August 30, 2007
Consistent with the Ninth Circuit’s March 2007 ruling in
Raich v. Gonzales, Judge Jeremy Fogel of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, San Jose Division, dismissed outright a number of claims made of behalf of the Wo/Men’s Alliance for Medical Marijuana (WAMM). Importantly, however, two of the issues raised by WAMM and the County and City of Santa Cruz remain alive: (1) the ability of patients to raise a medical necessity defense in the face of federal prosecution, and (2) the claim that the federal government may have violated the Tenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
