Medical marijuana Buyers Cooperative

Medical Use of Marijuana United States v. Oakland Cannabis Buyers Cooperative, No. 00-151, (2001) U.S. v. Rosenthal, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, 2003 Raich v. Ashcroft, U.S. Supreme Court, 03-15481 (2003)... 

Doyle, Charles. Marijuana for Medical Purposes The Supreme Courtis Decision in United States v. Oakland Cannabis Buyers Cooperative and Related Legal Issues. Washington, D.C. Congressional Research Service, 2002. Summarizes the Supreme Court s latest medical marijuana decision, which refused to recognize a medical necessity defense for cultivating or distributing marijuana. The existence of state laws sanctioning medical marijuana have no federal effect. Related constimtional issues that may still come before the Court are summarized. 

U.S. Supreme Court ruled (unanimously) in United States vs. Oakland Cannabis Buyers Cooperative that the cooperatives permitted under California law to sell marijuana to medical patients who had a physician s approval to use the drug were unconstitutional under federal law. 

As suppliers of marijuana to medically approved buyers, these organizations were protected from prosecution by state law. The only problem was that their actions were still against federal laws. Eventually one of the first buyers clubs, the Oakland Cannabis Buyers Cooperative (OCBC), became the subject of a federal lawsuit a case that went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court Following the Court s mid-2001 decision against them, however, the OCBC was no longer able to dispense marijuana to its members. 

Most legal experts feel that the Supreme Court decision does not prevent patients in states with medical marijuana laws from growing their own marijuana at home. But not all patients are able to do that, and they no longer have a source in the buyers clubs. Since almost all arrests for use and possession of marijuana are done by state and local officials, the federal government is expected to confine enforcement efforts to shutting down medical marijuana distribution centers like the Oakland Cannabis Buyers Cooperative, which triggered the Supreme Court case. 

Founder of the Ouklund Cannabis Buyers Cooperative, Jeff Jones (ripfht), speaks with his lawyer after the Supreme Court rules marijuana illegal for medical uses. 

Oakland Cannabis Buyers Cooperative (www.rxcbc.org). Here is the story on the first legal medical marijuana source that was closed by the U.S. Supreme Court. 

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