Pubdate: Sat, 22 Jul 2000
Source: Lima News (OH)
Copyright: 2000 Freedom Newspapers Inc.
Contact:  PO Box 690, Lima, Ohio 45802-0690
Website: http://www.limanews.com

MARIJUANA USE GETS A BOOST

The news that U.S. District Judge Charles R. Breyer has modified a previous 
injunction against California cannabis clubs is good news on the medical 
marijuana front. The federal government's previously unyielding wall of 
marijuana prohibition is beginning to crumble. It's about time.

Breyer's ruling almost certainly clears the way for the Oakland Cannabis 
Buyers Cooperative to begin dispensing marijuana to certain patients. 
Medical marijuana became legal in California through a 1996 ballot 
initiative, though the federal government refuses to accept that fact.

In addition to Breyer's decision, University of California San Francisco 
medical school researcher Donald Abrams reported promising results earlier 
this month at the international AIDS conference in Durban, South Africa, on 
his pioneering studies on the use of marijuana by AIDS patients. Dr. 
Abrams' research showed no damage to the immune systems of patients in his 
study, but noted improved appetites and ability to hold down food and medicine.

In San Francisco, meanwhile, District Attorney Terence Hallinan kicked off 
a new program of issuing city identification cards for medical marijuana 
users that are intended to protect patients from arrest by local law 
enforcement agencies. As Jeff Jones, executive director of the Oakland 
cooperative, said, "You can go to the same window where you apply for a 
copy of your birth certificate and get a cannabis card. From what patients 
tell us, the program ... is working smoothly."

The San Francisco ID card program doesn't change federal law, but Breyer's 
decision affects the way federal law is applied in limited but significant 
ways. Breyer issued an injunction against the Oakland Cannabis Buyers 
Cooperative and five other northern California medical cannabis 
distribution centers in May 1998, forbidding them to distribute cannabis to 
patients.

The Oakland cooperative appealed Breyer's injunction and last September the 
federal 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ordered him to reconsider the case 
after allowing the club to offer a "medical necessity" defense that would 
create exceptions to federal laws against marijuana use. On Monday, Breyer 
modified his injunction "as a result of the government's failure to offer 
any new evidence and in light of the 9th Circuit court's opinion."

Specifically, Breyer ruled that under federal laws the Oakland cooperative 
could distribute marijuana to patients who meet certain criteria. They must:

Suffer from a serious medical condition.

Face "imminent harm" if they do not have access to marijuana.

Need marijuana for treatment of a medical condition or to alleviate 
symptoms associated with the condition.

Have no reasonable alternative to cannabis because they have tried other 
available legal treatments and those treatments that either have not worked 
or have produced intolerable side effects.

The ruling also doesn't require a physician's certification because, as 
Raich put it, "Under the law if it's a necessity that settles it, no 
authority figure is needed."

It is also worth noting that the federal government has not challenged 
California's medical marijuana law in court. So under that state's 
constitution, California officials are obliged to enforce the law as written.

The next step, as Jeff Jones said, is for the federal government to 
recognize medical reality and remove marijuana from Schedule I under the 
Controlled Substances Act. Schedule I is reserved for drugs that have no 
recognized medical use and cannot be used safely under a doctor's supervision.

Federal courts and recent medical research have now recognized that there 
are accepted and safe medical uses for marijuana. The Drug Enforcement 
Administration should act immediately on a petition currently pending to 
reschedule marijuana and cease its cruel and unjustified war on sick people.

Now is the time for Ohio's lawmakers to pass laws allowing for the medical 
use of marijuana.
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MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager