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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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US: Medical Marijuana: A growing movement tests fed's interference in state affairs DPAlliance DPAlliance eNewsletter Thursday 22 Jan 2004 A recent round of favorable court rulings on medical marijuana, in which judges sided with the states, is contributing to the growing canyon between state and federal medical marijuana laws. Just last week a Colorado county judge cited nine members of a federal task force, including a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agent, for contempt when they refused his order to return cannabis and equipment they had confiscated from medical marijuana patient Don Nord. Nord - who suffers from cancer, diabetes, and chronic pain - and nearly 300 other Coloradoans have registered to legally posses and use medical marijuana. Nord's patient registration, however, did nothing to stop the task force from entering his home and seizing his medicine. Recent federal court rulings have also set precedents in the medical marijuana face-off. In October, the U.S. Supreme Court decided not to review a lower court's decision upholding a doctor's right to recommend medical marijuana to patients, prohibiting the federal government from pursuing a policy of threatening physicians who recommend or even discuss medical marijuana use with their patients. Last month a federal court ruled that it was unconstitutional for federal drug agents to prosecute medical marijuana patients in states with laws that allow the practice, affirming the right of seriously ill patients to grow and use marijuana with a doctor's recommendation. With this building momentum even more states and cities are looking to enact laws that permit the medical use of marijuana. A number of initiatives will appear on voter ballots in 2004, including marijuana legalization in Alaska and a medical marijuana law in Detroit, Michigan. Medical marijuana activists in Portland, Oregon - where marijuana is decriminalized under state law - have already collected 50,000 signatures to add a city ballot measure that would further liberalize the law. Yet California continues to receive the brunt of federal wrath over state marijuana laws. The medical marijuana confrontation between California and the U.S. government took a dramatic turn last week when two medical marijuana patients were arrested on federal charges as they were seeking to dismiss state charges of marijuana cultivation and distribution - under the Compassionate Use Act of 1996 medical marijuana is legal in California. Federal agents seized the two from a California state courtroom after the local prosecutor lured the couple's defense counsel into the judge's chambers by moving to dismiss the state charges. The couple now face federal charges mandating minimum sentences of 10 years to life in prison. "A federal court of appeals has already said the government is violating the Constitution when they arrest patients," said Steph Sherer, Executive Director of the national medical marijuana coalition Americans for Safe Access. "And now state officials are giving patients to the feds and tricking attorneys to separate them from their clients. How many rights have to be trampled before we fix this?" Last year the Drug Policy Alliance represented Californian medical marijuana patients as they sought to sue the government. We also encouraged a medical marijuana debate on the floor of the House, developed and distributed educational materials on medical marijuana for doctors and patients, supported marijuana initiatives in several states, and more. The Alliance will continue to push for reforms at the state and federal levels and publicize the federal government's biases and injustices over marijuana - the most widely supported drug policy reform issue. For more on this story, see: http://actioncenter.drugpolicy.org/ctt.asp?u=6894&l=15465
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