>Sender: >To: >X-Original-Message-ID: <007401bf1754$d2046ba0$9acf69cf@pacbell.net> >From: "Peter McWilliams" >Subject: UPI on Lockyer, Reno, and me (What a trio!) >Date: Fri, 15 Oct 1999 14:32:45 -0700 >X-Mozilla-Status: 8001 >X-Mozilla-Status2: 00000000 > > >LOCKYER BACKS "NECESSITY" DEFENSE, ASKS FEDS TO DROP OPPOSITION > >A federal appeals court decision that could allow some seriously ill >patients to use marijuana has won the endorsement of state Attorney >General Bill Lockyer, who wants the Clinton administration to drop its >objections. > >In a letter last week to U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno, made public >Thursday by supporters of an AIDS patient who wants to use the drug, >Lockyer urged the government not to appeal the precedent-setting Sept. >13 ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The 3-0 ruling >indicated "medical necessity," the need to violate a law to prevent >more serious harm, would be a valid defense to the prosecution of a >marijuana patient or provider under federal drug laws. > >"The voters in my state have endorsed the medicinal use of >marijuana," Lockyer wrote, referring to Proposition 215, the 1996 >initiative that allows the cultivation and use of marijuana to treat >symptoms of certain serious illnesses, with a doctor's recommendation. > >"The court's decision holding that a citizen may present evidence >that use of marijuana, under certain narrow conditions, may be a >lawful exception to the federal drug laws is consistent with the >expression of (the voters') will." > >The letter was dated Oct. 6. U.S. Justice Department spokeswoman >Gretchen Michael said Thursday the department hasn't received it yet >and hasn't decided whether to seek a rehearing of last month's ruling. >Its deadline is in late October. > >Lockyer supported Proposition 215 and has said he was influenced by >the deaths of his mother and sister from leukemia. He supports a state >bill that would set standards for medical use of marijuana and let >county health departments issue registration cards to anyone with a >doctor's recommendation for the drug. > >Lockyer has met with Reno and federal drug chief Barry McCaffrey and >urged them, with little apparent success, to ease the federal >government's resistance to California's implementation of its >initiative. > >Since passage of Proposition 215, the Justice Department has >repeatedly said marijuana remains banned by federal law, with no >medical exception; has threatened to act against doctors who prescribe >the drug; and has sued to shut down six Northern California clubs that >distribute marijuana to patients. > >That lawsuit, which has led to closure of four of the clubs, was the >basis of the Sept. 13 ruling. The court ordered a federal judge to >reconsider his injunction of last year, which barred marijuana >distribution at the clubs, and consider an exemption for patients who >face imminent harm and have no effective legal alternative to >marijuana. The court said the government has offered nothing to >contradict "evidence that cannabis is the only effective treatment >for a large group of seriously ill individuals." > >The ruling, if it stands, would affect four other states in the 9th >Circuit -- Arizona, Oregon, Washington and Alaska -- that have laws >protecting medical marijuana users against state prosecution. > >The ruling has already been invoked by medical marijuana users, >including Peter McWilliams, an AIDS and cancer patient whose lawyers >said they were asking the appeals court Thursday to let him resume >smoking marijuana because his condition is deteriorating. > >McWilliams, a writer and publisher, was arrested in Los Angeles in >July 1998 and charged by federal authorities with conspiring to grow >thousands of marijuana plants, which he said were intended to supply >medical marijuana clubs. > >He was freed on $250,000 bail the next month, on condition that he >obey all laws, including federal drug laws. McWilliams' lawyers said >he has been taking Marinol, a legal drug with the active ingredient of >marijuana, but it is ineffective and his condition has worsened to the >point that he might not live until his trial date Nov. 16. > > >================================================================ > >This message is sent to you because you are subscribed to > the mailing list . >To unsubscribe, E-mail to: