Lawyers for the Oakland Cannabis Buyers’ Cooperative (OCBC) have submitted a brief on remand asking a U.S. district court to modify its 1998 injunction ordering the OCBC to cease distributing medical marijuana to seriously ill patients. OCBC attorneys filed the motion this week after the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals remanded the case to the lower court following a previous remand from the United States Supreme Court.
The OCBC argues that the 1998 injunction is unconstitutional because the OCBC’s medical marijuana distribution activities involve intrastate, not interstate, commerce. Furthermore, if it is determined that the intrastate distribution of medical cannabis does substantially affect interstate commerce, the OCBC asks the court to decide whether the government may properly interfere with state sovereignty or has a compelling interest to restrict the exercise of fundamental rights, such as the amelioration of pain or the prolongation of life.
Last May, the Supreme Court determined that third-party medical marijuana dispensaries may not raise the defense of medical necessity against federal charges of manufacturing and distributing marijuana. Other issues regarding the constitutionality of the federal marijuana laws were not decided by the court in that case.
For more information, please contact Keith Stroup, NORML Executive Director, at (202) 483-5500 or OCBC attorney Robert Raich at (510) 338-0700.