RULING DID NOT OVERTURN MEDICAL MARIJUANA

To the Editor:

Now that the Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative has resumed its fight for
the right to distribute medical marijuana to patients using it legally
under California law, it is important to keep in mind what last May's
Supreme Court ruling did and did not do.

The Court's decision in United States v. Oakland Cannabis Buyers'
Cooperative did not prevent states from taking action to protect patients
who use marijuana for medical purposes. All eight medical marijuana
statutes enacted since 1996 remain in full force and effect. The court
merely said that distributors of medical marijuana couldn't use a "medical
necessity" defense under federal law.

While this, combined with federal raids on the clubs, creates great
hardship and inconvenience for patients, medical marijuana users who are in
compliance with their states' laws are still protected from arrest by those
laws. This is critical, as 99 percent of marijuana arrests are made by
state and local authorities. In other words, effective state laws prevent
99 out of 100 arrests of medical marijuana patients. While arrests by
federal agents are theoretically possible, the Justice Department thus far
has not gone after individual medical marijuana users -- perhaps realizing
they have little chance of convicting patients who are simply trying to
ease their suffering.

As the legal battles over the federal government's absurd war on medical
marijuana continue, state governments need not fear the Supreme Court. They
can and should continue to act to protect patients.

Bruce Mirken

Assistant Director of Communications Marijuana Policy Project