cannabisnews.com: U.S. Voices Threat on Pot Rx U.S. Voices Threat on Pot Rx Posted by FoM on August 04, 2000 at 08:45:11 PT By Bob Egelko of The Examiner Staff Source: San Francisco Examiner The Clinton administration is continuing its war against California's medical marijuana law, arguing in federal court that doctors who recommend the drug should lose their authority to prescribe legal medicines. "It doesn't matter what California says," Justice Department lawyer Joseph Lobue said Thursday at a hearing on a suit seeking to protect doctors from punishment for advising their patients to use marijuana. "There is a national standard." A doctor who tells a patient that marijuana is the best remedy available for nausea or other effects of treatments for cancer and AIDS "has recommended use of a drug that has been found to be unsafe" by Congress and the Food and Drug Administration, Lobue said. He likened it to a lawyer's recommending that a client commit perjury. U.S. District Judge William Alsup must decide whether to extend, expand or withdraw an order issued by another judge in 1997 barring the federal government from acting against California doctors who recommended marijuana to their patients under the 1996 medical marijuana initiative, Proposition 215. The initiative allowed patients to use marijuana, based on a doctor's recommendation, without risking prosecution under state drug laws. As a state measure, however, it could not override federal laws against marijuana distribution. The Clinton administration's drug policy chief, Barry McCaffrey, opposed Prop. 215 and announced after its passage that any doctors who prescribed or recommended marijuana would lose their federal licenses to prescribe drugs, would be excluded from Medicare and Medi-Cal and could face criminal prosecution. That prompted a lawsuit by a group of doctors and their patients, who said the government was violating their freedom of speech. U.S. District Judge Fern Smith issued an injunction protecting doctors, which will remain in effect until Alsup rules. On another front, the Justice Department moved to shut down marijuana cooperatives and clubs that blossomed across the state to distribute the drug to patients after Prop. 215. Last month, however, a federal judge ruled that the Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative could provide marijuana to seriously ill patients who had no effective legal therapy available. The Clinton administration has asked the Supreme Court to overturn an appellate ruling that laid the foundation for the Oakland decision by recognizing a defense of "medical necessity" against federal drug prosecutions. At Thursday's hearing, American Civil Liberties Union lawyer Graham Boyd told Alsup that many doctors remained afraid even to discuss marijuana with their patients, despite Smith's injunction. "There is nothing that favors use of marijuana that a physician can say and not risk punishment," Boyd said. "That is censorship." He said the current injunction protected doctors from punishment for recommending marijuana but left them potentially vulnerable to criminal prosecution for aiding and abetting if the government decided a doctor had tried to help a patient obtain the drug. Lobue, the government's lawyer, denied that federal authorities were threatening criminal prosecution but said doctors who suggested the use of any illegal drug risked losing their right to participate in federally regulated programs, including drug prescription. Contact: letters examiner.com Published: August 4, 2000 ©2000 San Francisco Examiner Related Articles & Web Sites:ACLUhttp://www.aclu.org/Oakland Cannabis Buyer's Cooperativehttp://www.rxcbc.org/Federal Court in California Hears Arguments on MMJhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread6615.shtmlPot Backers Vow Fight for Right To Use http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread6584.shtmlClinton Asks Supreme Court To Overturn MMJ Rulinghttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread6558.shtmlMedicinal Pot Goes To Supreme Court http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread6557.shtmlCannabisNews Medical Marijuana Archives:http://cannabisnews.com/news/list/medical.shtml ACLU: For Immediate Release - August 3, 2000http://www.aclu.org/news/2000/n080300a.htmlA legal brief in the case is available online at: http://www.aclu.org/court/conant_v_mccaffrey.html Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #7 posted by Kanabys on August 06, 2000 at 10:53:45 PT No States Why don't the feds just dissolve all of the state lines and just rule the people??? Hey, it seems to work for Castro, sadam, etc etc. [ Post Comment ] Comment #6 posted by dddd on August 05, 2000 at 21:56:13 PT "It doesn't matter what California says," "It doesn't matter what California says," "It doesn't matter what California says," the more I think about this statement,and the fact that this insult,is from a represenative of the federal government,,the more unbelievable it becomes...........................................dddd....an angry Californian [ Post Comment ] Comment #5 posted by freedom fighter on August 05, 2000 at 14:18:34 PT dangerous time When we have people like Lobue sprouting dictatorship. They do not seem to be afraid to do that these days in public. Maybe it is because they think that none will care. How could Lobue possibly feel so productive? least he admit that there is a drug trafficking "problem" and isn't he trying to say that doctors are the reason why we have drug trafficking problem?Some of you might know about the recent meth. bust all over the country. The main media did not report something really important about this bust. DEA had to start busting after one of the grand juror tried to sell the information for 50k. Janet Reno knew that when she made the announcement. If a grand juror does that, what does it have to say about LAW and ORDER? It is no difference than a trail juror nullifying the charge against the accuse. DoJ is doing all they can to keep this silent. [ Post Comment ] Comment #4 posted by Ethan Russo, MD on August 04, 2000 at 17:55:19 PT: The Ultimate Affront Someone please contact Joseph Lobue so that he can arrange to have me cuffed, gagged and arrested. I actually talked about cannabis to a patient today! Imagine that! It could be the end of civilization as we know it! Seriously, I hope that the public will read this kind of trash, become incensed, and insist that politics respond to medical science instead of moralistic and bankrupt posturing. We have all had enough of this nonsense. [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by MikeEEEEE on August 04, 2000 at 16:10:08 PT In a Corner It seems the anti's are really in a corner here, even trying threats, this is a sure sign we're doing something right.Thanks, keep going, and going, and going...we'll win this. [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by kaptinemo on August 04, 2000 at 10:20:15 PT: Lobue must be a closet Republican Why do I say that? because making noises like this at a time of a national election would not exactly be the most 'politic' move for a *Democrat* to make. Perhaps Lobue is angling for a position with Georgie Mark 2?It doesn't matter what California says," Justice Department lawyer Joseph Lobue said...Now, what would your first reaction be if you heard this coming from the mouth of a government parasite who sucks your monetary life's blood via taxes? And then has the temerity to tell you your *vote* doesn't count?Tar and feathers would be the least of his worries. I hope the electorate in California are paying attention to this. [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by Dan B on August 04, 2000 at 09:58:43 PT: I like the wording... ...of the legal brief, especially because the only named defendant is Barry McCaffrey himself (Barry McCaffrey et al.). It is a well-worded document with excellent documentation of the medical benefits and relative safety of medical marijuana, and it expresses the need for the right to free-flow of information between patients and doctors quite eloquently. Thanks for posting this, FoM. 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