Pubdate: Thu, 20 Oct 2005
Source: Palm Beach Post, The (FL)
Copyright: 2005 The Palm Beach Post
Contact:  http://www.palmbeachpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/333
Author: Meghan Meyer, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Cited: Marijuana Policy Project ( www.mpp.org )
Cited: Gonzales v. Raich ( www.angeljustice.org/ )
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization)

MEDICAL-MARIJUANA ADVOCATES PERSIST DESPITE RULING, LEADER SAYS

BOCA RATON -- Despite a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that many 
considered a blow to the medical-marijuana movement, supporters of such 
laws have pressed on with state ballot initiatives and lobbying campaigns, 
the director of a marijuana-policy reform group told an audience at Florida 
Atlantic University Wednesday.

Rhode Island is teetering on the edge of becoming the 11th state to allow 
patients to use marijuana medically, and two Michigan cities have 
medical-marijuana ballot initiatives coming up in the next few weeks, said 
Rob Kampia, director of the Washington, D.C.-based Marijuana Policy Project.

"If we had won the Supreme Court case, the federal government's war on 
medical marijuana would have effectively been over," Kampia said. "The case 
doesn't change anything. It just maintains the status quo."

The U.S. Supreme Court decided in a 6-3 decision in June that the federal 
government has the authority to ban using and cultivating marijuana, even 
for patients growing small amounts for their own medical use in states that 
allow it.

In the case Gonzales vs. Raich, two California women who grow marijuana to 
treat serious medical conditions sued the government to stop enforcement of 
the federal ban on the drug. The ruling didn't overturn laws, such as 
California's, that allow medical use of marijuana.

Kampia, who spoke to an audience of about two dozen FAU students, became 
involved in the politics of marijuana after he spent three months in jail 
for growing pot while a student at Penn State. His experience made him 
angry, but he said t was nothing like what other marijuana users endured 
recently.

Among the stories Kampia told was one about a quadriplegic man in 
Washington, D.C., who died in custody after he didn't receive the medical 
attention he needed while in jail on marijuana-possession charges.

"D.C. has bigger problems than a quadriplegic who's using marijuana for 
medical purposes," Kampia said.

The Supreme Court ruling indicated that Congress, not the court, must 
change the federal law, Kampia said. And his organization has moved closer 
to garnering the 218 votes needed to pass a bill in the House. A recent 
vote on an amendment that would have prohibited the federal government from 
spending money to go after medical-marijuana users in states where it's 
legal failed. But the amendment had 161 votes, more than ever.

"We're probably not going to succeed within the year," Kampia said, "but 
the end is in sight."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom