Pubdate: Thu, 20 Jul 2000
Source: Bay Area Reporter (CA)
Copyright: 2000 The Bay Area Reporter / B.A.R.
Contact:  
Address: 395 9th Street, San Francisco, CA 94103
Website: http://www.ebar.com/ 
Author: Katie Szymanski

FEDS ALLOW OAKLAND CLUB TO SELL MARIJUANA

The United States justice system took a small step toward minding its own
business but a giant leap for those in need last week when a federal judge
ruled against his own order that prohibited the operation of a medical
marijuana dispensary in Oakland. 

U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer said last Friday, July 14 that he will
support a ruling by a U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco that allows
those with medical necessities to be exempt from nationally-mandated drug
penalties. The appeals court found that Breyer did not consider the
potential for harm when he banned pot clubs in five California counties two
years after the state's medical marijuana law was passed by voters. Breyer's
original ruling caused the shutdown of the Oakland Cannabis Buyer's
Cooperative, which once served 2,000 regular customers and now can only
provide identification cards and referrals. But Breyer's new ruling means
that the Oakland club will soon be re-opened for business. 

"It was an historic ruling, the first of its kind to grant federal exemption
to qualifying patients," Jeff Jones, executive director of OCBC told the Bay
Area Reporter. "We'll be consulting with our attorneys and then be up and
running as soon as possible." 

Breyer's written ruling, issued Monday, July 17, stated that the OCBC could
distribute cannabis to those club members who 1) suffer from a serious
medical condition, 2) will suffer imminent harm if they not have access to
cannabis, 3) need cannabis to alleviate medical symptoms, and 4) have no
reasonable legal alternative as an effective treatment. Because the
guidelines are so specific - particularly the "no legal reasonable
alternative" clause - Jones said that the club will be under stricter
requirements than most medical marijuana dispensaries and buyer's clubs. But
at the very least, qualified Oakland residents who have had to travel for
their treatments will now have another option in their own backyard. 

For Jones, the court ruling, in combination with the recently released study
that showed pot is safe for HIV-positive people, should be a wake-up call to
those at the top of the federal food chain. 

"It is now overdue; Washington, D.C. needs to reschedule marijuana as a
schedule 3 drug," said Jones, referring to the classification of substances
and their subsequent criminal penalties. "The decision is currently before
Donna Shalala, secretary of Health and Human Services, and we call on her to
do the right thing."
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