FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ACLU, Drug Policy Alliance and Americans for Safe Access Step In to Represent Medical Marijuana Patients in Lawsuit SAN DIEGO A San Diego Superior Court ruled today that lawyers from the American Civil Liberties Union, Americans for Safe Access and the Drug Policy Alliance will be permitted to intervene in a lawsuit brought by several California counties seeking to thwart the state's Compassionate Use Act, which makes medical marijuana legal for patients with a doctor's recommendation. The groups joined the case on behalf of medical marijuana patients and their caregivers and doctors in order to assure their adequate representation in the legal proceedings. "We look forward to the opportunity to stand together with patients in defense of the rights of states to allow medicine to those in need," said David Blair-Loy, an attorney with the ACLU of San Diego and Imperial Counties. "We are heartened that the court recognized the necessity of giving voice to those truly at risk from the counties' ill-conceived actions." San Diego, San Bernardino and Merced counties argued in a lawsuit filed in state court that federal laws prohibiting all use of marijuana invalidate state laws that allow qualified patients to use medical marijuana. The ACLU, Americans for Safe Access (ASA) and the Drug Policy Alliance (the Alliance) filed legal papers on July 7, 2006 seeking to intervene in the proceedings. "As the largest grassroots organization of patients, doctors and scientists advocating for safe and legal access, we feel it's critically important that California's medical marijuana laws be respected by everyone," said Steph Sherer, executive director of ASA. Daniel Abrahamson, director of legal affairs for the Alliance, added, "These county governments have ignored the needs of their sick and dying residents and the advice of California's physicians. By intervening in the lawsuit, patients will have the chance to confront their rogue county officials in court and defend the legality of the Compassionate Use Act." In addition to entering the case, the group's filing asked for a court order compelling the counties to abide by and implement California's medical marijuana laws, as well as an order affirming that the state's medical marijuana laws are not preempted by contrary federal statutes. The lawsuit, initially brought by San Diego County and later joined by San Bernardino and Merced counties, challenges state laws that permit patients to use, and doctors to recommend, medical marijuana under explicit exemptions from state criminal laws that otherwise prohibit all marijuana use. The counties' lawsuit further challenges the state's Medical Marijuana Program Act, which calls for the implementation of an identification card program that would allow police and others to more easily identify legitimate medical marijuana patients. The ACLU, the Alliance and ASA maintain that state medical marijuana laws are not preempted by the federal ban on medical marijuana. While the federal government is free to enforce its prohibition on medical marijuana, even in states such as California that permit its use, all states remain free to adopt and implement policies of their own design an opinion shared by the California Attorney General's office and the attorneys general of several other states, including Colorado, Hawaii and Oregon, that permit medical use of marijuana. The groups represent Wendy Christakes, Pamela Sakuda, William Britt and Yvonne Westbrook, Californians who use physician-recommended marijuana to treat medical conditions and their side-effects, including chronic pain and sciatica, multiple sclerosis, rectal cancer, epilepsy and post-polio syndrome. The groups also represent Sakuda's spouse and caregiver, Norbert Litzinger, as well as Dr. Stephen O'Brien, a physician who specializes in HIV/AIDS treatment in Oakland, California, and believes that many of his seriously ill patients benefit from the medical use of marijuana. In addition to being co-counsel, ASA is also a party to the proceedings on behalf of its membership, which includes thousands of medical marijuana patients, caregivers and physicians residing in California. The Wo/Men's Alliance for Medical Marijuana (WAMM) is also represented by the groups. WAMM is a medical marijuana collective and hospice located in Santa Cruz, California, whose 250 members, the majority of whom are terminally ill, use marijuana to treat a range of conditions. The groups' legal papers are available online at: www.aclu.org/drugpolicy/medmarijuana/26090lgl20060707.html The ACLU's January 19, 2006 letter to the San Diego Supervisors explaining why California's medical marijuana laws are not preempted by federal law is online at: www.aclu.org/drugpolicy/medmarijuana/23565lgl20060119.html California Attorney General Bill Lockyer's opinion issued to the state's Department of Health Services affirming the validity of the state's medical marijuana laws is available at: www.aclu.org/drugpolicy/medmarijuana/21194res20050715.html Additional background on the case can be found at: www.aclu.org/drugpolicy/medmarijuana/23587prs20060124.html

