Hector Cisneros tried to stop gunfire from breaking out Monday night between his neighbors and two alleged drug dealers, police said. That - and simply having the living-room light on as the family watched television - may have led suspects Jesus Barthelemy and Manuel Labore Espinoza to mistakenly target the Cisneros' Southwest Albuquerque home and send a string of 9mm gunfire into the living room, police said. The construction worker's toddler daughter was killed in front of his eyes. His wife and 13-year-old daughter were wounded. [continues 1234 words]
The U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision regarding medical cannabis didn't change anything. It did, however, reveal the nine most powerful public policy manipulators in the world for the pandering dishonest conscienceless politicians they are. While contemplating that characterization and what follows, consider this. The U.S. Supreme Court also once said that runaway slaves had to be returned to their owners, and that U.S. citizens of Japanese ancestry could be legally deprived of property and sent to concentration camps. [continues 859 words]
The U.S. Supreme Court's Recent Ruling Against The Use Of Medical Marijuana Ignores The Reality That It Works At Restoring Health And Relieving Pain - The High Court's Decision Also Overlooks The Fact Most Californians Believe It Should Be Legalized For Those Purposes Brian smokes pot every day. Sometimes just once, but on his worst days, when he feels particularly depressed, anxious and in pain, he may toke up three times throughout the day. Today, 36-year-old Brian is in so much pain that he rarely leaves his South Pasadena home. In healthier times, Brian occasionally smoked pot for pleasure, but not anymore. Brian remembers experimenting with marijuana for fun in his 20s, and then discovering that it relieved the pain he suffered in his back as the result of an injury. [continues 3409 words]
Can't attend our New Mexico conference in person this week? Still want to participate in the most significant gathering to date of people opposed to the war on drugs? The good news is you can! We will broadcast select portions of the conference live over the Internet on Thursday and Friday. So visit http://www.drugpolicy.org/conference Thursday and Friday to participate online! Here is the live broadcast schedule: [Please Note: All times are for Mountain Time Zone] * Thursday, May 31, 2001 * [continues 487 words]
A U.S. Supreme Court decision that maintains the status quo of marijuana law has nevertheless netted an immediate and significant effect - the county's two medical cannabis centers have closed in response. That's because the unanimous high court ruling that came down Monday, May 14 sets a legal precedent for applying Federal law to medical marijuana distribution. The Federal Controlled Substances Act bars all cultivation and distribution of marijuana, and puts cannabis in the same category as heroin, PCP and LSD - it's defined as a dangerous drug with high potential for abuse and no medical value. [continues 3056 words]
From a legal standpoint, the U.S. Supreme Court's decision last week denying the Oakland Cannabis Buyers Cooperative a "medical necessity" defense for certain patients against federal laws prohibiting the manufacture and distribution of cannabis didn't change anything. Before the ruling, federal authorities treated the federal law as enforcing strict prohibition with no exceptions. California authorities, meanwhile, were sworn to uphold California law, which specifies that laws against possession, use and cultivation of cannabis or marijuana shall not apply to patients with a recommendation from a licensed physician. After the ruling, the legal situation at both the federal and state levels remains substantially the same. [continues 635 words]
(U-WIRE) BERKELEY, Calif. -- With this week's U.S. Supreme Court ruling barring distribution of medical marijuana, Berkeley officials are wondering what to do with the city's new policies regarding the drug. The unanimous decision in the federal government's case against the Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative affirms that marijuana growers and distributors are subject to federal prosecution even though state law allows the drug to be handed out for medical reasons. Berkeley Mayor Shirley Dean, who was surprised by the court's opinion, said the city will have to wait and see what the practical effects of the ruling are. [continues 566 words]
The future of medical marijuana suddenly grew more cloudy Monday, May 14, as proponents sought to interpret the U.S. Supreme Court's unanimous decision disallowing a medical defense for seriously ill patients who use the drug for health reasons. At a press conference on Monday following the 8-0 Supreme Court decision against clubs that provide medical cannabis, Robert Raich, attorney for the Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative said, "We are saddened and disappointed that the Supreme Court ruled against providing medicine to seriously ill and dying patients." [continues 579 words]
The U.S. Supreme Court threw compassion and the pleas of patients to the wind when it ruled by the letter of the law and against the medical use of marijuana. In its 8-0 unanimous decision issued Monday, May 14, the court found that "for the purposes of the Controlled Substances Act, marijuana has no currently accepted medical use at all." "Congress has made a determination that marijuana has no medical benefits worthy of an exception," wrote Justice Clarence Thomas in the majority opinion that denied use of a medical necessity defense when prosecuted. He was joined by four other justices who are held to be the more conservative members of the court. [continues 435 words]
Justices Say U.S. Drug Law Rules Out Exceptions WASHINGTON -- In a setback for proponents of medical marijuana, the Supreme Court ruled Monday that federal law prohibits clubs that secure and distribute the drug to gravely ill patients on a doctor's advice, even if the practice is allowed by individual states. Though the 8-0 ruling disappointed supporters of so-called cannabis clubs, the decision was not the last word on the issue. The ruling does not automatically spike ballot initiatives passed by voters in California and seven other states allowing individuals to possess and cultivate marijuana for medical purposes on a physician's recommendation. [continues 889 words]
In a setback for proponents of medical marijuana, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday there can be no exception to the federal law prohibiting use of the drug. The 8-0 decision upholds an injunction against the Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative that prohibits the not-for-profit group from distributing marijuana. Though Department of Justice officials refused to comment on enforcement issues, the ruling raises the possibility that similar clubs could be closed down. Still, the ruling is a narrow one, with the Supreme Court only saying the clients' need for the drug is not a defense. [continues 681 words]
Justices Bar Sale Of Pot For Medicinal Purposes Angel McClary could not bear for her children to watch her deteriorate. So McClary, who suffers from an inoperable brain tumor, anorexia and a seizure disorder, began using pot in 1998. And the 35-year-old Oakland mother of two said she has no intention of stopping now, despite a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that makes it impossible to provide medicinal marijuana to seriously ill patients without violating federal drug laws. McClary minced no words denouncing the decision, saying she won't be a martyr. "I'm not willing to die; I'm not going to stand for it," said an emotional McClary, adding that the Supreme Court had "American human blood on their hands." [continues 771 words]
Will the Supreme Court's ostrich-like ruling shut down the medical marijuana movement? Monday's Supreme Court decision against medical marijuana made one thing crystal clear. At every level -- executive, legislative and judicial -- the U.S. government remains steadfast in its opposition to the demon weed. Even if it's being smoked by bald old ladies in wheelchairs. Law enforcement officials, advocates and analysts disagree about the possible impact of the court's 8-0 decision that a federal law classifying marijuana as an illegal drug makes no exception for ill patients. [continues 2246 words]
OAKLAND -- Medical marijuana users said Monday that they fear the Supreme Court's ruling barring local clubs from dispensing the drug would force seriously ill people to take desperate measures to obtain the only substance that relieves their symptoms. Legal experts, however, said the court's decision was a narrow one that prohibits marijuana distribution but will not prevent tens of thousands of sick people from smoking pot legally under a California law enacted in 1996. "When a family member has to go out on the street and get medicine for a patient, that's wrong," said Angel McClary, who suffers from inoperable brain cancer. "We should be able to have safe, affordable access. We shouldn't have to be dealing with the criminal element. And that's what this decision has reduced us to." [continues 529 words]
OAKLAND, Calif. - Yvonne Westbrook recalls when getting relief from the symptoms of multiple sclerosis meant venturing into seedy parks to buy bags of marijuana from drug dealers. So she worries that the U.S. Supreme Court's unanimous ruling Monday could mean a return of those days. "Now they've opened us up to the street and all the perils involved," she said. The high court said there is no exception in federal anti-drug laws for patients to use marijuana to ease their pain from cancer, AIDS or other illnesses. [continues 600 words]
Unanimous Ruling Clouds Future Of Cannabis Programs The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday made it impossible to provide medicinal marijuana to seriously ill patients without running afoul of federal drug laws, issuing a broad ruling that jeopardizes the future of medicinal pot programs in California and other states. In an 8-0 opinion, the justices rejected a federal appeals court's earlier decision that carved out a "medical necessity" exception to the nation's drug laws. Although the legal battle over medicinal marijuana is far from over, the Supreme Court took a strict view of the 1970 Controlled Substances Act, the federal law forbidding the possession or sale of marijuana and a host of other drugs. But three of the justices warned that the ruling went too far because it would bar seriously ill patients from possessing marijuana and pose a threat to states that have legalized possession for the sick and dying. [continues 847 words]
The U.S. Supreme Court delivered a blow to the nation's medicinal marijuana movement yesterday, ruling that a federal anti-drug law makes no exception for seriously ill patients in California who use pot for health reasons. The 8-to-0 ruling means that federal authorities can shut down Oakland's Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative as well as 20 other centers around the state that have been distributing marijuana. The centers have been in operation since California became the first state in the nation to legalize the medicinal use of marijuana when voters passed Proposition 215 in 1996. [continues 843 words]
U.S. High Court Rules, 8-0, That Clubs Violate Federal Drug Laws The U.S. Supreme Court delivered a major blow today to the medical marijuana movement in the Bay Area and elsewhere by unanimously declaring federal anti-pot laws make no exceptions for ill people using the weed to ease the symptoms of catastrophic illnesses. Its immediate effect is to bar the Oakland Cannabis Buying Cooperative from resuming distribution, but the 8-0 ruling also could influence a pending California Supreme Court ruling on whether Proposition 215 provides immunity from criminal penalties for medicinal pot use. It could derail similar medical marijuana laws in several other states. [continues 1015 words]
SAN FRANCISCO, May 14 -- For supporters of medical marijuana, today's unanimous United States Supreme Court ruling upholding a federal law banning the distribution of marijuana for any reason was a major blow, especially coming at a time when national polls show a growing acceptance of the drug for the sick and dying. But the ruling also made clear, advocates of marijuana for seriously ill patients said, that Congress could change the laws that ban the drug. "This decision does not render medical marijuana laws moot," said Bill Zimmerman, the director of Americans for Medical Rights, an organization in Santa Monica, Calif., that has sponsored eight successful state medical marijuana initiatives. [continues 738 words]
Federal Law Trumps States The U.S. Supreme Court handed a major defeat to medical marijuana users Monday, ruling 8-0 that federal law prohibits organizations from growing and distributing the weed. The ruling, written by Justice Clarence Thomas, stated that medical organizations are barred from giving marijuana to seriously ill patients because federal law provides no exception for "medical necessity" and science fails to define marijuana as a medication. Jeff Jones, head of the Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative in California, called the ruling "heavy handed and misguided." [continues 751 words]
Medical Necessity Is Not A Defense Against Federal Charges, Ruling States. WASHINGTON -- A unanimous Supreme Court Monday thwarted California's ailing marijuana users, ruling that medical necessity offers no defense to federal prosecution. The closely watched ruling leaves intact California's Proposition 215, which permits medical marijuana use under state law. But the 8-0 ruling also leaves those same users vulnerable to potential -- if relatively rare - -- federal legal action. "We need only recognize that a medical necessity exception for marijuana is at odds with the terms of the Controlled Substances Act," Justice Clarence Thomas wrote for the court. [continues 598 words]
Oakland Medicinal Club Calls Ruling 'heavy-handed' Patients' medical needs aren't reason enough for the Oakland Cannabis Buyers Cooperative to violate the federal ban on marijuana, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday, leaving medical marijuana advocates disappointed but determined to struggle on. The 8-0 ruling in the high court's first-ever medical marijuana case said Congress' placement of marijuana on the Controlled Substance Act's list of most-restricted drugs is unequivocal -- lawmakers believe it has no medical use, with no exceptions. [continues 1032 words]
California medical marijuana proponents vowed on Monday to fight on for what they call ``a life-saving drug'' after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that federal law prohibited its distribution to seriously ill patients. ``The justices have shown no compassion,'' said Angel McClary, a 35-year-old Oakland, Calif. mother-of-two who uses marijuana to treat a variety of ailments including a brain tumor, seizures and partial paralysis. ``We are victims of the drug war, so why haven't we been taken off the battlefield? We are entitled to live our lives without pain.'' [continues 595 words]
Amtrak has pulled the plug on a controversial computer that gave the Albuquerque office of the Drug Enforcement Administration direct access to the train's ticketing system. However, Amtrak police said this week they will continue to provide information they glean from the ticketing system to other police agencies across the United States to help catch train-riding drug couriers. Amtrak police also will continue to receive a portion of the assets that drug agents seize off trains around the nation. [continues 750 words]
Ever think it'd be fun, spur of the moment, to hop aboard an Amtrak and just head south or north or any old place on the route -- you know, see where 40 bucks will take you? Stop thinking. While Ozzy Osbourne may be going off the rails on a crazy train, the DEA and Amtrak are just getting aboard. "Amtrak is providing federal drug police in Albuquerque with ticketing information about passengers," writes Jeff Jones in the April 11 Albuquerque Journal, "and Amtrak police get 10 percent of any cash seized from suspected drug couriers at the Downtown station." [continues 1491 words]
Amtrak is providing federal drug police in Albuquerque with ticketing information about passengers - and Amtrak police get 10 percent of any cash seized from suspected drug couriers at the Downtown station. As part of what officials describe as a one-of-a-kind arrangement, a computer with access to Amtrak's ticketing information sits on a desk in the Drug Enforcement Administration's local office. It can provide drug agents with information such as passengers' last names, where they're coming from, where they're headed, whether they paid for their tickets with cash or credit and when they bought their tickets. [continues 1224 words]
Wanna know how important cannabis crusader Jack Herer is to the pro-marijuana movement? There's actually a strain of pot which bears his name. Forget the NORML (National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws) plaques, the High Times accolades, the international notoriety - if you're in the decriminalization movement, there is simply no greater honor than to have some kid in Arcata selling pot and referring to it in your name. You may not have ever heard of Herer (rhymes with terror), but in underground culture, this bearded old man is an icon. Beginning with the comic zine Grass, which he published in the '70s, on through to his classic 1985 anti-drug war epic The Emperor Wears No Clothes, Herer has transformed himself from a flag-waving veteran who supported the Vietnam War to the single most important voice in the fight to decriminalize marijuana and its non-intoxicating twin, hemp. [continues 601 words]
Grandma's going to the pen. Vickie "Grandma" Epperson, a 73-year-old Albuquerque woman, made her way into a state District Courtroom with the help of a walker Wednesday afternoon and pleaded no contest to trafficking heroin. "I can't hear too good," the small woman in the floral-print dress and black sweater told Judge James F. Blackmer during the hearing. But she said she understood exactly what was taking place. It's the second heroin trafficking conviction for Epperson. Her first conviction took place while she was in her late 60s. [continues 578 words]
It's TALK OF THE NATION. I'm Juan Williams. The Supreme Court takes up the politically charged issue of medical marijuana tomorrow, Wednesday. The case is called United States vs. Oakland Cannabis Buyers Cooperative. In 1996, California voters passed Proposition 215, which legalized the use of medical marijuana. The law allowed people who were sick or dying to use marijuana if a doctor recommended it. Supporters say that marijuana helps to ease nausea in AIDS and cancer patients. They also claim that marijuana increases appetite and can ease pain. [continues 8653 words]
The Cato Institute in Washington sponsored a panel discussion on medical marijuana that bears directly on Wednesday's hearing by the U.S. Supreme Court of a major case dealing with the controversial treatment. The libertarian think tank's forum, "The Law and Politics of Medical Marijuana," featured Alan Bock, author of "Waiting to Inhale: The Politics of Medical Marijuana." Bock is an editorial writer at the Orange County (Calif.) Register. Also participating was Kevin Zeese, president of the Washington-based Common Sense for Drug Policy, a pro-decriminalization advocacy group. [continues 889 words]
00-0151 Appealed From: 9th Circuit Court of Appeals Oral Argument: March 28, 2001 SUBJECT Medical necessity, marijuana Question(s) presented: Whether the Controlled Substances Act, U.S.C. 801 et seq., forecloses a medical necessity defense to the Act's prohibition against manufacturing and distributing marijuana, a Schedule I controlled substance. As a teenager, Jeff Jones watched as his father grew sicker and sicker. Wayne Jones underwent the typical cancer treatment -- chemotherapy, prescription drugs, radiation -- and he suffered from the typical side effects -- weakness, nausea, weight loss. If the conservative, Christian family from South Dakota had known in 1988 about the medicinal benefits of marijuana, they just may have tried it. [continues 952 words]
