"No one is
bound to obey an unconstitutional law and no courts are
bound to enforce it."
16th American Jurisprudence 2d, Section 177 late 2nd,
Section 256
DEA Busts Longstanding Santa Cruz Medical Marijuana
Collective
Santa Cruz: Federal officials continued their crackdown
on sick and dying Californians yesterday when 20 armed
Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents raided the
Wo/Men’s Alliance for Medical Marijuana (WAMM), a
medical marijuana collective that had operated openly and
in conjunction with the Santa Cruz sheriff’s office
since 1993. The cooperative served some 250 patients, 85
percent of whom suffered from terminal illness, providing
medicinal marijuana and other health related services
free of charge. WAMM co-founders Valerie and Michael
Corral were arrested and later released pending possible
criminal indictment for marijuana trafficking. Federal
agents destroyed 167 marijuana plants during the raid.
State police were not notified of the Feds’ action
and did not participate in the raid. In fact, Santa Cruz
County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Kim Allen
later told The Oakland Tribune that his office had met
regularly with the Corrals and had deemed WAMM to be in
compliance and protected under California’s
medicinal marijuana law.
Yesterday’s raid marks the 22nd time since September
11, 2001 that federal officials have taken action against
California patients, growers or medicinal marijuana
cooperatives, according to statistics compiled by
California NORML. In addition, medical marijuana cases
have accounted for 50 percent of all federal marijuana
cases filed this year in the U.S. District Court in San
Francisco, according to California NORML Coordinator Dale
Gieringer, who adds that the majority of raids have
involved individuals found in possession of a relatively
small number of plants. Typically, federal law
enforcement only becomes involved in marijuana cases
involving 1,000 or more marijuana plants. Federal
authorities have previously raided high profile medical
marijuana dispensaries in Los Angeles, San Francisco and
Sacramento.
WAMM co-founder Valerie Corral, who suffers from
epilepsy, is a longtime medicinal marijuana activist. She
was a member of Attorney General Bill Lockyer’s
medical marijuana task force and had been documenting
ongoing research regarding the efficacy of various
medicinal marijuana strains, as well as the use of
medical cannabis for young people with multiple behavior
disorders. Santa Cruz County Supervisor Mardi Wormhoudt
called the DEA’s actions “absolutely
appalling” and praised WAMM as an “extremely
responsible collective; they have operated in a way that
has been exemplary.”
Seventy-seven percent of Santa Cruz voters approved a
local initiative in 1992 urging police to stop arresting
medicinal marijuana users. Following passage of
California’s medicinal marijuana law in 1996, the
Santa Cruz city council reaffirmed a local ordinance
allowing legalizing the use and cultivation of medicinal
cannabis by patients who possessed a doctor’s
recommendation.
And The War Continues...
Feds Raid Six-Patient Medicinal Pot Collective In
San Diego
San Diego, CA: The federal government continued its
crackdown on sick and dying Californians this week when
regional task force officials acting on a federal warrant
raided the home of Steve McWilliams and Barbara MacKenzie
- co-directors of San Diego's Shelter From The Storm, a
small medical marijuana collective that served six
patients. Federal agents seized approximately 20 plants
in the raid.
No criminal charges have yet been filed in the case. Both
McWilliams and MacKenzie possess doctors' recommendations
to use medical pot, and had been working closely with
local officials to abide by the city's pending medical
marijuana guidelines. McWilliams had previously served as
a member of the City Council's medical marijuana task
force.
Under state law, the possession, use and cultivation of
marijuana for medical purposes are legal in California.
Federal law prohibits possession of the drug for any
purpose. However, federal law enforcement typically only
becomes involved in cases involving several hundred
marijuana plants.
"I've never seen a case with such a small amount [of
marijuana,]" said NORML Legal Committee member
Patrick Dudley, who is representing McWilliams and
MacKenzie. "It's getting ludicrous. They're being
targeted [by the government] because they're speaking
out."
McWilliams is a longtime advocate for medical marijuana,
and had sponsored a medical marijuana giveaway last week
outside San Diego's City Hall. Two days later, he
received a letter hand-delivered by the Drug Enforcement
Administration (DEA) and signed by U.S. Attorney Carol
Lam warning him to stop cultivating marijuana or face
arrest.
"This case raises serious questions about the misuse
of federal power to try to silence a vocal critic of
federal policy," NORML Executive Director Keith
Stroup said. "It is inconceivable that the Feds
would become involved in this case were it not for Steve
McWilliams' effectiveness as an advocate for the medical
use of marijuana."
Since September 11, 2001, federal drug enforcement
officials have taken actions against more than 35
California medical marijuana patients, growers and
cooperatives - including raiding a pair of northern
California dispensaries earlier this month.
You can denounce the DEA’s
recent actions in California by visiting: http://capwiz.com/norml2/issues/alert/?alertid=100506&type=CO
Related Stories:
Hundreds
March On California Capitol To Demand Feds End Assault On
Medi-Pot Patients
Sacramento, CA: Several hundred demonstrators -
including patients, students and public officials -
braved 104 degree heat to convene at the California state
Capitol in Sacramento on Monday to protest the federal
government's increasing crackdown on state medicinal
marijuana patients and providers, and demand state
politicians stand up for the state's medical pot law. The
daylong protest marked one of the nation's largest ever
rallies for medicinal marijuana.
NORML Chapter Coordinator Kris Krane, who helped organize
the event, called Monday's demonstration a success.
"It is truly heartening to see hundreds of students
join together with patients and other concerned citizens
to defend the rights of California's sick and
dying," he said. "Our hope is that this
demonstration will send the message to state and federal
lawmakers that the will of the people must no longer be
ignored."
Monday's demonstration was held in response to a wave of
recent federal raids on California medicinal marijuana
collectives. Protestors also demanded federal officials
pardon Bryan Epis, a northern California medical
marijuana provider facing ten years in prison for
marijuana cultivation. Epis, who was convicted in federal
court in July, is scheduled to be sentenced on October 7.
Approximately 30 demonstrators were arrested blocking the
doors of the Sacramento Federal Courthouse to protest
Epis' conviction.
DEA to California
Medical Marijuana Patients: Drop Dead
In the wake of
the DEA raid on the Wo/Men's Alliance for Medical
Marijuana (WAMM) dispensary in Santa Cruz a month ago,
California Attorney General Bill Lockyer bestirred
himself long enough to dash off a letter to DEA
administrator Asa Hutchinson and his boss, US Attorney
General John Ashcroft, asking the feds to please butt
out. The letter, which also went to all US
Attorneys in California and the three DEA offices in the
state, called the raids "wasteful, unwise and
surprisingly insensitive," since California law
allows the use of marijuana for medical purposes.
The WAMM raid,
Lockyer wrote, called into question the federal-state
partnership to fight drug trafficking. "The
apparent decision by the DEA to put any kind of priority
on such raids demonstrates a lack of good judgment and
seriously threatens to wreck the historic productive
partnership of the DEA and California's state and local
law enforcement, undermining our efforts to fight
dangerous drugs and the major narco-terrorist
organizations that manufacture and distribute them,"
Lockyer told the feds.
Lockyer asked
for a meeting with federal officials to discuss the
problem. He hasn't gotten a meeting, but he has now
received a response from Hutchinson, and neither Lockyer
nor the state's medical marijuana community will be
pleased. The DEA will continue to raid marijuana
operations, Hutchinson said, and will refuse to recognize
any distinction between recreational and medical
marijuana. "As long as marijuana remains a
Schedule I controlled substance, (the Drug Enforcement
Administration) will continue its enforcement efforts
targeting groups and individuals involved in its
distribution," Hutchinson wrote in a September 30
letter to Lockyer.
Hutchinson also
repeated the agency's dogmatic denial that such a thing
as medical marijuana even exists. "Your
repeated references to 'medical' or 'medicinal' marijuana
illustrate a common misperception that marijuana is safe
and effective medicine," Hutchinson wrote.
"The scientific community has never determined this
to be the case."
Hutchinson added
that the DEA is "obliged by law" to seize
marijuana even if no prosecution results, as is
apparently the case with WAMM and with San Diego
cultivator Steve McWilliams, whose garden was seized last
week with no charges filed. He also contended that
California's medical marijuana law is being "abused
to facilitate traditional illegal marijuana trafficking
and associated crime."
But medical
marijuana advocates pointed out that many patients grow
for themselves with no money or drugs changing hands and
that some dispensaries, including WAMM, accepted no
payment for providing medicine. Lockyer
spokesperson Hallye Jordan told the San Diego Union
Tribune Lockyer's office was still reviewing the letter
but was pleased to get a response, no matter what the
content. "The lines of communication are
open," she said. "At least we're
talking."
That may be good
enough for Lockyer, but it's not good enough for the
state's large and increasingly angry medical marijuana
community. The stage appears to be set for a messy
confrontation pitting the federal government against the
state government, the federal government against the
medical marijuana movement, and the medical marijuana
movement against the state government, at least to the
degree it refuses to protect the state's estimated 30,000
medical marijuana users.
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