cannabisnews.com: Federal Judge Clears Way for Oakland Club





Federal Judge Clears Way for Oakland Club
Posted by FoM on July 17, 2000 at 15:46:48 PT
By Christine Hanley, Associated Press Writer
Source: SF Gate
A federal judge has cleared the way for an Oakland club to distribute marijuana for medicinal purposes, saying the government hasn't proven why seriously ill patients should be denied the drug. The groundbreaking decision will allow the Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative to provide cannabis to members who face imminent harm from a serious medical condition and have found that legal alternatives to marijuana don't work or cause intolerable side effects. 
``We believe this is the tip of the iceberg,'' said John Entwhistle, a spokesman for Californians for Compassionate Use, the lobbying group that wrote the state's medical marijuana initiative, known as Proposition 215. ``We think at least the feds are starting to recognize the strength and reality of the medical necessity of using marijuana as medicine, at least for certain conditions.'' Justice Department spokeswoman Gretchen Michael said officials were reviewing the decision by U.S. District Court Charles R. Breyer. She had no further comment. Breyer hinted during a hearing Friday that he would modify an injunction he issued in 1998, noting that the U.S. 9th District Court of Appeal ordered him to consider an exemption for patients who face imminent harm and have no effective legal alternative to marijuana. The appellate court, in its September ruling, found the government had failed to rebut evidence that cannabis is the only effective treatment for a large group of seriously ill patients. So in lieu of any new arguments showing why it would not be in the public's interest to exempt some patients from federal narcotics laws, Breyer said he had little other choice. ``The government continues to press arguments which the 9th Circuit rejected, including the argument that the court must find that enjoining the distribution of cannabis to seriously ill individuals is in the public interest because Congress has prohibited such conduct in favor of the administrative process regulating the approval and distribution of drugs. ``As a result of the government's failure to offer any new evidence in opposition to defendants' motion, and in light of the 9th Circuit's opinion, the court must conclude that modifying the injunction as requested is in the public interest and exercise its equitable discretion to do so,'' Breyer wrote. Specifically, club members receiving medical marijuana must meet the following criteria: --Suffer from a serious medical condition --Face ``imminent harm'' if they do not have access to cannabis. --Need cannabis for treatment of a medical condition or to alleviate symptoms associated with a condition. --Have no reasonable legal alternative to cannabis for the effective treatment or alleviation of a medical condition or symptoms. The victory for the Oakland club is only the latest development in a years-old conflict between federal narcotics regulations and Proposition 215, which has been tangled up in court since California voters approved it in 1996. The state initiative allows seriously ill patients to grow and use marijuana for pain relief, with a doctor's recommendation, without being prosecuted under state law. But federal law says marijuana has no medical purpose and cannot be administered safely under medical supervision. The Justice Department initially sued the Oakland club and five others in Northern California to try and shut them down. Breyer's modification partially exempts the Oakland club -- the only one to appeal -- from his injunction that shut them down. Measures similar to the California's initiative have passed in Alaska, Arizona, Hawaii, Maine, Nevada, Oregon and Washington state, and Entwhistle said Breyer's ruling is the latest sign that the federal government's position is weakening. ``They used to be the wolf at the door. But now they've been pushed away,'' he said, adding that his group expects the issue to be ultimately decided by the U.S. Supreme Court. ``This is the beginning of something very big. It recognizes something we knew all along,'' he said. ``We believe the Supreme Court justices, and anybody in federal court, will see the truth behind the use of marijuana. This drug saves lives.'' In Oakland, the news was met with equal optimism at the Cannabis Club. ``It's an historic day,'' said Jeffrey Jones, the owner and lead defendant in the lawsuit. ``For the first time in our nation's history, the Controlled Substance Act ... has been pierced in a way that allows a controlled substance to be given out in a federally exempt way.'' Monday, July 17, 2000 San Francisco (AP) ©2000 Associated Press  Related Articles & Web Sites:Oakland Cannabis Buyer's Cooperativehttp://www.rxcbc.org/index.htmlCCUA Chronology of Implementation http://drugsense.org/CCUA/chrono.htmlMMJ Backers Say California Law Needs Tightening http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread6421.shtmlMedical Pot Ban Liftedhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread6407.shtmlMed. Pot Ruling May Have Far-Reaching Implicationshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread6402.shtmlJudge Hints He Will Modify MMJ Injunctionhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread6399.shtmlStudy Finds Pot Safe for AIDS Patientshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread6390.shtmlCannabisNews Medical Marijuana Archives: http://cannabisnews.com/news/list/medical.shtml 
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Comment #5 posted by DCP on July 17, 2000 at 20:59:30 PT:
Motivation
Now, if this doesn't movivate the California State Legislature and the Governor to impliment the California Compassionate Use Act (Prop. 215), I don't know what will. 
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Comment #4 posted by Jeaneous on July 17, 2000 at 20:11:02 PT:
Effect
I honestly believe Peter's death has so very much to do with the changes being made. Clinton's pardons, now this judge. Hope Peter is seeing what difference he made in this war on drugs. 
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Comment #3 posted by kaptinemo on July 17, 2000 at 16:50:08 PT:
I forgot to add one thing
And that is: I sincerely hope that somewhere, Peter McWilliams and all the others who've suffered from the depredations of the DrugWarriors, are smiling. We are witnessing the beginning of the end for the DrugWar. There's going to be lots more battles. But in every war, there's a defining battle when the inevitable becomes obvious. It isn't always the biggest or the loudest - and sometimes it isn't recognized as the turning point until long after - but it's the one that counts the most. I believe that, today, we won such a battle. Now it's time to finish the war. Get active!
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Comment #2 posted by FoM on July 17, 2000 at 16:47:01 PT:
Good News!
Isn't this great news? Now what are they going to do? I'm sure we'll hear real soon! They should bow out with at least a little dignity and reschedule Cannabis NOW!
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Comment #1 posted by kaptinemo on July 17, 2000 at 16:35:57 PT:
It's "Put up or shut up" time for the Feds
They are being backed into a corner. And you can bet they are measuring their responses very carefully.In South Africa, the results of the Abrams Report, the first truly scientific test of cannabis efficacy, have been released. A scientific test the government fought for thirty years to prevent. The verdict: MMJ is not harmful to AIDS victims. The obvious derivation is that if it is not harmful to AIDS patients (with their seriously compromised immune systems inacapable of throwing off any damage) then it probably isn't harmful, period. The DrugWarriors can no longer hide behind their faux-concern over potential deleterious effects as a reason to keep it from patients. One more lie bites the dust.The DEA turned over to the HHS the responsibility of determining the feasibility of re-scheduling MJ. Much of the data HHS had before the Abrams Report was already made public in the IoM study; the latest news from Durban provides solid scientific underpinning to support the already massive amount of anecdotal information that composed the IoM report. To try to denigrate the Abrams Report is to invite an avalanche of criticism from doctors here and abroad. Doctors who belong to medical societies with political clout. The DrugWarriors have just inched backwards another step.The DrugWarriors are fond of metaphor and simile. They love rattling on about 'gateway drugs' and the like. Well, here's another one for them: the Tide of Truth. For a long time, under their tyranny, it had ebbed. Now, it's flowing back. At first it was hardly noticeable, and they could disregard it. But no more. No more.
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