Pubdate: Wed, 17 Dec 2003
Source: Redding Record Searchlight (CA)
Copyright: 2003 Record Searchlight - The E.W. Scripps Co.
Contact:  http://www.redding.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/360
Note: The actual decision is a .pdf document available at the webpage 
above, or by going to http://www.ca9.uscourts.gov and click on "opinions" 
at the upper left.  Then select Raich vs. Ashcroft
Also: To download the major pleadings from the litigation go to 
http://raich-v-ashcroft.com and 
http://news.findlaw.com/legalnews/documents/index.html#drugs
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/appeals+court

COURT OKS USE OF MEDICAL POT

December 17, 2003 -- 2:07 a.m. Federal officials may not prosecute
marijuana smokers whose doctors say pot is their only medical relief
- -- at least so long as the users grow their own or obtain it from
growers without charge, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday.

The 2-1 decision from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San
Francisco would protect many medical marijuana users from prosecution
in states that have laws approving the use of marijuana for medical
purposes.

"This is huge. This essentially makes Prop. 215 federal law in
California," said Dale Gieringer, one of the co-authors of the
proposition, which legalized medical use of marijuana in California.
The measure, passed by California voters in 1996, was the first
medical-marijuana law in the United States.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Richard Lake