Pubdate: Tue, 07 Jun 2005
Source: Oklahoman, The (OK)
Copyright: 2005 The Oklahoma Publishing Co.
Contact:  http://www.oklahoman.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/318
Author: Associated Press, Associated Press writers Alicia Chang in Los 
Angeles, Kim Curtis in San Francisco and William McCall in Portland, Ore., 
contributed to this story.
Cited: National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws 
http://www.norml.org
Cited: Gonzales v. Raich http://www.angeljustice.org
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/Raich (Angel Raich)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)

POT CLUBS, PATIENTS VOW BUSINESS AS USUAL

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- A steady stream of customers filed into the Love
Shack, where anybody with a city-issued cannabis card could buy $5 pot
brownies or spend up to 20 minutes inhaling premium marijuana that
sells for $320 an ounce.

It was business as usual at the medical marijuana club -
one of dozens in San Francisco - even after the Supreme Court ruled
Monday that people who smoke pot for medicinal purposes can be
prosecuted for violating federal drug laws.

Crime fighters in California and other states with medical marijuana
laws insisted they were not about to start looking for reasons to shut
down the dispensaries. But Dwion Gates, who was sitting next to a pair
of bongs, said he's "a little bit shaken."

"I'm hoping that San Francisco will continue to be the compassionate
place it has been in allowing places like this to exist legally," said
Gates, 48, who smokes pot regularly to treat the pain from a bullet
lodged in his back since 1983.

The ruling does not strike down medical marijuana laws in California,
Alaska, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Vermont or
Washington state. And state and local authorities in most of those
states said they have no interest in arresting people who smoke pot
because their doctors recommend it to ease pain. (Arizona also has a
law on the books allowing medical marijuana, but no active program.)

Oregon, where more than 10,000 residents hold medical marijuana cards,
stopped issuing new cards on Monday, but elsewhere officials assured
the public the situation was status quo.

"People shouldn't panic. There aren't going to be many changes,"
California Attorney General Bill Lockyer said. "Nothing is different
today than it was two days ago, in terms of real world impact."

It remains to be seen whether the Drug Enforcement Administration will
crack down on medical marijuana users. The Justice Department didn't
comment Monday.

Paul Armentano of the National Organization for the Reform of
Marijuana Laws said arrests of ailing patients have been rare, but the
government has arrested more than 60 people in medical marijuana raids
since September 2001.

Most of those arrests have been in California - the first state to
allow medical marijuana, in 1996. On Monday, Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger, who has previously supported use of pot by sick
people, said only: "It is now up to Congress to provide clarity."

In Montana, the 119 residents who paid $200 to get on the state's
confidential registry won't face state prosecution, said state
Attorney General Mike McGrath. He said the state is not obligated to
help federal authorities prosecute people following state law.

While the Supreme Court justices expressed sympathy for two seriously
ill California women who brought the case, the majority agreed that
federal agents may arrest even sick people who use the drug as well as
the people who grow pot for them.

Dana May, of Aurora, Colo., said he will probably stop smoking pot
because of the ruling, even though marijuana eases the debilitating
pain of a nerve disease. "It'll change my entire world," he said. "I'm
afraid they'll come after me."

Other patients said they were determined to continue smoking.

"I don't care whether it's legal or illegal," said cancer patient
Christopher Campbell, 58, of Portland, Ore. Campbell suffers from
lymphoma and has had his spleen removed, along with portions of his
pancreas and stomach.

The ruling makes Valerie Corral nervous. She operates a 150-plant pot
farm in California's Santa Cruz County, providing marijuana for free
to about 165 seriously ill members. Corral said the high court's
decision "leaves us protecting ourselves from a government that should
be protecting us."
- ---
MAP posted-by: Richard Lake