cannabisnews.com: Judge Dismisses Medical Pot Suit Judge Dismisses Medical Pot Suit Posted by FoM on December 03, 1999 at 20:56:46 PT Associated Press Source: Newsday.com A federal judge has dismissed a class-action lawsuit brought by 165 people who sought to extend a government program allowing people to use marijuana for medical purposes. U.S. District Judge Marvin Katz ruled that the government acted properly when it ended its ``compassionate use'' program in 1992. The program, begun in 1970, had allowed certain people to use marijuana for medical reasons, but has slowly been phased out.Only 8 patients nationwide, some of whom have cancer and glaucoma, still receive marijuana under the program.The plaintiffs sought the freedom to use marijuana ``without control or interference'' by the government.``If the government allows eight people to get it, then all people who need it should be able to get it,'' their attorney, Lawrence Hirsch, had argued at a hearing.Katz ruled Wednesday that although it seems odd for the government to be giving out marijuana, even to a few people, it was acceptable to phase out the program gradually. Those involved in the program before 1992 should retain the right to use the drug until their deaths, he said.Published: December 3, 1999Copyright © Associated Press. Related Article:Peoples Class Action for Therapeutic Cannabis - 11/29/99http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread3819.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #6 posted by Jeaneous on December 04, 1999 at 14:51:04 PT: Art's Letter This is the letter I received from Art today. I certainly hope that there will be appeals filed in the action. I think this is what needs to continue to make the federal government take a stand... in favor.. ate: Sat, 04 Dec 1999 12:24:01 -0600From: Arthur Sobey Reply-To: asobey ncfcomm.comX-Mailer: Mozilla 3.0 (Win95; U)To: asobey ncfcomm.comSubject: Ambushed!Hang loose folks.Larry will have an explanation of what happened in Judge Katz's court,as well as where we go from here, out very soon. Don't push the panic button just yet folks, the fat lady hasn't evenbegun to sing.Art Sobey--Pubdate: Fri, 03 Dec 1999Source: Associated PressCopyright: 1999 Associated PressJUDGE DISMISSES MEDICAL POT SUITA federal judge has dismissed a class-action lawsuit brought by 165people who sought to extend a government program allowing people to usemarijuana for medical purposes.U.S. District Judge Marvin Katz ruled that the government acted properlywhen it ended its ``compassionate use'' program in 1992. The program,begun in 1970, had allowed certain people to use marijuana for medicalreasons, but has slowly been phased out. Only 8 patients nationwide,some of whom have cancer and glaucoma, still receive marijuana under theprogram.The plaintiffs sought the freedom to use marijuana ``without control orinterference'' by the government.``If the government allows eight people to get it, then all people whoneed it should be able to get it,'' their attorney, Lawrence Hirsch, hadargued at a hearing.Katz ruled Wednesday that although it seems odd for the government to begiving out marijuana, even to a few people, it was acceptable to phaseout the program gradually. Those involved in the program before 1992should retain the right to use the drug until their deaths, he said. [ Post Comment ] Comment #5 posted by Pat on December 04, 1999 at 14:34:00 PT Re: Power Hungry Control Freaks (Class Action...) Hi Folks,I've got several emails on this topic from Art Sobel (sp?) [who is the Media Communications Director for this project] and from other folks who are involved in it, too.Art says ~"it ain't over until the fat lady sings" and that he'll pass along more news when he gets it.I was going to copy and paste Art's last EM to me here, but in our new computer setup, the copy and paste function doesn't seem to be working in our AOL 5 browser. (The MSIE browser's C & P function probably works, but I don't want to use that browser now.)Thanks for all your good efforts, FoM et. al.Pat [ Post Comment ] Comment #4 posted by FoM on December 04, 1999 at 11:54:20 PT I Think! I think that when our government saw the increase in AIDS they stopped the program because they knew the demand would become high for marijuana and most people that are familiar with the AIDS epidemic knows it took the general blood supply being infected before they made it an issue. Got to keep down the undesirables. That's the way I see! [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by kaptinemo on December 04, 1999 at 10:38:46 PT "Special classes of citizenship" Forgive me, but I don't have a copy of the Constitution handy. But I do recall something about it being illegal to create a special class of citizenship based upon the extension of rights to one group and the denial of the same rights to another. I think this is an excellant example oif exactly what has been happening for the last 20+ years with this program. The benefits of cannabis usage in the case of those who are lifetime recipients of government pot is rather obvious; they are alive. Many of those who have not had such benificence showered upon them are dead. How plain does it have to be? [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by Doctor Dave on December 04, 1999 at 10:30:27 PT What the #^% !? Did Katz have anything to say about the persecution and criminalization of the patients in the lawsuit? Even if the government won't give them free pot, should the government at least give them protections from the insane pot laws?!Doctor Dave"A nation that makes war on huge numbers of its own people can never truly be free." [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by Frank S. World on December 03, 1999 at 22:08:24 PT: Who got to Judge Katz? It's very hard to refrain from using profanity after reading this! What happened to the eminent jurist who said, "How would people feel if only 8 people had access to morphine?""It was acceptable to phase out the program gradually"? Where are the honest impartial judges? Has the drug war taken every last one? The Drug Policy Forum of Wisconsin [ Post Comment ] Post Comment Name: Optional Password: E-Mail: Subject: Comment: [Please refrain from using profanity in your message] Link URL: Link Title: