NEWS RELEASE from Americans for Safe Access - Wednesday, April 21, 2004
Supreme Court Asked to Overturn Ban on Medical Marijuana Prosecutions
Government Wants Reversal in Raich v. Ashcroft; Raids Were Ruled
Unconstitutional
San Francisco The government wants to roll back the decision by a federal
appeals court that the prohibition on marijuana is unconstitutional when
used to prosecute people who use it medicinally. Tuesday the Justice
Department asked the Supreme Court to review the Ninth Circuit Court of
Appeals ruling in Raich vs. Ashcroft, which found that the federal ban does
not apply to those who use cannabis for medical purposes on their doctors'
advice, obtain the medicine without buying it, and get it within their
state's borders. The government contends there should be no medical
exceptions to the federal anti-marijuana laws.
I hope the Supreme Court understands that Im fighting for my life, said
Angel McClary Raich, the lead plaintiff in the case. The government doesnt
dispute that I would die without cannabis, but they not only want to keep
my medicine from me, they want the right to take me from my children and
see me die in prison.
The December 16, 2003 decision in Raich vs. Ashcroft (Ninth Circuit Case
No. 03-15481) was the first time a federal court had found a constitutional
limitation to application of the Controlled Substances Act, the federal law
that prohibits all use of marijuana. The court ruled that patients who grow
their own or receive it free do not affect interstate commerce. Congresss
ability to regulate interstate commerce is the basis for federal drug laws.
The December ruling applies to California and the six other states in the
Ninth Circuit's jurisdiction that allow medical cannabis use: Alaska,
Arizona, Hawaii, Nevada, Oregon and Washington.
A U.S. District Judge in San Francisco, the Honorable Martin J. Jenkins, is
currently drafting the preliminary injunction the appeals court ordered
(District Court Case No. CV 02-04872 MJJ).
The original lawsuit, filed in October 2002, sought an injunction against
Attorney General John Ashcroft and the federal government to prohibit the
prosecution of two medical cannabis patients Angel McClary Raich and Diane
Monson and the two anonymous caregivers who provide Mrs. Raich with cannabis.
Angel Raich has used cannabis for six years in her fight with an inoperable
brain tumor, wasting syndrome, a seizure disorder and many other serious
medical conditions. According to her doctor, Frank Lucido M.D., she is
unable to use other medications and would risk death without cannabis.
In August 2002, federal agents raided the Oroville home of Diane Monson,
who uses marijuana to relieve severe chronic back pain and muscle spasms.
After a dramatic standoff with local law enforcement who attempted to stop
the action, the federal agents seized and destroyed her six cannabis plants.
The State of California, Alameda and Butte counties, and the City of
Oakland, as well as the California Medical Association and the California
Nurses Association, all filed briefs supporting the injunction.
# # #
For interviews or more information, contact William Dolphin at (510)
919-1498 or
http://angeljustice.org.
Hilary McQuie
Campaign Director
Americans for Safe Access
1678 Shattuck Ave. #317
Berkeley, CA 94709
510-486-8083
http://www.safeaccessnow.orgMarihuana influences Negroes to look at white people in the eye, step on white men's shadows and look at a white woman twice.
--Hearst newspapers nationwide, 1934
