cannabisnews.com: Supreme Court To Hear California's Marijuana Case





Supreme Court To Hear California's Marijuana Case
Posted by FoM on March 25, 2001 at 22:52:33 PT
By Howard Mintz, Knight Ridder Newspapers
Source: Charlotte Observer
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. The Oakland Cannabis Buyers Cooperative has weathered one legal storm after another since California became the first state to legalize the use of medicinal pot with the passage of Proposition 215 more than four years ago. But this week, the club confronts by far its most significant threat, one that has placed it at the center of a national crusade to uphold medicinal marijuana laws in the face of federal drug restrictions.In a case that arises out of an attempt to shutter the Oakland club and other similar Northern California operations, the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday will take its first look at the seemingly irreconcilable conflict between a state's desire to legalize marijuana for medical use and federal laws that explicitly forbid the possession of weed."It's our movement if we lose," says Jeff Jones, the Oakland club leader who became a champion for medicinal marijuana after watching his father die of kidney cancer. "I'm not in this to lose. I'm not in this to give up."The justices will hear arguments in the case at a time when eight states have passed laws authorizing the use of medicinal marijuana, and others are mobilizing to do the same. Even though the Supreme Court may fall far short of deciding the fate of medicinal marijuana laws, its approach to the Oakland case is viewed as a bellwether of medicinal pot's chances for future survival in the legal system.Whatever the Supreme Court rules, it will help clear up a host of legal confusion that has surrounded Proposition 215 since its inception. In fact, the U.S. Supreme Court's decision could greatly influence the California Supreme Court, which earlier this month for the first time agreed to consider whether Proposition 215 provides immunity from criminal prosecution for medicinal marijuana users."A year from now, we'll know a lot more about medical marijuana in our state," said David De Alba, California Attorney General Bill Lockyer's policy adviser on Proposition 215.California is not the only state hoping for clarity. In states like Maine, officials are holding off on the mechanics of enforcing their new medicinal marijuana laws until the Supreme Court rules. Other states, such as Oregon, which developed the first statewide government registry of eligible medicinal marijuana patients, are nervously monitoring how the Supreme Court addresses what has become a sticky legal and public policy issue."I'm hoping it doesn't have an impact on us," said Kelly Paige, head of Oregon state-run medicinal marijuana program. "It's a strange position for all the states -- we're all involved in this knowing there is this conflict" with federal law.Lockyer has weighed in on the side of the Oakland club, arguing that states like California ought to have the freedom to enforce a voter-approved law without federal interference. The other states, however, have chosen to watch from the sidelines, refusing to formally enter the case despite the fact the Supreme Court's ruling will have national implications.Legal experts say the states may be cautious because medicinal marijuana backers have an uphill fight in the Supreme Court, which is expected to be reluctant to curtail the federal government's power to fight drug trafficking and regulate controlled substances.The justices have stepped into a three-year legal standoff between the U.S. Justice Department and backers of California's Proposition 215, approved by voters in 1996. The high court is not deciding the legality of Proposition 215 -- rather, it is specifically reviewing an earlier federal appeals court ruling that carved out a "medical necessity" exception to federal drug laws that make it a crime to possess or distribute marijuana.The Supreme Court must decide whether to affirm or reverse a 1999 ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which sets law for nine western states. The 9th Circuit held that "medical necessity" could trump federal drug laws and allow distribution of pot to patients facing "imminent harm."In court papers, the government has called the 9th Circuit's ruling "unprecedented" and a threat to Congress' power to combat illegal drug trafficking. In a brief filed with the justices in January, the U.S. solicitor general argued that the ruling would allow clubs like Oakland's to "function as an unregulated and unsupervised marijuana pharmacy."Legal experts say creating a medical necessity right under drug laws is a long shot in the Supreme Court, even for sick patients in severe pain."This court has been very reluctant to find those kinds of rights," said Erwin Chemerinsky, a USC law professor who supports Proposition 215. "And if they find California's law is pre-empted (by federal drug law), it's hard to see what those other states would be doing that's not pre-empted."The medicinal marijuana issue has seemed destined to reach the U.S. Supreme Court since California approved Proposition 215.Proposition 215 permits the use of marijuana for the sick and dying, including those with life-threatening illnesses such as AIDS and cancer. But the law never made it clear how patients would obtain a drug that is illegal, and the result has been one skirmish after another in the courts between law enforcement officials and doctors, patients and medicinal marijuana advocates.Federal officials decided to test the issue in 1998 with a lawsuit against six Northern California clubs that were providing marijuana to patients. The Clinton administration sought an injunction to shut clubs in Oakland, San Francisco, Santa Cruz, Marin County and Ukiah.Even as the lawsuit percolated in the courts, clubs opened and closed throughout the state, including one in San Jose. Some had the blessing of local officials, others operated underground. Several of the clubs targeted by the Justice Department shut down, but Oakland's remained open, with the blessing of the city of Oakland, which has given the operation a permit to serve as a registry for patients who meet the "medical necessity" requirement.A cannabis center in West Hollywood has remained open. The Ukiah center and the Marin cooperative are still operating despite being targets of the lawsuit, although their fates are tied to what happens in the Supreme Court. If the Supreme Court rules that federal law warrants closure of the Oakland club, the Marin and Ukiah clubs are unlikely to survive."I just hope the patients don't get driven underground again," said Lynette Shaw, head of the Marin cooperative, which registers patients and also provides medicinal pot through a permit with the town of Fairfax.Gerald Uelmen, a Santa Clara University law professor who will argue the Oakland club's case in the Supreme Court, said he will try to persuade the Supreme Court to carve out a narrow exception that would benefit a specific, and small, group of people.Only eight of the justices are hearing the case: Justice Stephen Breyer recused himself because his brother, San Francisco U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer, has handled the Justice Department's lawsuit."This decision will be looked at to kind of chart the course of where we go from here," Uelmen said. "Hopefully, it will force Congress to take the issue more seriously."Medicinal marijuana patients are pinning their hopes on Uelmen's arguments."If the Supreme Court rules against us, they give us a death sentence," said Angel McClary, one of the Oakland club's medical necessity patients. "They need to understand we are sick, disabled and dying."Complete Title: Supreme Court To Hear California's Medical Marijuana CaseSource: Charlotte Observer (NC) Author: Howard Mintz, Knight Ridder NewspapersPublished: Sunday, March 25, 2001 Copyright: 2001 The Charlotte Observer Contact:  opinion charlotte.com Website http://www.charlotte.com/observer/ Related Articles & Web Sites:Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Co-ophttp://www.rxcbc.org/USA V. OCBC & Jeffrey Joneshttp://www.druglibrary.org/ocbc/Supreme Court to Tackle Medical Marijuana Issue http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread9144.shtmlSupreme Court Weighs Drug Law http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread9143.shtml
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Comment #1 posted by FoM on March 26, 2001 at 07:35:11 PT
Medical Marijuana Poll
http://www0.mercurycenter.com/premium/front/docs/potclubs26.htm
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