JUDGES: STATE'S POT LAWS PROVIDE PROTECTION FOR SERIOUSLY ILL PATIENTS

SAN FRANCISCO - In a victory for medical marijuana backers, state Supreme
Court justices unanimously agreed this morning that California law provides
some protection for serious ill patients who use the drug or doctors who
prescribe it.

While noting that drug laws enacted with the passage of Proposition 215 do
not provide absolute immunity from prosecution, the court also said
patients have a right to ask that marijuana charges be dismissed prior to
trial.

"This case makes it clear that we're going to treat marijuana the same as
prescription drug," said Santa Clara law professor Gerald Uelmen, who
argued the case. "I think it's a very significant victory for patients and
caregivers."

The justices pointed out that the decision does not conflict with a U.S.
Supreme Court released last year which denied medical marijuana patients
"necessity defense." The case decided today, they said, concerns state law,
while the case involving the Oakland Cannabis Buyers Cooperative was based
in federal drug laws.

A spokesman for the Attorney General's Office said officials were reviewing
the decision this morning and declined to comment.