SmokeDog420
New Member
Thousands of seriously ill Californians who rely on medical marijuana to relieve their pain, restore their appetite, treat their nausea or help with a slew of other symptoms are breathing a little easier this week as a result of a federal court order.
In the case of County of Santa Cruz et al. v. Ashcroft, U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel issued a temporary injunction barring the federal government from raiding the gardens of the Wo/Men's Alliance for Medical Marijuana, or WAMM.
The ruling allows the collective to resume cultivation free from the fear of further federal prosecution. This relief comes 18 months after a brutal Drug Enforcement Administration raid on WAMM in Santa Cruz, and a year after the collective's seriously ill members filed suit against the federal government to stop the law enforcement harassment.
Last week's order is the first time that a court has applied the law to protect the right of a group of sick people to grow and share their medicine. This is no small victory. In the seven years since the voters of California overwhelmingly passed Proposition 215, which permits patients to use medical marijuana with a physician's recommendation, the federal government has done everything in its power to undermine the will of the voters of California and the eight other states that subsequently passed their own medical marijuana laws.
The WAMM collective is a group of terminally and chronically ill patients and their caregivers who grow and use medicine with the recommendation of their physicians in compliance with state law and local ordinances. WAMM is a true collective, where members do not pay for their medicine and everyone contributes in his or her own way to the community. On Sept. 23, 2002, 30 federal DEA agents raided the WAMM gardens in the Santa Cruz hills. These agents held the collective's founders and a patient at gunpoint while they confiscated their marijuana plants.
Source: San Diego Union Tribune (CA)
Author: Judy Appel
Published: April 29, 2004
Copyright: 2004 Union-Tribune Publishing Co.
Contact: letters@uniontrib.com
Website: The San Diego Union-Tribune - San Diego, California & National News
In the case of County of Santa Cruz et al. v. Ashcroft, U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel issued a temporary injunction barring the federal government from raiding the gardens of the Wo/Men's Alliance for Medical Marijuana, or WAMM.
The ruling allows the collective to resume cultivation free from the fear of further federal prosecution. This relief comes 18 months after a brutal Drug Enforcement Administration raid on WAMM in Santa Cruz, and a year after the collective's seriously ill members filed suit against the federal government to stop the law enforcement harassment.
Last week's order is the first time that a court has applied the law to protect the right of a group of sick people to grow and share their medicine. This is no small victory. In the seven years since the voters of California overwhelmingly passed Proposition 215, which permits patients to use medical marijuana with a physician's recommendation, the federal government has done everything in its power to undermine the will of the voters of California and the eight other states that subsequently passed their own medical marijuana laws.
The WAMM collective is a group of terminally and chronically ill patients and their caregivers who grow and use medicine with the recommendation of their physicians in compliance with state law and local ordinances. WAMM is a true collective, where members do not pay for their medicine and everyone contributes in his or her own way to the community. On Sept. 23, 2002, 30 federal DEA agents raided the WAMM gardens in the Santa Cruz hills. These agents held the collective's founders and a patient at gunpoint while they confiscated their marijuana plants.
Source: San Diego Union Tribune (CA)
Author: Judy Appel
Published: April 29, 2004
Copyright: 2004 Union-Tribune Publishing Co.
Contact: letters@uniontrib.com
Website: The San Diego Union-Tribune - San Diego, California & National News
