Pubdate: Mon, 07 Jul 2003
Source: Kansas City Star (MO)
Copyright: 2003 The Kansas City Star
Contact:  http://www.kcstar.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/221
Author: Rachel Konrad
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/wamm (WAMM)

MEDICAL MARIJUANA BACKERS: RAID ILLEGAL

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) - A Drug Enforcement Administration raid on a farm 
that cultivated pot for ailing patients was both illegal and immoral, 
medical marijuana supporters argued at the start of a federal trial Monday.

The trial comes three months after the city and county of Santa Cruz sued 
the federal government over the raid, demanding that agents stay away from 
a farm that grows marijuana on a quiet coastal road about 15 miles north of 
the city. In September, agents uprooted about 165 plants and arrested the 
owners of the Wo/Men's Alliance for Medical Marijuana.

The lawsuit claims that seven patients have had their marijuana intake 
substantially decreased since the raid, and that the farm has been unable 
to provide members with necessary medicine to relieve nausea, pain and 
other chronic conditions.

This has caused an "insurmountable" level of pain and suffering and 
hastened the deaths of the most vulnerable patients, lawyers said.

"We are not asserting the right to market marijuana, but to cultivate and 
use it to prolong life and give comfort to the dying," said Santa Clara 
University law professor Gerald Uelmen, who represents about 200 
chronically and terminally ill people. "We are asserting the fundamental 
rights of patients ... so they can meet their death without agony and 
suffering."

The case pits state rules on medical marijuana against federal laws 
declaring it an illegal drug, and it marks the first time a public entity 
has sued the federal government on behalf of patients who need medical 
marijuana.

Marijuana is illegal under federal law. State law in California and seven 
other states allows marijuana to be grown and distributed to people with a 
doctor's recommendation.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in May 2002 that people charged with violating 
federal drug laws cannot use medical necessity as their defense. But Uelmen 
said the justices left open whether states could legalize medical marijuana 
under the 10th Amendment, which grants states powers not exercised by the 
federal government, or under the 14th Amendment's right to due process.

The case also hinges in part on whether the U.S. Constitution's commerce 
clause applies to the California farm. The clause gives Congress power to 
regulate trade between states.

Justice Department lawyer Mark Quinlivan said that any type of drug trade 
was an interstate issue, emphasizing that only the U.S. Food and Drug 
Administration can conduct experiments using illegal drugs.

"There isn't anyone here who doesn't have a friend or relative in ... dire 
straits," Quinlivan told a courtroom packed with people in wheelchairs or 
suffering from epilepsy, post-polio syndrome and terminal cancer. But, he 
said, "the FDA drug approval process has served this country well over the 
years."

U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel promised to review hundreds of pages of 
evidence, and is expected to issue a ruling later this summer.
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