Pubdate: Wed, 30 Aug 2000 Source: Arizona Daily Star (AZ) Copyright: 2000 Pulitzer Publishing Co. Contact: http://www.azstarnet.com/ Source: Arizona Daily Star (AZ) Bookmark: additional articles on medicinal cannabis are available at http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm JUSTICES DEAL SETBACK TO MEDICINAL POT USE WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court yesterday barred distribution of marijuana to people in California whose doctors recommend it for medicinal purposes. The court, voting 7-1 to grant an emergency Clinton administration request, postponed the effect of federal court rulings that would have allowed a California club to distribute the illegal drug for medicinal use. Government lawyers had sought emergency help from Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, who referred the request to the full court. Only Justice John Paul Stevens dissented. He said the government "has failed to demonstrate that the denial of necessary medicine to seriously ill and dying patients will advance the public interest or that the failure to enjoin the distribution of such medicine will impair the orderly enforcement of federal criminal statutes." Justice Stephen G. Breyer disqualified himself from the case. His brother, Charles, a federal trial judge in San Francisco, previously had barred distribution of marijuana only to have his decision reversed by a federal appeals court. The highest court's action, which came in a brief order, was the latest development in a conflict between federal narcotics laws and a 1996 California voters' initiative known as Proposition 215. The state initiative allows seriously ill patients to grow and use marijuana for pain relief, with a doctor's recommendation, without state penalties. But federal law says marijuana has no medical purposes and cannot be administered safely under medical supervision. Initiatives similar to California's have been passed in Alaska, Arizona, Hawaii, Maine, Nevada, Oregon and Washington state. In the California case, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that "medical necessity" is a "legally cognizable defense" to a charge of distributing drugs in violation of a federal law, the Controlled Substances Act. Because of that ruling, Judge Charles Breyer said the Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative could provide marijuana to people facing imminent harm from serious medical conditions and for whom legal alternatives to marijuana do not work or cause intolerable side effects. - --- MAP posted-by: Thunder