Pubdate: Tues, 14 Sep 1999 Source: New Haven Register (CT) Copyright: 1999, New Haven Register Contact: http://www.ctcentral.com/cgi-bin/w3com/start?ctcentral+FrontPage Forum: http://www.ctcentral.com/ Author: Associated Press MEDICAL POT MAY RETURN TO CLUBS SAN FRANCISCO -- A federal appeals court Monday raised the possibility that clubs that provide medical marijuana might be reopened, saying "medical necessity" could make some patients exempt from laws against pot. In a rebuff to the Clinton administration, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals told a judge who had issued an injunction against such groups to consider exempting patients and doctors who could show "medical necessity." The injunction against six medical marijuana clubs had been issued at the request of the Justice Department. The court did not order the exception but said there was evidence that would justify it. One of the six Northern California clubs, the Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative, "has identified a strong public interest in the availability of a doctor-prescribed treatment that would help ameliorate the condition and relieve the pain and suffering of a large group of persons with serious or fatal illnesses," the court said in a 3-0 ruling. The court noted that the "necessity" defense -- showing that breaking the law was the only way to prevent a more serious harm -- would be available if federal authorities prosecuted patients or club officials for violating federal drug laws. Because the government sought an injunction against future lawbreaking instead of prosecuting anyone, the order should be worded to exclude conduct that likely would be allowed if a person cited the necessity defense at trial, the court said. To be eligible for such an exemption, patients would have to show that they have tried legal alternatives to marijuana and found that they don't work or cause intolerable side effects, the court said. Medical marijuana clubs sprang up around California after the November 1996 approval of Proposition 215, which allowed patients with serious illnesses to obtain and use marijuana at their doctors' recommendation without being prosecuted under state law. The drug is used to relieve pain and other effects of AIDS, cancer and certain other diseases and their treatments. - --- MAP posted-by: Don Beck