JUDGE RULES CLUB CAN DISTRIBUTE POT

SAN FRANCISCO - Medical marijuana advocates in Marin were breathing easier
yesterday after a federal judge cleared the way for an Oakland club to
distribute the herb, saying the government hasn't proven why seriously ill
patients should be denied the drug.

Yesterday's groundbreaking decision by U.S. District Court Charles R.
Breyer yesterday will allow the Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative to
provide cannabis to members who face imminent harm from a serious medical
condition and have found that legal alternatives to marijuana don't work or
cause intolerable side effects.

"We believe this is the tip of the iceberg," said John Entwhistle, a
spokesman for Californians for Compassionate Use, the lobbying group that
wrote the state's medical marijuana initiative, known as Proposition 215.
"We think at least the feds are starting to recognize the strength and
reality of the medical necessity of using marijuana as medicine, at least
for certain conditions."

Breyer's decision does not apply directly to the Fairfax-based Marin
Alliance for Medical Marijuana, but director Lynette Shaw said the ruling
makes it "unlikely" the federal government will come beating down the doors
any time soon.

"Our heads were on the chopping block after Oakland," Shaw said last night.
"This makes me feel very relieved and happy that the patients have won
their case, and I don't think the CBC in Marin will ever be closed. For the
last two and a half years, we've been expecting the U.S. marshals to come
in with an injunction, but it hasn't happened."

Breyer hinted during a hearing Friday that he would modify an injunction he
issued in 1998, noting that the U.S. 9th District Court of Appeal ordered
him to consider an exemption for patients who face imminent harm and have
no effective legal alternative to marijuana.

The appellate court, in its September ruling, found the government had
failed to rebut evidence that cannabis is the only effective treatment for
a large group of seriously ill patients.

So in lieu of any new arguments showing why it would not be in the public's
interest to exempt some patients from federal narcotics laws, Breyer said
he had little choice.

"The government continues to press arguments which the 9th Circuit
rejected, including the argument that the court must find that enjoining
the distribution of cannabis to seriously ill individuals is in the public
interest because Congress has prohibited such conduct in favor of the
administrative process regulating the approval and distribution of drugs.

"As a result of the government's failure to offer any new evidence in
opposition to defendants' motion, and in light of the 9th Circuit's
opinion, the court must conclude that modifying the injunction as requested
is in the public interest and exercise its equitable discretion to do so,"
Breyer wrote.

Specifically, club members receiving medical marijuana must meet the
following criteria, Breyer ruled yesterday:

* Suffer from a serious medical condition

* Face "imminent harm" if they do not have access to cannabis.

* Need cannabis for treatment of a medical condition or to alleviate
symptoms associated with a condition.

* Have no reasonable legal alternative to cannabis for the effective
treatment or alleviation of a medical condition or symptoms.

The victory for the Oakland club is only the latest development in a
years-old conflict between federal narcotics regulations and Proposition
215, which has been tangled up in court since California voters approved it
in 1996.

The state initiative allows seriously ill patients to grow and use
marijuana for pain relief, with a doctor's recommendation, without being
prosecuted under state law. Federal law says marijuana has no medical
purpose and cannot be administered safely under medical supervision.

The Justice Department initially sued the Oakland club, the Fairfax
alliance and four others in Northern California to try and shut them down.
Breyer's modification partially exempts the Oakland club - the only one to
appeal - from his injunction that closed them.

Measures similar to the California's initiative have passed in Alaska,
Arizona, Hawaii, Maine, Nevada, Oregon and Washington state, and Entwhistle
said Breyer's ruling is the latest sign the federal government's position
is weakening.

"They used to be the wolf at the door. But now they've been pushed away,"
he said, adding that his group expects the issue to be ultimately decided
by the U.S. Supreme Court.

In Oakland, the news was met with equal optimism at the Cannabis Club.

"It's an historic day," said Jeffrey Jones, the owner and lead defendant in
the lawsuit. "For the first time in our nation's history, the Controlled
Substance Act ... has been pierced in a way that allows a controlled
substance to be given out in a federally exempt way."