>Sender: >To: >X-Original-Message-ID: <047f01bf28a5$5bb9c780$9acf69cf@pacbell.net> >From: "Peter McWilliams" >Subject: Press Release -- PLEASE CIRCULATE WIDE >Date: Sat, 6 Nov 1999 14:22:06 -0800 >X-Mozilla-Status: 8001 >X-Mozilla-Status2: 00000000 > > >FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: November 5, 1999 >Contact: Tom Ballanco: 310/291-3659 David Michael: 530-304-7793; Peter >McWilliams 310/650-8489; ; Communication Works, >415/255-1946 > > >U.S. District Court Judge Bars Medical Necessity Defense, Mention of Prop. >215, in Case against Medical Marijuana Patients Todd McCormick and Peter >McWilliams > >McWilliams, McCormick Face 10 Years in Jail; Critically Ill AIDS Patient >McWilliams Fears Imminent Death Behind Bars > >Decision Directly Counters Ninth Circuit Ruling that Supports Medical >Necessity Defense in Medical Marijuana Cases > > >LOS ANGELES, CA - In a decision that has left medical marijuana patients >and advocates reeling, U.S. District Court Judge George King ruled today >that there may be no mention of medical marijuana, California's Proposition >215 or the medical conditions of critically ill patients Todd McCormick and >Peter McWilliams during the federal trial that alleges that the >co-defendants illegally manufactured marijuana. > >Today's ruling directly counters a recent landmark decision by the U.S. >Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. On September 13, 1999, a Ninth Circuit >panel unanimously ruled that "medical necessity" can be a viable defense >for people accused of breaking federal marijuana laws. The panel ordered >U.S. District Court Judge Charles Breyer to take into account evidence that >some patients need marijuana to treat debilitating and life-threatening >ailments in the federal lawsuit against the Oakland Cannabis Buyers' >Cooperative. > >Although both defendants argue that they are qualified medical marijuana >patients under the terms of California's Compassionate Use Act of 1996 >(Proposition 215), the jury in their trial, which starts in Los Angeles on >November 16, will not be allowed to hear any defenses that relate to their >medical conditions, or to medical marijuana. > >"How can this happen in America? I can't tell a jury why I used medical >marijuana? I am stunned; speechless. The government monopoly on justice has >just handed me a "Go to jail for life" card. I now face ten mandatory years >in federal prison. I will die there. My life is over because I tried to >save my life doing something my doctor recommended in a state where it is >legal. If it happened to me, it can happen to anyone," said Peter >McWilliams, who is critically ill with AIDS. > >"This is clear proof that medical facts and the war on drugs are mutually >exclusive," says Thomas Ballanco, attorney for Peter McWilliams. Prior to >his 1998 arrest, McWilliams depended on medical marijuana, an anti-nausea >medication, to enable him to digest his combination drug therapy. Since his >arrest, when the federal government barred him from using medical >marijuana, McWilliams has been able to keep down only a fraction of his >treatments and his viral load has risen to a life-threatening level of >250,000. When his viral load reached 12,500 in 1996, he had already >developed an AIDS-related cancer. His doctors believe he has only a short >time to live and that a prison term would spell certain death for the >former publisher and journalist. > >"The Constitution is under attack from many fronts. The courts have >followed a precedent favorable to the government in their prosecution, but >have found every way possible to avoid decisions from the same courts that >recognize individuals' rights," says David Michael, who represents medical >marijuana patient Todd McCormick. McCormick, who received radical cancer >treatments nine times before he was 10 years old, used medical marijuana >until his 1997 arrest to alleviate the chronic pain he suffers as a result. > >Today's ruling means that the course of this trial will run along the lines >of the federal trial against medical marijuana patient and caregiver B.E. >Smith, who was sentenced to 27 months in prison in May 1999 after U.S. >District Court Judge Charles E. Burrell refused to let the jury hear any >defenses relating to medical marijuana or Proposition 215. > >"Counsel for defendants are instructed not to make any reference in >whatever form including but not limited to arguments, questions, comments, >testimony or evidence, to Proposition 215, the medical usefulness of >marijuana, the closed single patient investigative new drug program [in >which the federal government supplies marijuana to eight patients each >month for medical use], defendants' reliance on advice of counsel and >defendants' medical conditions. Counsel are further instructed to assure >that no other persons, including their clients (the defendants), and their >witnesses, make any such prohibited references at trial," according to the >ruling, which was issued on Friday, November 5. > >McWilliams, 50, was arrested in 1998 by federal agents on charges that he >financed the cultivation of over 6,000 marijuana plants to sell to >marijuana clubs. McWilliams, the author of five best-selling books, >contends that his only role in the alleged conspiracy was paying a book >advance to McCormick, 28, whom McWilliams had commissioned to write two >books on medical marijuana - one of which is currently on-line at >. McCormick says he was growing medical marijuana >seedlings for his own personal medical use and for his research on the >books he was writing for McWilliams. > > >================================================================ > >This message is sent to you because you are subscribed to > the mailing list . >To unsubscribe, E-mail to: