cannabisnews.com:  Feds Appeal Area Judge's Pot Decision





 Feds Appeal Area Judge's Pot Decision
Posted by FoM on July 26, 2000 at 08:42:32 PT
By Josh Richman, Staff Writer
Source: Alameda Times Star
The federal government will appeal a judge's order letting the Oakland Cannabis Buyers Cooperative dispense marijuana as medicine. U.S. Justice Department lawyer Mark Quinlivan has filed papers at the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco indicating he will seek its review of U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer's July 17 order. Quinlivan has not yet filed the actual appeal and couldn't be reached for comment Tuesday. 
"It's an indication that the federal government still doesn't get it," Robert Raich, the cooperative's attorney, said Tuesday. "I find it disappointing that the Clinton-Gore administration is thumbing its nose at ... all of the people in California in a futile attempt to promote a failed drug policy by using sick patients as pawns." Jeff Jones, the cooperative's executive director, predicted the government's appeal will be futile. Voters in 1996 approved Proposition 215, which was meant to let seriously ill patients with a doctor's assent get and use marijuana without fear of prosecution. Cancer and AIDS patients use the drug's appetite-boosting effect to combat nausea and weight loss; others use it to fight symptoms of glaucoma, arthritis, migraine, multiple sclerosis and other ills. Breyer ordered the Oakland cooperative and five other Northern California clubs closed in 1998 after the Justice Department argued federal law absolutely forbids marijuana, regardless of state laws. The Oakland cooperative stopped dispensing the drug to more than 2,500 members while filing the only appeal to the closure. Last September, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals told Breyer to reconsider the case and let the cooperative claim a medical necessity for dispensing marijuana. The Justice Department has until Friday to decide whether to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to review this ruling. Jones said that's the "main event." If no papers are filed in Washington, D.C. by 2 p.m. Pacific Standard Time on Friday, he said, the appellate court's ruling will stand unchallenged as a cornerstone for medical marijuana advocates across the western United States. Breyer last week ruled the government failed to counter the medical necessity argument, so the appellate court's ruling left him little choice but to let the Oakland cooperative start dispensing marijuana again under certain conditions. Jones said Tuesday there's little chance Quinlivan's appeal will prevail because Breyer's ruling basically followed the appellate court's lead. Jones also noted Breyer last week denied Quinlavin's motion for a stay. The cooperative plans to begin distributing the drug to patients as soon as possible.Feedback:http://63.147.65.43/services/mainfeedback.asp?Paper=AngTsPublished: Wednesday, July 26, 2000 © 2000 by MediaNews Group, Inc. and ANG NewspapersRelated Articles & Web Site:Oakland Cannabis Buyer's Cooperativehttp://www.rxcbc.org/Government To Appeal Court Ruling http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread6522.shtmlPot For Painhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread6477.shtmlWhat Hath Breyer Wrought By Richard Cowanhttp://marijuananews.com/news.php3?sid=259CannabisNews Medical Marijuana Archives:http://cannabisnews.com/news/list/medical.shtmlCannabisNews Search - Oaklandhttp://cannabisnews.com/thcgi/search.pl?K=oakland 
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