ERIC E. STERLING
1899 L Street, N.W., Suite 500, Washington, DC 20036-3804
(202) 835-9075, FAX (202) 833-8561
Email: esterling@igc.orgVIA FAX
October 30,1998
FROM: ERIC E. STERLING TEL 202-835-9075 FAX 202-833-8561
4 PAGES (including cover sheet)
RE: MEDICAL MARIJUANA LAWSUIT
DEAR FRIENDS:
Last week U.S. Judge Marvin Katz (Eastern District of Pennsylvania) proposed that a lawsuit brought by Lawrence Elliott Hirsch of the Hirsch & Caplan Public Interest Law Firm on behalf of some 160-named plaintiffs seeking medical marijuana be settled by providing the marijuana to the plaintiffs.
Attached is a copy of a filing by the U.S. Department of Justice regarding the proposed settlement asking for time to fully and carefully consider the proposal. Also attached is a reprint of an article in today's The Legal Intelligencer (Philadelphia, PA), about this proposed settlement.
This should be of interest to concerned Americans. It is "news" that a Federal judge found the facts pleaded in this case so compelling that at the first pre-trial conference on the matter he suggested as a settlement that the plaintiffs get medical marijuana.
At the conference the judge appeared to be very sympathetic to the plaintiffs' core arguments. Explicit in the judge's proposal is his recognition of two key facts and a profound legal conclusion: marijuana has critical medical value for the treatment of very serious conditions and diseases, that the government recognizes this medical value because it provides marijuana to eight very ill persons, and denial by the government to seriously ill persons of the use of marijuana medically rises to the level of an unconstitutional violation of their rights.
For more information on the case contact Larry Hirsch at 215-496-9530.