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IN THE SUPREME COURT OF OREGON, No. S055472
STATE OF OREGON, Plaintiff-Appellant and Petitioner on
Review,
v.
AMBER and MICHAEL CASTILLEJA, Defendant-Appellees and
Respondents on Review
APPLICATION TO APPEAR AS AMICUS CURIAE IN SUPPORT OF
THE RESPONDENTS ON REVIEW, AMBER AND MICHAEL CASTILLEJA,
BY THE NATIONAL ORGANIZATION FOR THE REFORM OF MARIJUANA
LAWS
The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws
(NORML) applies,
pursuant to ORAP 8.15(1), for permission to appear as amicus
curiae in this case and file a brief
(filed herewith) in support of the Respondents on Review, Amber
and Michael Castilleja.
As grounds therefor, the Applicant NORML states as follows:
1. Applicant=s Non-Private Interest. The Applicant intends to
present a position as to thecorrect rule of law that does notaffect
a private interest of its own, exceptto the extent
that the correct rule of law serves its members=fundamental
state and federal
constitutional rights of access to and use of doctor-recommended
medicine (including the
natural herbal remedy marijuana, the use of which is protected
under the state Medical
Marijuana Act, ORS 475.300 [2001]; OMMA) without impairing their
concomitant
entitlements to health, privacy and due process of law.
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2. The Applicant. The Applicant is a non-profit educational
corporation organized in 1971under the laws of the District of
Columbia, with its primary office located in Washington,
D.C. It has approximately 15,000 dues paying members, 420,000
internet-based
supporters, and x state-based affiliates from Hawaii to Maine
including Oregon NORML,
located in Portland, Oregon (other affiliates are located in
Eugene and Long Valley).
3. The Applicant=s Public Interest. The Applicant is the oldest
drug policy reform (anti-prohibition) organization in the nation,
seeking to educate the public and legislators as to
the futile and counterproductive impact of Marijuana Prohibition
as a matter of federal
and state law. Despite the arrest of an American citizen for
marijuana possession at a
rate of approximately one every forty seconds pursuant to state
and federal Marijuana
Prohibition, marijuana use has continued unabated at substantial
rates (an annual criminal
enterprise with an estimated annual value more than 100 billion
dollars, entailing a loss
of more than 40 billion dollars in business and individual tax
revenues, and costing more
than 10 billion dollars in law enforcement resources) by adults
and adolescents for the
past thirty years. Today, more than half the adults in the
United States have used
marijuana at least once, including by their own admissions: A
sitting U.S. Supreme
Court Justice, a former U.S. President, a former Speaker of the
U.S. House of
Representatives, and a former U.S. Vice-President and Nobel
Prize winner. The
Applicant seeks the regulation, control and taxation of a
marijuana under state law and
administrative regulation to achieve, among other public
benefits, the effective protection
of adolescents from current massive levels of criminal marijuana
distribution empowered
by Marijuana Prohibition.
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4. The Applicant=s Special Expertise Concerning This Case. The
Applicant has beeninstrumental in the adoption, by state
legislatures and ballot initiatives, of state laws
protecting patient access to doctor-approved use of marijuana
for medicinal and palliative
purposes in twelve states (including Oregon neighbors California
and Washington),
similar to the OMMA. Marijuana was found to have effective
medical uses by the
National Institute of Medicine, an agency of the U.S. Department
of Health and Human
Services, after a million dollar study funded by the federal
government in 1999, to which
the Applicant contributed. Also, an application pursuant to 21
U.S.C. sec. 811 et seq. to
reschedule marijuana under federal controlled substances act, as
having an accepted
medical use, is pending before the U.S. Departments of Justice,
and Health and Human
Services, to which application process the Applicant
contributed. This case presents an
issue concerning patient access to and use of marijuana
recommended by a state licenced
doctor pursuant to the OMMA, commensurate with a patient=s state
and federal
constitutional rights to health, privacy and due process of law
without unreasonable
government interference.
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WHEREFORE, the Applicant moves that this application (for
permission to appear
as amicus curiaein this case on behalf of the Respondents on
Review) be granted, and that
its brief herewith be accepted for filing, or that the Court
grant such other relief deemed
appropriate.
NATIONAL ORGANIZATION FOR THE
REFORM OF MARIJUANA LAWS
By Its Attorney:
Michael D. Cutler, MA BBO# 110940
46 Kenwood StreetBrookline MA 02446-2413
Telephone: (617) 816-6056
E-mail: [email protected]
Certificate of Service: I hereby certify that on this date, I
mailed a copy of this application to
Assistant Attorney General Rolf C. Moan, Oregon State Dept. of
Justice Appellate Division,
1162 Court St NE, Salem OR 97301.
Dated: May 8, 2008
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