval are protected by state law from prosecution, the
California Supreme Court decided unanimously Thursday.

In its first review of a 1996 medical marijuana initiative, the court said
medical users who are arrested may have the charges dismissed without a
trial if a doctor has approved use of the drug.

The ruling overturns the felony conviction of a blind diabetic who was
arrested after police spotted 31 marijuana plants growing in the front yard
of his home in Twain Harte in Tuolumne County.

"The possession and cultivation of marijuana is no more criminal - so long
as its conditions are satisfied - than the possession and acquisition of
any prescription drug with a physician's prescription," Chief Justice
Ronald M. George wrote for the court.

Until Thursday, all major rulings on Proposition 215, the state's medical
marijuana law, have been made by federal courts and based on federal law.
The U.S. Supreme Court, in a case on the California initiative, ruled that
there is no medical exception for the use of marijuana under federal law.

But individual users and growers in California generally are prosecuted in
state courts, which are required to follow Thursday's ruling.

Gerald Uelmen, a University of Santa Clara law professor who argued the
case for defendant Myron Carlyle Mower, said the decision will reduce
prosecutions throughout the state.

Since 56 percent of voters approved Proposition 215, dozens of Californians
have been arrested on marijuana charges despite claims of medical need, he
said.

"It is a wonderful victory for patients," Uelmen said.

He said he hoped the ruling would discourage police from arresting people
who grow marijuana and have a doctor's note recommending its use.

Ann Brick, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union, which also
argued for Mower, praised the court for being "quite protective of the
rights of medical marijuana patients."

California is one of nine states with medical marijuana laws. The decision
was the first by a state Supreme Court on such a law, Uelmen said.