Oakland Allows Emergency Marijuana Use
by Associated Press

October 22, 1998 - Dallas Morning News - letterstoeditor@dallasnews.com

OAKLAND, Calif. - A public health emergency was declared after a federal court closed the city's medical marijuana club, leaving 2,200 patients with no legal source for the drug that they say quells the pain of AIDS and cancer.

Tuesday night's 5-4 City Council vote, believed to be the first of its kind, allows officials to develop other means of selling marijuana to people who can no longer get the drug at the Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative.

"We're definitely making history," said Jeff Jones, executive director of the club. "It's another time the city has come out and allowed patients to keep their rights."

San Francisco and Berkeley have previously declared medical emergencies to allow distribution of intravenous needles to drug users to curb the spread of HIV. But no other city has passed such a measure to allow use of marijuana for medical reasons.

"It's going to be devastating," said Dave Fratello of the closure. His group, Americans for Medical Rights, sponsored Proposition 215, the 1996 ballot measure that legalized marijuana use for medical reasons in California.

Proposition 215 allows patients and caregivers to possess and grow marijuana without prosecution under California law, as long as a doctor has recommended the drug to relieve pain from AIDS or cancer treatment, glaucoma or other conditions.

The Justice Department and state Attorney General Dan Lungren have repeatedly gone to court to block the law, and Mayor Elihu Harris, who cast the deciding vote, acknowledged that their declaration is just a "symbolic gesture."

It won't mean the club will reopen, and the council seemed wary about the city getting into the distribution business itself. But some council members were determined to send a message.

Said council member Nate Miley, who sponsored the declaration. "Why is the federal government interfering with the will of the people?"

The club closed down on Monday after the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a request to stay open while attorneys appeal a federal judge's ruling that the city-authorized distribution of marijuana is illegal.

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