Walking inside the Oakland Cannabis Buyers Cooperative, in a rather nondescript part of Oakland's downtown district, visitors can quickly become distracted by the colorful hemp clothing and -- no kidding -- hemp lip gloss. Well-lit and brightly decorated, it's easy to miss signs of the cooperative's true business: the just-as-colorful smoking apparatus tucked into a corner. Welcome to the front lines of the medical marijuana movement, which faces its strongest legal test this week since the overwhelming passage of Proposition 215 four years ago. On Wednesday, attorneys will face off before the U.S. Supreme Court, trying to somehow reconcile a federal law that deems marijuana illegal with a California law that allows it for sick people. [continues 881 words]
A dozen times per day, Mizner Park stockbroker Irvin Rosenfeld retrieves a clear, sealed plastic bag from his suit, pulls out a fat marijuana joint and openly lights up in his car or on the stair landing outside of his office. No one has called the police yet and no one is going to. That's because Rosenfeld, 48, is one of eight people in the country legally allowed to smoke pot -- supplied by the federal government under a program begun in 1982 -- for their medical conditions. [continues 308 words]
OAKLAND, Calif. - For the nation's budding medicinal-marijuana movement, ground zero is now a small storefront operation in downtown Oakland that has managed to thumb its nose at the powers of the federal government for years. Inside, T-shirts hawking hemp are for sale, as are pipes and other paraphernalia used for smoking pot. Most visitors head to the back of the store, hoping to register for the right to possess marijuana for the sole purpose of easing the pain of a serious or even terminal medical affliction. It is a modest refuge for a movement under siege. [continues 731 words]
Oakland Business At Center Of Medicinal Marijuana Fight For the nation's budding medicinal marijuana movement, ground zero is now a small storefront operation in downtown Oakland that has managed to thumb its nose at the powers of the federal government for several years. Inside, T-shirts hawking hemp are for sale, as are pipes and other paraphernalia used for smoking pot. Most visitors head to the back of the store, hoping to register for the right to possess marijuana for the sole purpose of easing the pain of a serious or even terminal medical affliction. It is a modest refuge for a movement under siege. [continues 1269 words]
Supreme Court Weighs Drug Law - Medical Marijuana Puts States On The Front Line Of Federal War SAN FRANCISCO - It was Friday afternoon, his work was done, and Keith Vines had made his decision. The former Air Force captain turned prosecutor, who had prided himself on being a foot soldier in his country's war on drugs, was leaving his office and heading downtown to score some pot. "It was . . . awkward," he said, recalling the day in 1993 that he walked into a quasi-legal cannabis club holding a note from his doctor and walked out clutching a baggie of marijuana. [continues 1825 words]
A few years ago, an author writing about death asked ailing AIDS patient Michael Alcalay how he was accepting dying. ``I'm not accepting it,'' Alcalay retorted. Today, he's alive to tell that story thanks in part, he believes, to judicious doses of marijuana, the unorthodox medical approach endorsed by California's Proposition 215. On March 28, Alcalay will be in the audience as lawyers try to convince the Supreme Court that federal drug bans shouldn't come between patients and the marijuana that may be the only thing that can help their medical problems. [continues 640 words]
Medical Marijuana Puts States On The Front Line Of Federal War SAN FRANCISCO -- It was Friday afternoon, his work was done, and Keith Vines had made his decision. The former Air Force captain turned prosecutor, who had prided himself on being a foot soldier in his country's war on drugs, was leaving his office and heading downtown to score some pot. "It was ... awkward," he said, recalling the day in 1993 that he walked into a quasi-legal cannabis club holding a note from his doctor and walked out clutching a baggie of marijuana. [continues 1826 words]
Albuquerque police and prosecutors are hoping the state Legislature, in its waning hours, will push through a bill boosting the potential prison time for those caught dealing methamphetamine. They're also hoping the governor would give the final OK to such a bill. Gov. Gary Johnson has been behind several drug reform bills this session that would, among other things, decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana and make first and second drug-possession offenses misdemeanors instead of felonies. But Johnson's top law-enforcement officer, state Department of Public Safety head Nick Bakas, said Friday that he and Johnson both believe using drugs and dealing them are two very different issues. [continues 504 words]
High Court To Hear Oaklanders' View The Oakland Cannabis Buyers Cooperative will make history this spring by arguing to the U.S. Supreme Court that medical necessity for marijuana use should provide an exception to federal drug laws. Meanwhile, Paula Beal isn't interested in making history -- she just wants to run her own medical marijuana clinic in a small storefront just off East 14th Street. She intends to start taking clients early in 2001. While the spotlight follows OCBC's battle to the nation's highest court, others -- like Beal -- quietly are creating pot clubs of their own. [continues 1263 words]
