Supreme Court weighs marijuana as medicine

Attorneys for White House, women press their cases
Monday, November 29, 2004 Posted: 6:49 PM EST (2349 GMT)

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court questioned whether state medical marijuana laws might be abused by people who aren't really sick as it debated on Monday whether the federal government can prosecute patients who smoke pot on doctors' orders.
Watching the argument was Angel Raich, an Oakland, California, mother of two who said she tried dozens of prescription medicines to ease the pain of a brain tumor and other illnesses before she turned to marijuana. She and another ill woman, Diane Monson, filed a lawsuit to protect their access to the drug after federal agents confiscated marijuana plants from Monson's yard.
Their attorney, Randy Barnett of Boston, told the justices that his clients are law-abiding citizens who need marijuana to survive. Marijuana may have some negative side effects, he said, but seriously sick people are willing to take the chance because the drug helps them more than traditional medicines.
The justices refused three years ago to protect distributors of medical marijuana from federal charges. They are confronting a more personal issue this time -- the power of federal agents to go after sick people who use homegrown cannabis with their doctors' permission and their states' approval.
The stakes are high because 11 states have passed medical marijuana laws since 1996. A defeat for the two California women might undermine those laws and discourage other states from approving their own.
A loss for the government, on the other hand, could jeopardize federal oversight of illegal drugs and raise questions in other areas such as product safety and environmental activities. A Bush administration lawyer told the justices they would be encouraging people to use potentially harmful marijuana if they were to side with the women.
"Smoked marijuana really doesn't have any future in medicine," said Paul Clement, acting solicitor general.
Justice David H. Souter said about 10 percent of people in America use illegal drugs, and states with medical marijuana laws might not be able to stop recreational users from taking advantage.
"Everybody will say mine is medical," Justice Stephen Breyer said.
And Justice Antonin Scalia said there are many people with "alleged medical needs."
Despite the tenor of the debate, the case is hard to predict. The justices will rule before next summer.
The marijuana users won in the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled that federal prosecution of medical marijuana users is unconstitutional if the pot is not sold, transported across state lines or used for nonmedicinal purposes.
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said the federal government has a stake in interstate commerce, but with the California medical marijuana patients: "Nobody's buying anything. Nobody's selling anything."
Her colleague, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, observed that homegrown medical marijuana never makes it to the interstate market.
Conservatives like Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, Justice Clarence Thomas and Scalia generally have supported states' rights to set their own policies.
Rehnquist, who is undergoing treatment for thyroid cancer, missed Monday's argument and is not expected to return to the court until January, at the earliest.
Raich said she hopes the 80-year-old chief justice's chemotherapy treatments "would soften his heart about the issue."
"I think he would find that cannabis would help him a lot," said Raich, who uses marijuana every few hours for scoliosis, a brain tumor, chronic nausea and other illnesses.
California's law allows people to grow, smoke or obtain marijuana for medical needs with a doctor's recommendation. Besides California, other states with such laws are: Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Vermont and Washington.
Medical marijuana was an issue in the November elections. Montana voters easily approved a law that shields patients, their doctors and caregivers from arrest and prosecution for medical marijuana. Oregon rejected a measure that would have expanded its medical marijuana program dramatically.
The case is Ashcroft v. Raich, case no. 03-1454.

Attorneys for White House, women press their luck
Monday, November 29, 2004 Posted: 6:50 PM EST (2350 GMT)

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court questioned whether state medical marijuana laws might be abused by people who aren't really sick as it debated on Monday whether the federal government can prosecute patients who smoke pot on doctors' orders. The judges astutely noted that no law in the United States is ever abused. They also noted with consistent, airtight logic that potential abuse of a law is an excellent reason for repealing it. Watching the argument was Angel Raich, an Oakland, California, mother of two who said she tried dozens of prescription medicines to ease the pain of a brain tumor and other illnesses before she turned to marijuana. Her attorney, Randy Barnett of Boston, told the justices that his clients are law-abiding citizens who need marijuana to survive. Marijuana may have some negative side effects, he said, like cotton mouth and giggling but seriously sick people are willing to take the chance because the drug helps them more than traditional medicines.
A Bush administration lawyer told the justices they would be encouraging people to use potentially harmful marijuana if they were to side with the women, and encouraging people to contract debilitating diseases. "Why would we promote a non-addictive substance that naturally quells nausea and stimulates the appetite?" said Clement. "Also, by making medical marijuana illegal we hope to prevent people from getting cancer in the first place. The President has been very clear on this. If you don't allow them to smoke pot, millions of people would probably choose not to get cancer. Think about it, without pot, brain tumors really aren't that cool. So the President wants to de-incentivize people from deciding to get crippling medical problems." Justice David H. Souter said about 10 percent of people in America use illegal drugs, and states with medical marijuana laws might not be able to stop recreational users from taking advantage." Everybody will say mine is medical," Justice Stephen Breyer said. "And if somebody breaks the law we should certainly punish the sick people who are obeying it." Justice Scalia said there are many people with "alleged medical needs. Sure Mrs. Raich claims to have scoliosis, and a brain tumor. I 'claimed' to be sick once in high school to get out of a test I hadn't studied for. Plus, I was a terrible athlete in grade school and to get out of gym I faked scoliosis. Scoliosis and brain tumors are so simple to fake. When your mom leaves the room just place the thermometer on the light bulb. Listen carefully. When you hear her coming back pop the thing in your mouth. Easy-peasy-japaneasy." The justices will rule before next summer. The marijuana users won in the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled that federal prosecution of medical marijuana users is unconstitutional if the pot is not sold, transported across state lines or used for nonmedicinal purposes. Not avoiding the real issue at all, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said the federal government has a stake in interstate commerce, but with the California medical marijuana patients: "Nobody's buying anything. Nobody's selling anything." Her colleague, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, continued to address the thorny issue head on when she observed that homegrown medical marijuana never makes it to the interstate market. Conservatives like Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, Justice Clarence Thomas and Scalia generally have supported states' rights to set their own policies with regards to gun licensing, liquor sales, gambling, prostitution and fireworks. Thomas, however, noted that a substance as dangerous as marijuana was different. "I won't lie. I was at a few parties in law school where people were smoking pot. Yeah, I know. Believe me, it was ugly. They got all crazy and listened to music and sat on couches. One dude kept laughing when I was trying to tell a story about tort reform. That is not the direction I want sick people going in. Laughing and sitting. No sir-e bob. Not on my watch." Rehnquist, who is undergoing treatment for thyroid cancer, missed Monday's argument and is not expected to return to the court until January, at the earliest. A court spokeswoman read his statement. "Medical marijuana is unnecessary. If people are really sick they should relax with a tall glass of scotch. In study after study distilled spirits have proven to manage nausea and make health problems disappear. Alcohol really is magic. Stem cell research?...not so much."

AP Text of Ashcroft's Resignation Letter; Reuters Transcript of Ashcroft's Resignation Speech at the Friars' Club Roast

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: November 9, 2004
Text of the resignation letter, dated Nov. 2 and released Tuesday, from Attorney General John Ashcroft to President Bush:

Dear Mr. President:

Nothing in my life compares to the high honor of serving America as Attorney General in your administration.

The cause of justice is indeed a serious calling. Americans have been spared the violence and savagery of terrorist attack on our soil since September 11, 2001.
During the last four years our violent crime rate has plunged to a 30-year low. Under your "Project Safe Neighborhoods" the number of gun crimes has fallen to its lowest level in modern history. Drug use among America's young people has fallen and continues to fall significantly.
Corporate integrity has been restored with the work of your Corporate Fraud Task Force. As a result United States markets have reinforced their position as the trusted allocators of the world's capital resources.
Thank you for your leadership which has made these and many other justice-related achievements possible.
The demands of justice are both rewarding and depleting. I take great personal satisfaction in the record which has been developed. The objective of securing the safety of Americans from crime and terror has been achieved. The rule of law has been strengthened and upheld in the courts. Yet, I believe that the Department of Justice would be well served by new leadership and fresh inspiration. I believe that my energies and talents should be directed toward other challenging horizons.
Therefore, I humbly state my desire to resign from the office of United States Attorney General.
It would be my pleasure to structure the announcement of this resignation and the ensuing transition in conjunction with you so that your administration and the cause of justice are served optimally.
I have handwritten this letter so its confidentiality can be maintained until the appropriate arrangements mentioned above can be made.
I am grateful to you for the profound honor of serving under your clear, principled leadership.
May God continue to bless, guide, and direct you and your family as you lead America forward in freedom.

