T
The420Guy
Guest
Openly defying the federal government, a host of Santa Cruz officials
stood witness Tuesday as medical marijuana advocates distributed
cannabis products in the courtyard of Santa Cruz City Hall.
As street musicians performed in the background and an unmarked green
helicopter hovered persistently overhead, the mayor and five of six
City Council members, three former mayors and the city's
representative on the county Board of Supervisors joined with an
estimated 1,000 citizens to show support for medical pot.
The crowd, alert for signs that federal agents might stage a raid,
shook their fists at the helicopter and chanted, "DEA, go away!"
Rich Meyer, spokesman for the federal anti-drug agency, wouldn't say
whether the helicopter belonged to the DEA or whether plainclothes
agents were in the crowd.
The rally was in response to the Sept. 5 bust of the Wo/Men's
Alliance for Medical Marijuana, a Santa Cruz-based collective of more
than 230 members whose doctors have recommended they use marijuana to
relieve symptoms of illness. DEA agents chopped down the group's 2002
marijuana crop and arrested founders Valerie and Mike Corral. The
Corrals were released that day and have not been charged with any
crime.
More than a dozen seriously ill patients came forward at Tuesday's
rally -- in wheelchairs, with canes or on emaciated legs -- to stock
up on cannabis tincture, cannabis-laced milk, buds for smoking and
bright green marijuana muffins. Despite fears of a bust, no arrests
were made.
"I think (the federal government) will find that going after Mike and
Valerie was a big mistake," said Dale Gieringer, spokesman for NORML,
the National Organization to Reform Marijuana Laws. "This case could
be their Waterloo."
DEA spokesman Meyer was dismissive of such claims and hinted that
city officials may be criminally liable for their stance.
"We take violations of the law seriously, and today the federal drug
laws were broken in Santa Cruz, in the presence of the mayor and City
Council," Meyer said. "The message I got was that officials there
have not upheld their oath to uphold and enforce the law."
A SHARP BACKLASH
The DEA raid infuriated local officials, who had worked with WAMM for
years to create a verification and distribution system that would
conform to California's Proposition 215 -- which legalized medical
marijuana use -- and prevent ailing people from being forced to rely
on black-market marijuana.
WAMM's members grow their own organic pot for distribution within the group.
The collective has operated openly in Santa Cruz since 1996, when
Proposition 215 passed. The federal government has always asserted
that marijuana use for any reason is illegal, however, and has
recently raided a string of medical marijuana clubs across the state.
But the WAMM raid provoked a sharp backlash. Even state Attorney
General Bill Lockyer has challenged the federal government's
authority in the case.
The Corrals' legal representatives, led by Santa Clara University law
professor Gerald Uelmen, hope the facts in WAMM's case will allow for
a successful challenge of federal authority. Since the U.S. attorney
seems reluctant to file criminal charges, Uelmen plans to sue the
DEA, demanding return of seized property and a reassessment of the
law.
'A HIGHER LAW'
Since WAMM grows its own pot for personal use, Uelmen questions
whether the federal government's right to regulate interstate
commerce should apply.
And since the DEA has shown a pattern of busting medical marijuana
providers but then failing to prosecute them, he argues that the
raids are illegal "punitive expeditions," which are illegal under the
Fourth Amendment to the Constitution.
"When you boil it down, one issue in the case of the U.S. vs. Valerie
and Mike Corral, and 238 sick and dying people, is: Has compassion
for the sick and dying become a federal crime?" Uelmen said Tuesday,
to deafening cheers. "WAMM is a collective hospice, where giving
comfort and love to those afflicted with AIDS and other serious
illness is the only priority. This is recognition of a higher law
that commands us to love one another."
County Supervisor Mardi Wormhoudt said that local officials have few
options in confronting an unfair federal system and that Santa Cruz
residents are solidly behind her and her colleagues.
"There is little we can do except standing by the people who are so
courageously defying the law," she said.
'NOT ABOUT DEFIANCE'
Few communities have been as fervent in their support of medical
marijuana as has Santa Cruz, where 77 percent of voters approved a
local ordinance in 1992 and 81 percent approved Proposition 215.
Still, there were a few brave dissidents in Tuesday's crowd, one of
whom held a sign reading: "Someone has to be the grown-up around
here."
But Valerie Corral thanked Santa Cruz for its unstinting support of
her group and her cause, and urged the rowdier members of the crowd
to behave.
"Thank you for offering this sanctuary that Santa Cruz is for so many
people," Corral said. "Please, don't smoke or drink here, please
don't confuse our message. Our message is not about defiance. It is
about peaceful assembly, a coalition of humanity that pleads for the
same respect from our government."
E-mail the writer at mgaura@sfchronicle.com.
- --
- ----
Dale Gieringer (415) 563-5858 // canorml@igc.org
2215-R Market St. #278, San Francisco CA 94114
Maria Alicia Gaura, SF Chronicle Staff Writer Wednesday, September 18, 2002
Santa Cruz joint effort hands out medical pot
stood witness Tuesday as medical marijuana advocates distributed
cannabis products in the courtyard of Santa Cruz City Hall.
As street musicians performed in the background and an unmarked green
helicopter hovered persistently overhead, the mayor and five of six
City Council members, three former mayors and the city's
representative on the county Board of Supervisors joined with an
estimated 1,000 citizens to show support for medical pot.
The crowd, alert for signs that federal agents might stage a raid,
shook their fists at the helicopter and chanted, "DEA, go away!"
Rich Meyer, spokesman for the federal anti-drug agency, wouldn't say
whether the helicopter belonged to the DEA or whether plainclothes
agents were in the crowd.
The rally was in response to the Sept. 5 bust of the Wo/Men's
Alliance for Medical Marijuana, a Santa Cruz-based collective of more
than 230 members whose doctors have recommended they use marijuana to
relieve symptoms of illness. DEA agents chopped down the group's 2002
marijuana crop and arrested founders Valerie and Mike Corral. The
Corrals were released that day and have not been charged with any
crime.
More than a dozen seriously ill patients came forward at Tuesday's
rally -- in wheelchairs, with canes or on emaciated legs -- to stock
up on cannabis tincture, cannabis-laced milk, buds for smoking and
bright green marijuana muffins. Despite fears of a bust, no arrests
were made.
"I think (the federal government) will find that going after Mike and
Valerie was a big mistake," said Dale Gieringer, spokesman for NORML,
the National Organization to Reform Marijuana Laws. "This case could
be their Waterloo."
DEA spokesman Meyer was dismissive of such claims and hinted that
city officials may be criminally liable for their stance.
"We take violations of the law seriously, and today the federal drug
laws were broken in Santa Cruz, in the presence of the mayor and City
Council," Meyer said. "The message I got was that officials there
have not upheld their oath to uphold and enforce the law."
A SHARP BACKLASH
The DEA raid infuriated local officials, who had worked with WAMM for
years to create a verification and distribution system that would
conform to California's Proposition 215 -- which legalized medical
marijuana use -- and prevent ailing people from being forced to rely
on black-market marijuana.
WAMM's members grow their own organic pot for distribution within the group.
The collective has operated openly in Santa Cruz since 1996, when
Proposition 215 passed. The federal government has always asserted
that marijuana use for any reason is illegal, however, and has
recently raided a string of medical marijuana clubs across the state.
But the WAMM raid provoked a sharp backlash. Even state Attorney
General Bill Lockyer has challenged the federal government's
authority in the case.
The Corrals' legal representatives, led by Santa Clara University law
professor Gerald Uelmen, hope the facts in WAMM's case will allow for
a successful challenge of federal authority. Since the U.S. attorney
seems reluctant to file criminal charges, Uelmen plans to sue the
DEA, demanding return of seized property and a reassessment of the
law.
'A HIGHER LAW'
Since WAMM grows its own pot for personal use, Uelmen questions
whether the federal government's right to regulate interstate
commerce should apply.
And since the DEA has shown a pattern of busting medical marijuana
providers but then failing to prosecute them, he argues that the
raids are illegal "punitive expeditions," which are illegal under the
Fourth Amendment to the Constitution.
"When you boil it down, one issue in the case of the U.S. vs. Valerie
and Mike Corral, and 238 sick and dying people, is: Has compassion
for the sick and dying become a federal crime?" Uelmen said Tuesday,
to deafening cheers. "WAMM is a collective hospice, where giving
comfort and love to those afflicted with AIDS and other serious
illness is the only priority. This is recognition of a higher law
that commands us to love one another."
County Supervisor Mardi Wormhoudt said that local officials have few
options in confronting an unfair federal system and that Santa Cruz
residents are solidly behind her and her colleagues.
"There is little we can do except standing by the people who are so
courageously defying the law," she said.
'NOT ABOUT DEFIANCE'
Few communities have been as fervent in their support of medical
marijuana as has Santa Cruz, where 77 percent of voters approved a
local ordinance in 1992 and 81 percent approved Proposition 215.
Still, there were a few brave dissidents in Tuesday's crowd, one of
whom held a sign reading: "Someone has to be the grown-up around
here."
But Valerie Corral thanked Santa Cruz for its unstinting support of
her group and her cause, and urged the rowdier members of the crowd
to behave.
"Thank you for offering this sanctuary that Santa Cruz is for so many
people," Corral said. "Please, don't smoke or drink here, please
don't confuse our message. Our message is not about defiance. It is
about peaceful assembly, a coalition of humanity that pleads for the
same respect from our government."
E-mail the writer at mgaura@sfchronicle.com.
- --
- ----
Dale Gieringer (415) 563-5858 // canorml@igc.org
2215-R Market St. #278, San Francisco CA 94114
Maria Alicia Gaura, SF Chronicle Staff Writer Wednesday, September 18, 2002
Santa Cruz joint effort hands out medical pot
