From: "Gregg Strom/BRYX Int'l" 

Gov. Keating Denies Foster's Parole, Frees Two Violent Offenders

    Oklahoma City, OK: Gov. Frank Keating (R) today freed two violent
offenders who were serving respectively, a life sentence and a 50-year
sentence, but for a second time, denied parole for medical marijuana
patient Will Foster, despite the state parole board's unanimous
recommendation to release him.
    Foster, who was denied parole by the governor in January 1999, has
served four years of a 20-year sentence for cultivating marijuana in a
25-square foot underground shelter, which he grew to alleviate the pain of
rheumatoid arthritis. He was initially given a 93-year sentence, but that
sentence was reduced by an appeals court that found the original sentence
to be excessive.
    "It looks as if my case has become more political than I ever
imagined,"
Foster said about the governor's decision. "He hasn't broken my spirit
though."
    Foster said he is up for parole again in August.
    "It's simple," said Allen St. Pierre, NORML Foundation Executive
Director. "Will Foster should be paroled and immediately returned to
the care of his family. Gov. Keating has always fancied himself a drug
warrior, but what kind of message is he trying to send by paroling violent
criminals while keeping Mr. Foster in prison -- despite the parole board's
unanimous recommendation to release him, not once but twice. If Gov.
Keating is really a player on George W. Bush's presidential team, he should
consider acting like a 'compassionate conservative.'"
    NORML strongly urges concerned citizens from across the country to
contact the governor and demand parole for Will Foster. Contact Gov. Frank
Keating at the following address:

State Capitol Building, Room 212
Oklahoma City, OK 73105
Phone: (405) 521-2342
Fax: (405) 521-3353
Email: governor{at}gov.state.ok.us

    Fore more information, please contact Allen St. Pierre, NORML Foundation
Executive Director at (202) 483-8751.


Gore Changes His Stance On Medical Marijuana Again, and Again

    Cudahy, CA: Last week, Vice President and Democratic presidential
candidate Al Gore flip-flopped from earlier campaign statements about
medicinal marijuana, stating he now sees "no reliable evidence"
of its utility in relieving pain.
    Gore, speaking to high school students in California, stated, "Right
now, the science does not show me or the experts whose judgement I trust
that it is the proper medication for pain and that there are not better
alternatives available in every situation."
    This statement is a reversal from the position Gore took while
campaigning in New Hampshire last December. Gore then stated that his late
sister was prescribed marijuana in 1984 as treatment for her cancer
chemotherapy, but that it did not work for her. He added, "If it had
worked for her, I think she should have had the ability to get her pain
relieved that way." Gore also stated that doctors "ought to have
the option" to prescribe marijuana to seriously ill patients."
    Today, though, Gore engaged in what Washington Post columnist Judy Mann
has described as "pandering for the presidency," as he
"clarified" his position yet a third time. He told HIV/AIDS
medical journal and internet guide Numedx (www.numedx.com) that "I
believe that if the research validates it, under very limited, highly
regulated circumstances, when a doctor has decided that this is the only
available therapy, we may have to consider the possibility that marijuana
be prescribed for pain management with strict supervision."
    "It appears the vice president doesn't know what his position is towards
the medical use of marijuana," said Keith Stroup, NORML Executive
Director. "First he supports it, then he doesn't. It suggests he is
willing to say whatever he thinks his audience wants to hear, to get
himself elected."
    Republican candidate Gov. George W. Bush addressed the medical marijuana
issue last October when he said he did not personally support the medical
use of marijuana, but felt the decision of whether to legalize medical
marijuana should be left to the states.
    For more information, please contact Keith Stroup, NORML Executive
Director at (202) 483-5500.


Patients Entitled To Raise Medical Use As Fundamental Right

    San Francisco, CA: A three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court
of Appeals has ruled that U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer was in error
when he previously dismissed counterclaims seeking injunctive and
declaratory relief filed by patients who had obtained their marijuana from
medical cannabis cooperatives. The underlying action was brought by the
United States to enjoin several cannabis cooperatives in northern
Californian from distributing marijuana to patients who qualified under
Prop. 215. Several patients had intervened in an attempt to stop the
federal government from closing the cooperatives.
    In seeking the injunction, the patients had argued that the right to
receive medication to relieve pain and suffering is a "fundamental
right," which therefore could only be enjoined by the federal
government if they could demonstrate a "compelling state
interest." In issuing this latest ruling, the appellate court vacated
the district court's order and remanded the case for consideration "in
light of our prior opinion."
    In that ruling, the same three-judge panel vacated another order entered
by Judge Breyer that had held the medical cannabis dispensaries could not
raise a medical necessity defense to the government's civil suit. The Court
of Appeals ruled that the medical necessity defense does exist in federal
law and ordered the trial judge to reconsider his ruling in light of that
holding.
    "The Ninth Circuit, in this unpublished decision, has said that Judge
Breyer should at least consider the 'fundamental right' argument, rather
than dismissing it out of hand," said Robert Raich, Esq.
"Obviously this would certainly be an additional argument that we
should now use before Judge Breyer in our future pleadings."
    For more information, please contact Keith Stroup, NORML Executive
Director at (202) 483-5500, or Robert Raich, Esq., at (510) 338-0700.

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