The nation's nine justices will consider whether the drug should be available to critically ill patients, as an Oakland co-op contends. Granting the federal government's request that could decide the fate of an Oakland marijuana club, U.S. Supreme Court justices agreed Monday to review whether cannabis should be legalized for the critically ill. The decision was the latest victory for government lawyers, who have wrestled with marijuana advocates for nearly three years in federal courtrooms since the passage of California's Proposition 215. [continues 873 words]
SAN FRANCISCO -- Cancer is eating away at Creighton Frost. His lymph glands, thyroid, larynx and many of the muscles on his right side have been removed. Marijuana, he says, is his only comfort. Frost used to get the drug from the Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative, a city-sanctioned club that openly challenged the federal government -- but conformed to California law -- by offering marijuana to people with a doctor's recommendation. "I'm dying and falling apart a little bit at a time," Frost said. "I want some way to not have such a miserable death." [continues 350 words]
The U.S. Supreme Court will decide whether the Oakland Cannabis Buyers Cooperative can use medical necessity as a defense against the federal ban on marijuana's use. This will be the first time the nation's highest court has addressed medical marijuana. The Oakland cooperative would have preferred it if the court had rejected the case -- as it stands now, lower courts have let the club distribute marijuana to seriously ill patients. The Justice Department sought this final appeal, but would not comment when it was granted Monday. [continues 523 words]
Stepping into a national debate, the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday agreed to consider a case out of California that might resolve whether marijuana can be dispensed legally as medicine in the growing number of states that have approved such use in the face of federal laws that prohibit drug-trafficking. Responding to a request from the Clinton administration, the justices agreed to review an earlier federal appeals court ruling that carved out a ``medical necessity'' exception to federal laws that make it a crime to distribute marijuana. The high court thus decided to step into a two-year legal standoff between the U.S. Justice Department and backers of California's Proposition 215, approved by voters in 1996, which authorized the use of medicinal pot. [continues 1178 words]
Ruling To Decide If State Laws Can Survive A Federal Prohibition In agreeing to review a medical-marijuana case from Oakland, the U.S. Supreme Court has put itself in a position to decide how far states can go in making otherwise illegal drugs available to their residents for health reasons. The court granted a hearing yesterday to the Clinton administration, which argued that federal drug laws would be undermined by a lower court ruling last year in favor of the Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative. [continues 932 words]
SAN FRANCISCO (AP)--Cancer is eating away at Creighton Frost. His lymph glands, thyroid, larynx and many of the muscles on his right side have been removed. Marijuana, he says, is his only comfort. Frost used to get the drug from the Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative, a city-sanctioned club that openly challenged the federal government - but conformed to California law - by offering marijuana to people with a doctor's recommendation. ''I'm dying and falling apart a little bit at a time. I want some way to not have such a miserable death,'' Frost said. [continues 370 words]
Decision Will Affect Seriously Ill Patients The Supreme Court jumped into the battle over medical marijuana in California and other states Monday, agreeing to decide whether seriously ill patients and their suppliers can be exempted from federal drug laws. The justices agreed to review the Clinton administration's appeal of an unprecedented lower-court ruling last year that allowed the Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative to distribute marijuana to patients who showed a medical necessity. Justice Department lawyers argued that allowing an exemption would flout federal drug laws and defy Congress' determination that marijuana has no currently accepted medical use. [continues 745 words]
Cancer is eating away at Creighton Frost. His lymph glands, thyroid, larynx and much of the muscles on the right side of his body have been removed. Marijuana, he says, is his only comfort. Frost used to get the drug from the Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative, a city-sanctioned club that openly challenges the federal government - but conforms to California law - by offering marijuana to people with a doctor's recommendation. The U.S. Supreme Court decided Monday to review whether the club, and perhaps others in states that also have medical marijuana laws, can distribute the drug. [continues 581 words]
