Pubdate: Tue, 07 Jun 2005
Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA)
Copyright: 2005 Hearst Communications Inc.
Contact:  http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/388
Cited: Gonzales v. Raich ( www.angeljustice.org/ )
Cited: Marijuana Policy Project ( www.mpp.org )
Cited: National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws 
http://www.norml.org
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/Raich (Angel Raich)

PLAINTIFFS SAY THEY WON'T STOP FIGHTING - OR LIGHTING

Lobbying Congress, More Legal Wrangling to Follow Court
Ruling

Two Northern California mothers who insist they could die without
medicinal marijuana were undeterred by Monday's U.S. Supreme Court
ruling allowing federal authorities to continue arresting people like
themselves.

"We are not criminals, we are sick people who need medicine," said 39-
year-old cancer patient Angel Raich of Oakland, who said she smokes
marijuana every two hours -- about 9 pounds a year -- to fuel her appetite.

She and 48-year-old Diane Monson of Oroville (Butte County) became the
nation's most famous marijuana freedom fighters in 2002, after a
federal raid of six pot plants at Monson's home. Raich's former pot
supplier, the Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative, was served with a
federal injunction in 1998 barring it from dispensing marijuana.

The women later sued U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft, seeking
protection from the federal government under California's 1996
voter-approved law that allows physician-recommended pot smoking. Yet
federal authorities have continued to raid pot dispensaries and
private homes in the 10 states that allow medical marijuana, often
working over the objections of local law enforcement.

The women's challenge to federal law hit a setback Monday when the
Supreme Court ruled that state laws allowing pot smokers to use the
drug with a doctor's recommendation do not supercede a federal ban on
the drug. The Bush administration had argued that states could not
defy the federal Controlled Substances Act, which declares marijuana
to be not only illegal, but of no medical value.

"I'm going to have to be prepared to be arrested," said Monson, who
smokes marijuana several times daily to relieve back pain caused by a
degenerative spine disease.

Justice John Paul Stevens, writing Monday's 6-3 decision, said
Congress could change the law to allow medical use of marijuana.
Medicinal pot advocates are hoping a vote next week before the House
of Representatives will be the first step toward such a new national
law.

On Monday, Raich and her husband, Robert, who also is her attorney,
said they will go to Washington next week to lobby for a proposed
amendment to a Department of Justice appropriations bill that would
prevent federal persecution of medical marijuana users in states that
allow medicinal use of the drug.

Robert Raich characterized Monday's ruling as a small battle in a
protracted war. He said he will continue his wife's legal fight,
focusing on issues of constitutional due process and medical necessity
that allow individuals to break the law to avoid suffering, on a
case-by-case basis.

"Today's Supreme Court decision is not going to affect patients and
their daily lives, because 99 percent of marijuana arrests are done by
state and local authorities," he said.

Of the 750,000 annual marijuana arrests nationwide, most are state
arrests for simple possession, said Bruce Mirken, director of
communications for the Marijuana Policy Project in Washington.

Arrests of people like Raich are rare. She now relies on private
growers -- "my heroes, my caretakers" -- to maintain her marijuana
supply, she said.

Other medical cannabis clubs still operate openly in California and
other states but have taken measures -- such as not keeping client
lists -- to protect their customers from arrest. There are more than
100 medical pot clubs in the state, the majority in Northern
California and more than half in the Bay Area, according to the
National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.

The clubs provide clean and safe alternatives to buying marijuana on
the street, said Yvonne, who is 52 and uses cannabis to soothe leg
spasms brought on by multiple sclerosis. The Richmond woman did not
want to give her last name.

"My friends and family don't all smoke pot, but they support it
because of me," she said. "If I take Vicodin or Valium, I become a
zombie. Cannabis relaxes my legs and lets me get on with my life."
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake