Pubdate: Wed, 30 Aug 2000 Source: Redding Record Searchlight (CA) Copyright: 2000 Redding Record Searchlight - E.W. Scripps Contact: PO Box 492397, Redding, CA 96049-2397 Website: http://www.redding.com/ Forum: http://www.redding.com/disc2_frm.htm Author: Kerri Regan, Record Searchlight MEDICINAL POT BUYS BARRED Supreme Court Grants White House Request It just got tougher for medical marijuana patients to buy their drug. The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday granted an emergency request from the Clinton administration to stop an Oakland cannabis club from distributing medicinal marijuana. While the north state doesn't have a cannabis club, many patients patronize clubs in Oakland or Humboldt County when they can't grow their own or when their supply runs short, said Redding attorney Eric Berg, who has defended medical marijuana patients prosecuted for using the drug. "It may make it much more difficult for them to get marijuana that the law legally allows them to get," Berg said. "It will drive the price up that much higher, and it will make it that much more difficult for people to deal with their medical needs." No one from the Humboldt Cannabis Center in Arcata was available for comment Tuesday. The court's 7-1 vote was the latest development in a conflict between federal narcotics laws and Proposition 215, the Compassionate Use Act, that California voters approved in 1996. The state initiative allows seriously ill patients to grow and use marijuana for pain relief with a doctor's recommendation. But federal law says marijuana has no medical purposes and cannot be administered safely under medical supervision. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative could provide marijuana to patients suffering from serious medical conditions who did not benefit from other treatments. But Justice Department lawyers said that decision was dangerous because it created "incentives for drug manufacturers and distributors to invoke the asserted needs of others as a justification for their drug trafficking." Shasta County Sheriff Jim Pope said Tuesday that he was not familiar with the details of the decision, but "I understand it's favorable as far as law enforcement is concerned," he said. Cannabis clubs do not always operate legally, Pope said. "There has to be some kind of balance or some kind of control in this whole issue," the sheriff said. Buyers' clubs meet a critical need for patients, Berg said. Though marijuana at clubs is more expensive than it is on the street, the quality is good, Berg said. Clubs also offer a variety of strains that affect ailments differently, he said. "Some of the pot will really help people go to sleep. Some of the pot will really help people stimulate their appetites. Some of it will help people deal with intense pain. Some people really don't want to feel high," Berg said. Clubs sell clones, seeds and extracts that serve a variety of needs, said medical marijuana patient Richard Levin of the Shasta Patients Alliance. In addition to smoking marijuana, patients turn it into salves or linaments, cook with it, soak it in liquor or put it in vaporizers, he said. "If a patient with ongoing needs doesn't do that (go to a club), they're not going to be able to keep obtaining pot every year, especially if the police don't leave them alone," Levin said. Cannabis clubs charge $250 to $400 an ounce, Levin said, while it can be bought on the street for about a third of the price. "By not allowing clubs to distribute, the government is actually encouraging the black market trade," Levin said. Shasta County District Attorney McGregor Scott said he hoped the ruling would be a step toward clearing up a vague law. "It's my sincere hope that the ruling today by the U.S. Supreme Court will spur our legislators and our governor and our attorney general to take action to bring clarity to the medical marijuana law in California so that patients, doctors and law enforcement officials all know exactly what the law is." - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake