Pubdate: Thu, 10 Oct 2002 Source: San Jose Mercury News (CA) Copyright: 2002 San Jose Mercury News Contact: http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/390 Author: Dan Reed Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?115 (Cannabis - California) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal) MEDICINAL POT USERS RENEW LEGAL CHALLENGE Regrouped and armed with new tactics, two Bay Area attorneys today again sued the United States government over its campaign to quash the use of medical marijuana, now legal in eight states, including California. Lawyers Robert Raich and David Michael, flanked by their clients, two pot users who say the weed eases their serious ailments, told reporters in Oakland, Calif., that they'd defined constitutional issues that will help them prevail where their last lawsuit failed. That complaint journeyed all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court before being denied last year. In that suit, the court ruled in May 2001 that the Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative had no right to sell pot to the ill, even though such sales are legal with a doctor's recommendation under California's medical marijuana law, approved by voters in 1996. Seven more states followed with similar laws. But the Supreme Court concluded federal law supersedes. Even so, Justice Clarence Thomas wrote that some constitutional issues remained unresolved, such as the federal government's right to interfere with intrastate commerce and a citizen's right to use marijuana to relieve pain. It's those crevices in the decision that Raich and Michael are now trying to exploit. This time, no complicating factors, such as distribution of marijuana by a cannabis club, are clouding ``over the pure issues that we are presenting here,'' Michael said. ``This case is clean.'' In part, their arguments will remind people of their civics lessons in federalism, the distribution of power between the federal and state governments. For example, the attorneys contend that the federal government's meddling in pot sales that never cross state lines is a violation of the commerce clause of the U.S. Constitution. The suit, filed against Attorney General John Ashcroft and Asa Hutchinson, the chief of the Drug Enforcement Administration, charges that the continued attacks on medical marijuana users and suppliers also violate the Fifth, Ninth and 10th Amendments. It asks the court to stop the government from enforcing the federal marijuana laws against the plaintiffs -- Diane Monson and Angel McClary Raich (who married her attorney two months ago) and two John Does, listed anonymously because they're McClary's pot providers. Monson grows her own, but Butte County Sheriff's deputies and DEA agents ripped up her six plants in August, she said. In addition to federalism and the commerce clause, the attorneys are arguing a constitutional right to preserve and prolong one's life and a common-law doctrine of medical necessity. The San Francisco U.S. Attorney's and DEA offices declined to comment on the case, their typical policy on pending litigation. Richard Meyer, a special agent for the DEA, said his agency supports scientific research into the potential benefits of marijuana, but for now sees it as addictive and harmful. ``It is a dangerous drug,'' he said today. `It has no recognized medical use and a high potential for abuse.'' He'll never convince Monson and McClary of that. Monson said it's the only thing that effectively helps her chronic back pain. Prescription drugs, she said, just make her drowsy. Neither patient gets much of a buzz off the weed, possibly because they have to use it so regularly -- every two hours for McClary. McClary offered a list of ailments worthy of a medical textbook: inoperable brain tumor, seizures, endometriosis, scoliosis and a wasting disorder. She weighs only 97 pounds and said without pot she'd starve to death. Both declared they'd continue to light up, no matter what the government says. ``I'm not willing to give up my life,'' McClary said. - --- MAP posted-by: Doc-Hawk