MEDICAL MARIJUANA: Lockyer Asks U.S. to ‘Back Off’
State Attorney General Bill Lockyer (D) has lobbied U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno and federal drug chief Barry McCaffrey to "ease the federal government's resistance" on California's medical marijuana law, the AP/San Diego Union-Tribune reports. In a letter to Reno, Lockyer wrote "The voters in my state have endorsed [via Proposition 215] the medicinal use of marijuana." The letter responded to DOJ's threat to close down six Northern California clubs that distribute marijuana to patients. Lockyer's letter pleaded that DOJ officials not appeal the "precedent- setting Sept. 13 ruling" by the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which allowed the use of medical marijuana. The court ruled that the government has not offered evidence to contradict that "cannabis is the only effective treatment for a large group of seriously ill individuals." DOJ, however, argues that marijuana remains banned under federal law, with no medical exception (Egelko, AP/San Diego Union-Tribune, 10/15).
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