U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer declined to issue an immediate order shutting down three cannabis buyers’ clubs that continue to dispense marijuana to seriously ill patients in defiance of an April 16 injunction. He scheduled further hearings to take place September 28, and indicated that he may eventually allow a jury to determine whether individual patients have a right to the club’s supply of medical marijuana.
Santa Clara law professor Gerald Uelmen, one of the attorneys defending the clubs, said that the outcome of much of Monday’s hearing was favorable. “We thought the hearing was positive in the sense that it denied the government’s motion for summary judgment, and denied their request to [immediately close the remaining clubs,]” he said. “[The clubs] are still in operation and we are heading for a jury trial which is where we want to be.”
In a setback for medical marijuana proponents, Judge Breyer dismissed claims that designating staff members of the Oakland Buyers’ Cooperative as city officials shielded the club from criminal and civil liability. Attorneys for the Oakland CBC explained that Section 885(d) of the Federal Controlled Substances Act provides that any officer of the city who is enforcing a local ordinance relating to controlled substances will be protected from criminal sanctions. “We’re not dealing with a subversive effort to undercut the government’s drug war,” Uelmen argued in court. “This is a careful and good-faith effort to implement the will of the people, consistent with federal law.”
Breyer rejected the claim and stated that individuals are not legally enforcing a drug-related law when their “purpose is to violate federal law.” Uelmen said they will appeal this ruling.
For more information, please contact either Keith Stroup of NORML @ (202) 483-5500 or NORML Legal Committee member William Panzer, Esq. @ (510) 834-1892.