MarijuanaNews.com : Supreme Court Grants Emergency Stay Against Oakland CBC. Arbitrary Power Trumps Basic Rights.

Posted August 29, 2000
(MarijuanaNews note: This is a truly outrageous subordination of the
rights of the individual to the arbitrary power of the state. However, we should not look
to our oppressors to grant us our God-given rights.
See

href=”http://marijuananews.com/news.php3?sid=279″>Feds Seek Emergency Stay from Supreme Court
In Oakland Case.
Does Arbitrary Power Trump Fundamental Rights?
These Jackboots Are Made For Stomping on the Sick and Dying.
and links

It is very disturbing that so many Justices would vote to grant such a stay,
but this ruling does not necessarily mean that the ultimate ruling — following a full
hearing of the arguments — will be the same. After all, even the Ontario Court of Appeal
allowed the Canadian government a year to change its laws. However, the medical marijuana
situation in Canada is already more humane than in DEAland.)
See

href=”http://marijuananews.com/news.php3?sid=265″>Canadian Court Says Lack of Provision for
Medical Marijuana Violates Fundamental Rights;
Gives Parliament 12 Months to Fix Marijuana Prohibition
– Or There Will Be No Marijuana Laws in Canada.
and links

August 29, 2000
Medical Marijuana Distribution Nixed

By RICHARD CARELLI, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Supreme Court on Tuesday barred distribution of marijuana
to people in California whose doctors recommend it for medicinal purposes.

The court, voting 7-1 to grant an emergency Clinton administration request,
postponed the effect of federal court rulings that would have allowed a California club to
distribute the illegal drug for medicinal use.

Government lawyers had sought emergency help from Justice Sandra Day O’Connor,
who referred the request to the full court.

Only Justice John Paul Stevens dissented. He said the government
COLOR=”#ff0000″>”has failed to demonstrate that the denial of necessary medicine to
seriously ill and dying patients will advance the public interest or that the failure to
enjoin the distribution of such medicine will impair the orderly enforcement of federal
criminal statutes.”

Justice Stephen G. Breyer disqualified himself from the case. His brother,
Charles, a federal trial judge in San Francisco, previously had barred distribution of
marijuana only to have his decision reversed by a federal appeals court.

The highest court’s action, which came in a brief order, was the latest
development in a conflict between federal narcotics laws and a 1996 California voters’
initiative known as Proposition 215.

The state initiative allows seriously ill patients to grow and use marijuana
for pain relief, with a doctor’s recommendation, without state penalties. But federal law
says marijuana has no medical purposes and cannot be administered safely under medical
supervision.

Initiatives similar to California’s have been passed in Alaska, Arizona,
Hawaii, Maine, Nevada, Oregon and Washington state.
See
Oregon And
Washington State Medical Marijuana Laws Go Into Effect – 2 Articles
(MarijuanaNews note: The Arizona law has been called a medical
marijuana law, but it is not. It allows the use of any Schedule I drug when prescribed by
TWO doctors. Consequently, it has never had any practical effect. An effort to get a real
medical marijuana law failed to get enough signatures this year.

Hawaii’s medical marijuana laws were passed by the
state’s legislature and signed by the governor.

The District of Columbia passed a medical marijuana
initiative, but the Congress blocked its implementation.)
See
Republicans
Hold DC Hostage To Block Medical Marijuana,
After Clinton Vetos DC Appropriations Bill, Thereby Upholding Initiative 59.
Prohibitionism Uber Alles

In the California case, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that
COLOR=”#ff0000″>”medical necessity” is a “legally cognizable defense” to a
charge of distributing drugs in violation of a federal law, the Controlled Substances Act.

Because of that ruling, Judge Charles Breyer said the Oakland Cannabis Buyers’
Cooperative could provide marijuana to people facing imminent harm
from serious medical conditions and for whom legal alternatives to marijuana do not work
or cause intolerable side effects.
(MarijuanaNews note: Let’s be very clear about this. The Court
has ruled that the needs of the drug war and the arbitrary power of the federal government
take precedence over the needs of those who will suffer “imminent harm” and who
have no “reasonable alternative.” Thus marijuana prohibition is more important
than the most basic of human rights.

As previously noted, the government did not argue the science.)

Justice Department lawyers called the 9th Circuit court’s “unprecedented
ruling” a dangerous one because it created “incentives for drug manufacturers and
distributors to invoke the asserted needs of others as a justification for their drug
trafficking.”
See

href=”http://www.marijuananews.com/adverse_pharmaceutical_reactions.htm”>Adverse
Pharmaceutical Reactions Major Cause of Death; Marijuana Does Not Kill But Must Be
Approved By FDA?

The government’s emergency request said allowing such distribution of marijuana
would “promote disrespect and disregard for an act of Congress that is central
to combating illicit drug trafficking and use by giving a judicial stamp of approval to
the open and notorious distribution of (illegal) substances to potentially thousands of
users without any of the strict controls required” by federal law.
(MarijuanaNews note: A law created to protect the public is being
used to justify the persecution of the sick and dying.)

In response, lawyers for the marijuana club argued that the government’s emergency request
be rejected. “The government has provided no evidence that states … that have
passed medical cannabis laws have any difficulty prosecuting violations of their drug
statutes,” they said.
(MarijuanaNews note: In fact, the prosecution of medical marijuana
patients by local law enforcement continues in California.)
See
California Narks Wage War On Patients and
The Law. Impeach Attorney General Lockyer!

The case is U.S. v. Oakland Cannabis Buyers’ Cooperative, A-145.

Be sure and log on to www.pot-tv.net for
the 420 MarijuanaNews with Richard Cowan weekdays at 4:20PM Pacific time.
COLOR=”#ff0000″> If you miss any broadcasts, they are now available in the Archives.