Pubdate: Mon, 14 Oct 2002 Source: San Jose Mercury News (CA) Copyright: 2002 San Jose Mercury News Contact: http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/390 Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?115 (Cannabis - California) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/raids.htm (Drug Raids) POLICE CHIEF GETS PRIORITIES RIGHT Why Waste Time Joining The Feds In Harassing Medical Marijuana Growers? SAN Jose Police Chief Bill Lansdowne has his priorities straight. Hounding people who grow marijuana for AIDS and cancer patients isn't -- and shouldn't be -- one of them. Last week, Lansdowne withdrew his police department's participation in a federal Drug Enforcement Administration task force. In doing so, he sent an important message to the feds: There are far more serious drug problems in our area than medical marijuana. Last month, the task force raided a cooperative farm near Santa Cruz, the Wo/Men's Alliance for Medical Marijuana, arresting founders Mike and Valerie Corral and seizing 167 marijuana plants. The couple had been growing marijuana to distribute to patients with their doctors' permission and under an agreement with the Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Department. They had been following the state medical marijuana law, Proposition 215, that California voters passed in 1996. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that federal drug laws trump Proposition 215. In response, the DEA, under U.S. Department of Justice's direction, has been shutting down marijuana co-ops. The issue is not law but choices. If harassing medical marijuana growers is how the feds want to channel their resources, the locals shouldn't be taking marching orders. San Jose had loaned the task force a sergeant and four officers for full-time, two-year assignments, at city expense. Now these officers will be reassigned to San Jose's narcotics team or to the state Bureau of Narcotics task force, where they will work on a much bigger threat: methamphetamine trafficking. Joint federal and local law enforcement efforts should be encouraged when they benefit the public and abandoned when they don't. Lansdowne called it right. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom