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CNN Wolf Blitzer Reports

Supreme Court Upholds Federal Law That Bans the Use of Marijuana

Aired May 14, 2001 - 20:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Tonight: Its benefits are hailed by patients suffering from AIDS, cancer and multiple sclerosis.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If it wasn't for cannabis, I would be sitting in my wheelchair right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: But the Supreme Court rules out a medical necessity exception to the law banning the distribution of marijuana.

A massive cocaine seizure at sea...

Closing arguments in the case of a 14-year-old charged with killing his teacher.

And Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh weighs his options. I'll discuss crime and punishment with John Walsh, host of "America's Most Wanted."

And researchers report more breakthrough success with a just- approved cancer pill.

Good evening. I'm Wolf Blitzer reporting tonight from Washington.

Most of you have heard stories about very sick and often desperate people smoking marijuana and feeling better. Some cancer patients say it helps them cope with debilitating chemotherapy and radiation treatment. Others say it simply helps them eat and regain their strength.

But today, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously upheld a federal law which bans the use of marijuana, even for medical purposes. And that's our top story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER (voice-over): The court's decision was a major disappointment to many patients who suffer from devastating illnesses, ranging from glaucoma, to AIDS, to cancer. Angel McClary has a brain tumor.

ANGEL MCCLARY, MEDICAL MARIJUANA USER: If it wasn't for cannabis, I would not only just be in a chair, but I would also be dead. If I do not have a certain level of cannabis in my bloodstream, I will literally die. I will starve to death.

BLITZER: Justice Clarence Thomas, who wrote the unanimous opinion, says of the controlled substances act, which classifies the drug as illegal, that -- quote -- "It is clear from the text of the act that Congress has made a determination that marijuana has no medical benefits worthy of an exception."

The ruling does not affect state laws which allow medical use of marijuana, but it does open to prosecution groups like the Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative, which distribute marijuana to seriously ill patients.

JEFF JONES, OAKLAND CANNABIS BUYERS' COOPERATIVE: I feel that it's heavy-handed and misguided, and that it does not take into light what these patients are to do with no alternative being offered from the federal government as to where their medicine is coming from.

BLITZER: Justice John Paul Stevens, while supporting the ruling, insisted it was very narrowly focused. Quote -- "... whether the defense might be available to a seriously ill patient for whom there is no alternative means of avoiding starvation or extraordinary suffering is a difficult issue that is not presented here."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: For perspective on the debate over the medical use of marijuana, let's go live to Atlanta and CNN medical correspondent, Doctor Sanjay Gupta.

Sanjay, is there any scientific evidence that marijuana actually helps these patients?

SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: This has been studied quite a bit, Wolf. In fact, the Institute of Medicine back in 1999 studied this quite a bit and realized that there was scientific evidence that showed there was some benefit. They studied a few different patients.

Patients with AIDS, they looked at the wasting syndrome associated with AIDS. They looked at patients that get nauseated and vomit on chemotherapy and found that marijuana had some benefit there. In addition to patients who have glaucoma, helping the pressure in the eyes, and all sorts of different purposes. So marijuana may have some absolute role and that's backed up scientifically.

BLITZER: So what's the downside of letting these patients smoke marijuana?

GUPTA: People have all sorts of thoughts about what marijuana does to you, and I think a lot of that is what people think of as the downsides, as well. In the short term, it may affect your motor function, it may affect your ability to think straight. People may even hallucinate on marijuana.

In the long term, some of the same risks that you have with smoking: lung damage, bronchitis, maybe even lung cancer. And in women who may get pregnant you have to worry about things like poor pregnancy outcomes and birth defects. So there are both short-term downsides as well as long-term downsides.

BLITZER: Sanjay Gupta, thank you so much for joining us. Illegal drugs are also making headlines in California. The Coast Guard is calling it the largest drug bust in maritime history. Searchers found 13 tons of cocaine in secret compartments of a fishing vessel off San Diego. Ten suspects, from Russia and Ukraine, are in custody. The cocaine is believed to have a street value of hundreds of millions of dollars.

Jurors in West Palm Beach, Florida, tonight are deliberating the fate of a 14-year-old boy charged with fatally shooting his teacher. Closing arguments in the case ended today after weeks of testimony.

With the latest, here's CNN's Mark Potter.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARC SHINER, PROSECUTOR: This is what Nate Brazill did. Is this an accident? Is this an accident?

MARK POTTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): With a crime scene photo of teacher Barry Grunow, Prosecutor Marc Shiner tried to convince the jury that 14-year-old Nathaniel Brazill is a cold-blooded killer.

In closing arguments, he said the boy fired the fatal shot because he was angry at school officials, and lied when he claimed the killing was accidental.

SHINER: His finger on the trigger, knowing it's fully loaded, he makes the conscious choice to pull the trigger. If this was an accident, why didn't he drop to his knees? his that too much a 13- year-old? "Oh, my God, what did I do?"

POTTER: According to testimony, Brazill ran away, claiming he was scared, and did nothing to help the man he described as a favorite teacher.

ROBERT UDELL, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: It's not first degree, premeditated murder. It's not even close.

POTTER: In the defense closing arguments, Attorney Robert Udell scoffed at the allegation Brazill intended to kill Barry Grunow.

UDELL: The only way you can believe that this was a premeditated killing is if you believe that a 13-year-old with no prior criminal history, no prior school disciplinary history, no evidence of any antisocial conduct, all of a sudden and for no reason decides to kill his favorite teacher.

POTTER: Attorney Udell argued Brazill committed manslaughter, and should be punished, but not, in his words, "crushed."

(on camera): The case, now in the hands of the jury, is controversial, because a 14-year-old in an adult court faces the possibility of life in prison. The prosecutor asked the jury to disregard that and follow the law. The defense asked the jury to consider the boy's age when trying to decide why he killed his teacher.

Mark Potter, CNN, West Palm Beach, Florida.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: President Bush is revealing details of a plan to combat gun violence. Speaking to an audience of police officers in Philadelphia today, the president said $550 million would be spent over the next two years to hire hundreds of federal, state, and local prosecutors to handle firearms cases. Mr. Bush said gun laws already on the books must be enforced, and warned that those using guns illegally -- quote -- "will do hard time."

Prosecutors who handled the Oklahoma City bombing case today predicted that Timothy McVeigh's conviction and death sentence will stand, despite the FBI's revelation last week that it withheld some 3,000 pages of documents. McVeigh's lawyers spent the day wading through the files. They've said their client is keeping his legal options open. McVeigh's execution had been scheduled for Wednesday. The Justice Department has postponed it until June 11th.

Joining me now is a man who has worked closely and successfully over the years with the FBI in the search for criminals: the host of the television program, "America's Most Wanted," John Walsh. John, thanks for joining us.

JOHN WALSH, HOST, "AMERICA'S MOST WANTED": Glad to be here, Wolf.

BLITZER: How much confidence has been lost, among the American public, in the FBI because of this failure?

WALSH: Well, I think there's two things you have to deal with here. I was there last week. I was asked by the FBI six years ago to go to the bombing the day after the bombing, to profile John Doe No. 2, which turned out to be Terry Nichols. Those families were devastated.

Nineteen children -- I spoke to the parents of murdered children. I went into the morgue to talk to the people that were working in these makeshift morgues, putting together little pieces of hands and feet to give the parents enough to bury their children. They were all looking for justice and closure. And they were all looking forward to McVeigh being executed on Wednesday.

I've been to the FBI headquarters. You have, too. There are 6,000 people that work in that building on all different levels. They have tried to computerize their files over the last year, and I truly believe that it's just a mixup. It's a clerical error that those boxes were put into a closet somewhere, somebody didn't put them on file because they have been trying go computerized.

And you know, I've been through three FBI directors, and Louis Freeh has done a good job. He's got six kids. He's the first FBI director to ever put a child molester on the FBI's Top 10, Because of a low level clerical error, I don't think -- I think it's a cheap shot. But I think McVeigh, you know, for him to change his mind, and for us to spend millions of dollars to retry this guy, is a real travesty.

BLITZER: You won't be surprised to learn, and you probably know already, that the defense attorneys for Timothy McVeigh are not convinced this was just a simple mistake. I want you to listen to what Robert Nigh, one of his defense attorney told me only yesterday here on CNN. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT NIGH, MCVEIGH ATTORNEY: The discovery agreement that the government signed off on, said it would abide by, said that it would meticulously ensure it would honor, has not been honored. All of us, as Americans, should be concerned about the process by which somebody might be put to death.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Says the system has been corrupted, if you will.

WALSH: You know, anybody can make a mistake. Again, they have been computerizing millions of files over there. A clerical error -- and you know something? That guy has got a lot of nerve, in my opinion, Wolf. It's all about this. If McVeigh gets a retrial, that guy stands to make a couple million, or a million dollars of criminal defense attorney fees, and that's...

BLITZER: But these lawyers who are representing Timothy McVeigh right now, they believe, as matter of principle, that the capital punishment, the death penalty should not exist.

WALSH: They are absolutely entitled to their opinion. And you know what I say? If they are philosophically and morally opposed to the death penalty, why don't they do it pro bono? Lots of law firms do cases pro bono, but they stand to make millions of dollars off of McVeigh.

I'll tell you what. If you had been in that morgue tent when I was there, seeing those little hands and those little fingers, if it was your child or it was his son or daughter that was in that day care center, I think you would feel differently about the death penalty.

And McVeigh has written a book about it saying, they are collateral damage; I don't care that I killed 19 kids and 100-some other people. Let me tell you something: this is one guy that should go into the next life.

BLITZER: He didn't write the book, two authors...

WALSH: Two authors did, but...

BLITZER: ... with interviews with McVeigh.

WALSH: Absolutely. And they're going to make money. You know, we're giving him his 15 minutes of fame. He loves it.

Again, if he had been executed next Wednesday, we would have forgotten about Timothy McVeigh.

BLITZER: We are going to take a quick break. I was in Oklahoma City right after the bombing, so I did see the devastation right then, just as you did, but stand by.

When we come back: should 14-year-olds be tried as adults? And the war on drugs: is a 13-ton cocaine bust just a drop in the bucket? I'll have more on crime and punishment with John Walsh of "America's Most Wanted."

And later in our program: another use for a new cancer pill gives patients a new lease on life. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back. My guest is John Walsh, crime-fighting host of a popular television program "America's Most Wanted." He's a leading advocate for missing and exploited children and for the rights of the crime victims.

John, this 14-year-old boy, Nathaniel Brazill, being tried as an adult. It went to the jury today, the closing arguments. Is it appropriate to try 14-year-olds as adults, potentially let them spend the rest of their lives in jail?

WALSH: Complicated question, Wolf, because in most states if you are tried as a juvenile, no matter what you do you are released at 21 years old. You know Judge Judy on the syndicated television program. When she was a real judge, the case she said that bothered her the most was a young man who cold-bloodedly killed three cab drivers in New York. But because New York state has a juvenile law, he was released at 21 years old.

So, lots of prosecutors are trying cold-blooded killings, as you saw on that tape -- I mean, he put that gun right to the teacher's face, shot him in the face and threatened another guy on the way out -- this is a way to keep these disturbed individuals, these disturbed kids, in jail much, much longer, at least until they are 40 or 50 years old, when they can come up for parole.

So there is no simple answer. Juveniles that commit murder are released in most states at 20 years old, 21 years old, and people don't know that they have committed two or three homicides. If this kid is tried as an adult and he's convicted, he will probably spend the rest of his life in prison. But I would say the judge will probably give him a chance for parole.

BLITZER: The other big story today: 13 tons of cocaine seized off the coast of San Diego. It looks to those of us who have not studied it as closely as you have, the federal law enforcement authorities may be winning an occasional battle, but the war against drugs is perhaps not even winnable.

WALSH: Wolf, I spent a week in Mexico three weeks ago at the request of the Mexican government to come down and do a guy named Guzman, who was a big cartel -- now there are Mexican cartels are in league with the Colombian cartels. The Colombians fly the cocaine into Mexico, land. The military helps them unload -- many, many cops, Mexican police cops that are corrupt help them unload it.

This Guzman went to prison in Mexico, had women in his cell every night, had candlelight dinners and walked out of the prison, literally. The Arellano-Felix brothers that I profiled: they're worth billions and billions of dollars. They killed 35 people in one month. They killed two chiefs of police in Tijuana, four people in San Diego, a competing cartel family -- in one day, they murdered 19 people, shot the governor of their province.

They have more money, those Mexican cartels combined with the Colombian cartels, now have billions and billions of dollars at their disposal. They have 10 times our budget against drugs. I don't think it is a winnable war when 50,000 cars cross the Mexican border at Tijuana every day. So what, they stop five cars, one boat; 50 cars get through. I don't think it's winnable.

BLITZER: What's your take on the murder of Bonny Bakley, the wife of Robert Blake, the movie star -- the movie actor in Hollywood.

WALSH: Well, you know, because of all the mistakes that were made in the O.J. Simpson trial and the nightmare, I think everybody knows that America -- in America that O.J. Simpson did kill his wife and Ron Goldman's son -- I mean Ron Goldman, Fred Goldman's son.

The LAPD are moving very, very cautiously on this. They have asked us to do this case on Saturday night, because a lot of people won't call police and give them clues. We have caught 666 guys and taken them off the streets because they can call "America's Most Wanted" and remain anonymous.

So LAPD is proceeding very cautiously, as they should. They made a lot of mistakes -- the prosecution -- in the O.J. Simpson trial, and we are hoping, and they are hoping, that someone will have the guts to call "America's Most Wanted" on Saturday night and shed some light on this case.

BLITZER: All right, and I know you have a big special, a two- hour special on DNA that we will be watching Thursday night as well, but unfortunately, we don't have any time left.

WALSH: Two-hour special, five cases that we are doing and we will reveal the results that night. A lot of people will be watching, victims -- it is a double-edged sword that convicts the guilty and frees the innocent, so a lot of people will be watching. The criminals will be watching that night to see the steps we took and the victims, so it will be a good special. BLITZER: John Walsh of "America's Most Wanted," thanks for joining us.

WALSH: Thank you, Wolf.

BLITZER: Thank you. And please stay tuned to CNN later tonight for the latest on the killing of actor Robert Blake's wife, Bonny Bakley. At 8:30 p.m. Eastern, that is at the bottom of the hour, CNN will carry a live news conference from the Los Angeles police department on possible new developments.

When it comes to energy policy, you may soon be able to look for the union label. We'll tell you how President Bush is trying to get labor leaders on his team supporting his energy plan.

And finding new applications for what's being touted as a breakthrough cancer drug. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back.

In other stories making news: labor leaders such as Teamsters President James Hoffa were invited to the White House today to talk about President Bush's energy proposals. Vice President Dick Cheney told the union officials building new power plants and increasing oil and gas production could mean hundreds of thousands of new jobs. Hoffa said he's not ready to endorse the president's plan, but he thinks it's a good beginning.

Today, Governor Jeb Bush publicly denied rumors he's had an affair with Cynthia Henderson, the woman he appointed secretary of Florida's Department of Management Services. Bush calls the reports, "an outright lie." He said he plans to announce next month whether he'll run for reelection in 2002.

More concern over the escalating violence in the Middle East. In an interview today with CNN's Andrea Koppel, Secretary of State Colin Powell appealed to the Israelis and Palestinians for restraint. His comments came hours after four Israelis were wounded by Palestinian gunmen. Palestinians say the assault was in retaliation for an earlier attack which killed five Palestinian policemen.

Tonight on the "Leading Edge," just days after a revolutionary drug used to fight a type of leukemia won U.S. approval, it is now said to be showing great promise in treating one of the deadliest forms of cancer. Details from CNN medical correspondent Rhonda Rowland.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RHONDA ROWLAND, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At age 38, Marina Symcox was diagnosed with gastrointestinal stromal tumor, or GIST, a type of stomach cancer. Until now, there was no effective treatment.

MARINA SYMCOX, GIST PATIENT: I had absolutely been given no hope, right from the beginning.

ROWLAND: She found out about a study of the cancer pill Gleevec, which had already shown amazing promise in adult leukemia with few side effects.

DR. CHARLES BLANKE, OREGON HEALTH SCIENCES: It turns out that GISTs, or gastrointestinal stromal tumors, have a target that is very closely related and that also drives their malignant behavior.

ROWLAND: A study of 148 GIST patients shows 59 percent went into remission. The results even better in those with the most common type of mutation.

ROWLAND (on camera): Because Gleevec has been approved for treatment of chronic mylogenous leukemia, and since studies show the pill also works in GIST, theoretically, doctors could prescribe Gleevec off-label for treating GIST.

DR. HARMON EYRE, AMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY: Giving it to patients with gastrointestinal tumors or other kinds of cancers that might work would be a reasonable situation if it was done with full knowledge of the patient and the doctor.

ROWLAND: Doctors say Marina Symcox's cancer is in remission. She wanted to live long enough for her children to know and remember her. She got her wish.

Rhonda Rowland, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Just ahead: we're standing by to bring you a live news conference on the killing of actor Robert Blake's wife Bonny Bakley.

Plus, I will open our mail bag. One of our international viewers is revolted by something she sees in the United States. I'll tell you what it is when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back. Time now to open our mailbag. The delay in the execution of Timothy McVeigh is generating lots of reaction.

This from Heliette, a French woman living in the Dominican Republic:

"I feel revolted by McVeigh's execution. He is guilty of an absolutely horrible deed, and my heart goes to the victims' families. Yet, I see the death penalty like organized crime. A state should not execute its own citizens."

But Ken in Phoenix has no sympathy for McVeigh:

"Not one of his victims was given even a split second to contemplate their fate or settle their affairs. It's time to rid the world of this animal." And Lloyd e-mails us with this:

"With regard to the execution of Timothy McVeigh, I believe he has weighted the pros and cons of a confined small room for a lifetime and has decided on the freedom given him through government approved suicide."

Remember, I want to hear from you. Please e-mail me at wolf@cnn.com. And you can read my daily on-line column and sign up for my e-mail previewing our nightly programs by going to our WOLF BLITZER REPORTS Web site, cnn.com/wolf.

Please stay with CNN throughout the night. Dan Rather is Larry King's guest at the top of the hour.

Up next, we're standing by for a news conference by the LAPD on the killing of actor Robert Blake's wife. Greta Van Susteren will discuss that and much more.

"THE POINT" with Greta Van Susteren begins right now.

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