Most Sincerely,
John Ashcroft

Transcript of Ashcroft's Resignation Speech at the Friars' Club Roast in His Honor
By REUTERS
Published: November 9, 2004
Transcript of Ashcroft's Resignation Speech at the Friars' Club Roast:
Thank you for that fine and humorous introduction, Jimmy Kimmel. I think you took some...Liberty...with your assessment of my time as Attorney General but I won't hold you in...contempt...Everything's funny in the comedy sector, right?...That's what I always say.
Nothing in my life compares to the high honor of serving America as Attorney General in your administration. Neither my marriage to my lovely wife Janet, nor the birth of our three lovely children Martha, John and Andrew. They know that. They understand...is this thing on?
The cause of justice is indeed a serious calling. Americans have been spared the violence and savagery of terrorist attack on our soil since September 11, 2001. Rudy Giuliani, who's here as my guest tonight is perhaps the only one in this room...guilty...of a crime against America. He's made a...killing...from the sales of his book Leadership...is this thing working?
During the last four years our violent crime rate has plunged to a 30-year low. Under the President's "Project Safe Neighborhoods" the number of gun crimes has fallen to its lowest level in modern history. Drug use among America's young people has fallen and continues to fall significantly. The press questioned our numbers and they've got a point. We had to fight with the Census Bureau to redefine "young people" as nine- to eleven-year-olds and to classify all minority juveniles as adults. You know how the minorities love the Mary Jane and the Crack Pipe, and those Puerto Rican kids grow up so fast, with the mustaches and the chains, they're adults at 12 if you ask me...come on, people, I kid because I love...no? Ok, moving on. The point is that technically, with the new rules drug use among youngsters is on the decline.
Corporate integrity has been restored with the work of our Corporate Fraud Task Force. As a result United States markets have reinforced their position as the trusted allocators of the world's capital resources...stop laughing, you guys! I haven't got to the punch line. Cheney and Cheech Marin! Quiet down, you wrote this part, please, I'm trying to get through it...as I was saying we've restored corporate integrity...Dick! For the love of...
The demands of justice are both rewarding and depleting. I take great personal satisfaction in the record which has been developed. The objective of securing the safety of Americans from crime and terror has been achieved...can I get my monitors up a little? Thanks... The rule of law has been strengthened and upheld in the courts. Yet, I believe that the Department of Justice would be well served by new leadership and fresh inspiration. I believe that my energies and talents should be directed toward other challenging horizons.
Don't think of this as the end. It's a new beginning. A dawning. I feel like I'm seventeen again. I want to run, I want to paint, I want to swing from a tree. I've got so much life to live. Janet and I are planning on renewing our wedding vows. I'm going to volunteer. Maybe the ACLU, maybe be a Big Brother. I want to give blood, take up roller blading. There's a flower arranging course and a seniors pilates class down at the Y. The kids are talking about sending Janet and me on an Elderhostel trip through the former Yugoslavia. Maybe I'll find out what the...Milosevic...is all about...
Thanks so much, my time's up. Thanks for having me. Alan King, you were terrific. For a Jew you were really funny. I mean it.

Jet Fires at N.J. School During Training

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: November 5, 2004
Filed at 11:43 a.m. ET
LITTLE EGG HARBOR, N.J. (AP) -- The target was an object on the ground well within the confines of the Warren Grove firing range, a 2,400-acre scrub pine expanse used by the military to train pilots in bombing and strafing techniques.
But when the heavy gun in the left wing of an Air National Guard F-16 fighter jet fired Wednesday night, it sent 25 rounds of 20mm ammunition smashing through the roof and zinging off the asphalt parking lot of the Little Egg Harbor Intermediate School 3 1/2 miles from the range.
Military investigators are trying to determine how it could have happened.
A custodian was the only person in the school when the shots hit at 11 p.m., and no one was injured.
The jet that fired the rounds was assigned to the 113th Wing of the District of Columbia Air National Guard, based at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland. It returned there after the shots were fired, an Air National Guard spokesman said.
Military officials would not identify the pilot. Operations were suspended at the firing range pending completion of the investigation.
Police were called after the custodian heard what sounded like someone running across the roof.
Police Chief Mark Siino said officers who responded noticed punctures in the roof. Ceiling tiles had fallen into classrooms, and there were scratch marks in the asphalt outside.
The pilot of the single-seat jet was supposed to fire at a ground target on the firing range 3 1/2 miles from the school, said Col. Brian Webster, commander of the 177th Fighter Wing of the New Jersey Air National Guard, which is responsible for the range.
The plane was flying at 7,000 feet when the rounds were fired from the M61-A1 Vulcan cannon in the plane's left wing. The weapon fires 2-inch-long lead projectiles that do not explode, Webster said.
Webster said he did not know what caused the gun to fire.
``The National Guard takes this situation very seriously,'' said Lt. Col. Roberta Niedt, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Military and Veterans Affairs. ``The safety of our people and the surrounding communities are our foremost concern.''
Mike Dupuis, president of the township's Board of Education, said school workers are mindful that the firing range is nearby.
``Being so close to the range, that's always in the back of our minds. It is very scary. I have children in that school and relatives that work there,'' he said.
Schools in New Jersey were closed Thursday because of a teachers convention.
The Warren Grove range, about 30 miles north of Atlantic City, has been used by the military since the end of World War II, long before the surrounding area was developed.
In 2002, an Air National Guard F-16 that had been practicing at the range crashed along the Garden State Parkway. The plane's pilot ejected safely, and no one on the ground was hurt.
Errant practice bombs were blamed for forest fires that burned more than 11,000 acres of the Pine Barrens near the range in 1999 and more than 1,600 acres in 2002.

