MEDICAL MARIJUANA: DOJ to Appeal California Court Ruling
The U.S. Justice Department will appeal a district judge's ruling allowing an Oakland cannabis club to provide patients with marijuana for medicinal purposes, the AP/Contra Costa Times reports. Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Quinlivan notified the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that he would appeal last week's decision by U.S. District Court Judge Charles Breyer that allowed the Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative to provide marijuana to people facing "imminent harm from serious medical conditions" and for whom legal alternatives to marijuana were ineffective. In 1996, California voters approved Proposition 215, which allowed gravely ill patients, with a doctor's permission, to grow and use marijuana for pain relief. Federal law prohibits medical marijuana and does not allow it to be administered under medical supervision. Similar initiatives have been passed in Alaska, Arizona, Hawaii, Maine, Nevada, Oregon and Washington (Kravets, 7/26).
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