July 31, 2006 For Immediate Release: The DrugScience.org web site (www.drugscience.org) has been revised, redesigned, and developed in a showcase on science and the marijuana issue. Now DrugScience is set to introduce features in political science to supplement its longstanding archives on the cannabis rescheduling petition and the recent history of marijuana research. The redesigned DrugScience.org is the home of the Cannabis Rescheduling Petition and background on the Coalition for Rescheduling Cannabis. The content of both the 1995 and the 2002 Rescheduling Petitions are available in easily accessible html, along with considerable background and archival materials including the original evaluations of THC and Marijuana by HHS prior to the historic hearings before Judge Francis Young in the 1980s. Created by Jon Gettman, DrugScience presents material on the history of rescheduling efforts as well as detailed explanations of the scientific research behind the legal and medical arguments for medical cannabis. The segmented presentation of the material from the two rescheduling petitions provides a rich source of subject matter to link to in various contexts, such as a short explanation why cannabis has low toxicity or a review of the Gateway Theory, all accessible through browsing the contents of the petitions or use of our powerful search engine. Some of the recommended features of DrugScience.org include:

• Marijuana research summaries
• Scientific and legal arguments for medical marijuana
• Search engine for research reports on marijuana and health;
• Cannabis rescheduling petition
• Commentary, history, and analysis of marijuana reform issues
• Comprehensive drug policy research links
• Marijuana research bibliographies
• A Guide to marijuana's legal status under the federal Controlled Substances Act

Coming soon to DrugScience.org: The Bulletin of Cannabis Reform. The purpose of the Bulletin of Cannabis Reform is to report on marijuana policy and the efforts to change it but more to the point the purpose of the Bulletin is to circulate and promote new thinking about cannabis reform. The premier issue of the Bulletin includes a tribute to Bob Randall, the first legal medical cannabis patient in the United States and founder of the medical cannabis movement, as well as an excerpt from Arnold Trebach's new book and a detailed analysis of the recent unsuccessful congressional vote of the Hinchey-Rohrabacher medical cannabis amendment with detailed regional maps of voting by Congressional District. The Bulletin will an on-line journal supplemented by a subscriber newsletter for announcements, background material responding to current events, and notices about the progress of the Cannabis Rescheduling Petition. The scientific and research focus of the Bulletin is directly influenced by the Cannabis Rescheduling Petition now under review by the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). This HHS review is part of an ongoing administrative process that could ease restrictions on legal access to cannabis for medical patients and must address all relevant scientific literature on the subject of marijuana use in the United States. The Bulletin of Cannabis Reform seeks to compile a record of the most recent scientific findings as preparation for challenges to any attempt by HHS and other federal agencies to deny legal, regulated access to medical patients throughout the United States. The wider focus on cannabis reform seeks to apply the critical perspective of the rescheduling process to the reform movement itself. The Bulletin will seek to address these central questions: what has been learned from decades of reform activity and how can contemporary reform efforts address the social, economic, and political needs of both marijuana users and the general public. An informed public benefits from diverse points of view, and so will the cause of cannabis reform. The goal of the Bulletin is to encourage creative and successful approaches to marijuana's legalization. The Bulletin of Cannabis Reform will be a public, independent forum. These new features and the overall redesign of DrugScience.org have produced a new showcase for the cause of cannabis reform with appeal to many different segments of the general public, such as students, academics, researchers, professionals, businessmen and women and parents. DrugScience provides access to the scientific, policy, and research materials that make the case for the reform of cannabis laws in the United States, and provides a new standard to the cause of marijuana reform. For more information: Jon Gettman: [email protected] DrugScience.org: http://www.drugscience.org/bcr/ The Bulletin of Cannabis Reform: http://www.drugscience.org/bcr/