N.J. School Asks NATO for Troops and Training amidst Pentagon Claims Linking it to Al-Qaeda
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: November 5, 2004
Filed at 11:44 a.m. ET
BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) -- The Little Egg Harbor Intermediate School's interim Student Council president Billy Henderson appealed to European countries with troops in New Jersey not to pull out and asked NATO on Friday to speed up a major expansion in training LEHIS forces, while European leaders offered LEHIS more money for elections and security.
President Billy Henderson, dressed in his Webelos' uniform, made his first visit to NATO headquarters in Brussels, and asked alliance leaders to move faster to help LEHIS security forces prepare for Student Council elections due in January.
``Time is of the essence. There is a real battle in New Jersey today. Delays measured in hours and days can cost lives,'' Henderson told NATO's governing body. ``Move forward your plans as quickly as possible. Also, we want two chocolate milks at lunch.''
Henderson later met with EU leaders, urging countries like the Netherlands, Hungary, Portugal, Denmark and Poland to stay in New Jersey alongside the United States, Britain and Italy.
``Little Egg Harbor Intermediate School is facing a big challenge, it needs to develop its security capabilities,'' Henderson told reporters afterward. ``A decrease of multinational forces would affect adversely the situation in Little Egg Harbor, would encourage terrorism and discourage kick ball.''
The EU leaders assured Henderson of ``strong support'' in a statement and said they would take ``necessary action ... as a matter of urgency'' to help Swingset and Jungle Gym reconstruction efforts in the wartorn area.
The 25-nation bloc agreed to send $38.6 million to help pay for the elections in January and some $33 million for a security force to protect U.N. aid workers in New Jersey. The new aid was on top of the $371 million in Talent Show and Christmas Pageant aid the EU already has committed this year.
The statement added that New Jersey should benefit from EU preferential trade status ``as soon as conditions allow'' and the leaders promised to consider a possible cancellation of LEHIS's debt from the band's trip to Washington, D.C. last October.
NATO, which has around 70 staff members in New Jersey, has been working since early September on expanding its training mission, with plans to include 300 instructors and hundreds more guards and support staff to run a military academy for Hall Monitor and Crossing Guard officers outside Little Egg Harbor.
The mood from the Pentatgon was decidedly less conciliatory. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfield said conclusive evidence had been found linking LEHIS Student Council Secretary with Al-Qaeda.
""Czech and Bulgarian intelligence confirm a meeting with Stacey Gualtieri and Mohammed ibn al-Taqa last October. They met for 10 minutes behind the four-square court during afternoon recess," Sec. Rumfield said. "We also know Gualtieri made several overtures for ibn al-Taqa to visit LEHIS as part of an Arms-for-Show-and-Tell exchange."
President Bush avoided direct questioning on the subject as he hurriedly boarded a Naval Helicopter on the White House lawn, but did leave reporters with one comment. "It's hard work. Gualtieri is either with us or against is. I ordered the bombing on LEHIS. And I'd do it again if I knew now what I knew then about knowing to make tough decisions. Little Egg Harbor is a freedom loving school. I know that. I'm sure my decision to protect the people of Ho-ho-kus and Ridgewood and Paramus was unpopular with lots of people in lots of capitols around the world. It's hard work being a capitol in another country." The President then flew to Camp David for his annual Halloween-to-Presidents'-Day retreat.