MEDICAL MARIJUANA ADVOCATES BUOYED

Advocates of marijuana for medical use in the District said they were
buoyed by the questions a federal judge asked government attorneys
yesterday, as a U.S. District Court hearing about the legality of a new
ballot initiative on the subject evolved into a spirited discussion on home
rule.

Judge Emmet G. Sullivan was hearing motions in the push to get the issue on
the ballot in November. Four years ago, Congress blocked a nearly identical
bill approved by city voters.

"Why does Congress want to inhibit citizens to speak or vote on this
issue?" Sullivan asked from the bench. Justice Department attorney Amy
Allen Ruggeri said Congress was the "ultimate legislature" of the District
and that its regulations were legal. "I don't know if that's the way it
should be, but that's the way it is," she told Sullivan.