Pubdate: Sun, 27 Apr 2003
Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA)
Copyright: 2003 Hearst Communications Inc.
Contact:  http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/388
Page D - 4
Author: Debra J. Saunders

GROWN IN SANTA CRUZ

ALAN BRADY of Santa Cruz carried a flag emblazoned with a snake that read 
"'Don't tread on me." He was part of a double-digit size crowd that turned 
out to support a lawsuit filed by the Santa Cruz Wo/Men's Alliance for 
Medical Marijuana (WAMM) against the federal government. Brady wasn't a 
member of WAMM, he said, but he took medical marijuana for an injured knee. 
(Well, that's what he said.)

The group announcing the lawsuit in front of the Santa Cruz County 
Courthouse Wednesday had its share of gray-haired, pony-tailed and 
wool-sock- and-sandal clad participants. But it wasn't a smoke-filled 
celebration of recreational users claiming dubious illnesses. There was no 
contact high.

The lawsuit, which is being paid for with private dollars, reflected a 
sense of resolve, not revelry. Last September, federal agents raided WAMM, 
seized 167 marijuana plants and booked WAMM founders Mike and Valerie 
Corral. The U.S. Attorney has yet to charge the Corrals, but according to 
local Drug Enforcement Agency spokesman Rich Meyer, the Corrals could face 
a sentence of "not less than five years" if charged and found guilty.

With the threat of prosecution hanging over her, Valerie Corral nonetheless 
is a plaintiff in the lawsuit. She uses marijuana to control epileptic 
seizures. Other plaintiffs include cancer and HIV patients, whose doctors 
have prescribed marijuana on top of a laundry list of high-powered drugs. 
One patient listed "Vioxx, Protonix, Vicodin, Donnatal, Immodium, Ativan, 
Wellbutrin, Flexeril, Zofran, Paxil, Morphine, Oxycodone and 
Prochlorperzine." The oldest member of WAMM, 93-year-old Dorothy Gibbs, 
suffers from post-polio syndrome. She had been taking morphine and other 
drugs when her doctor prescribed marijuana to ease her severe nausea, 
according to the WAMM brief.

According to Corral, 15 WAMM members have died since the DEA raid. (With 
the help of Chronicle researcher Kathleen Rhodes, I was able to verify 13 
of those deaths before my deadline, although one occurred a month before 
the raid. )

The DEA raid depleted WAMM's marijuana stash. Because its 200-plus members 
must pledge not to buy medical marijuana outside of the cooperative -- 
that's how serious these people are about defying and changing the law, but 
by acting within local law -- the lawsuit charges that some very sick 
people have at times had to go without a drug that they believe relieves 
their pain.

Attorney Judith Appel of the Drug Policy Alliance, which favors legalizing 
marijuana, explained, "(Drug czar) John Walters and the federal government 
are picking on sick people and this lawsuit gives them the opportunity to 
fight back."

For the DEA's part, it is charged with enforcing federal drug law, which 
does not recognize a medical use for marijuana. Neither, the DEA's Meyer notes,

does the American Medical Association.

Even still, San Jose Police Chief William Lansdowne was so angered by the 
WAMM raid that he yanked his officers off a DEA task force. He told The 
Chronicle that the feds' "priorities are out of sync," as methamphetamines 
were a bigger problem than medical marijuana, which voters were right to 
legalize.

I can't imagine this lawsuit succeeding, even though attorneys were 
creative in claiming that since WAMM doesn't sell marijuana to members and 
since it is a -- pardon my pun -- homegrown operation, WAMM engages in no 
interstate commerce, which is the legal justification for federalized drug 
laws.

As a conservative, I tell Appel, I love watching the left argue in favor of 
local control, because local control is good for conservatives who want to 
opt out of onerous federal laws. Alaskans who want to drill in the Arctic 
National Wildlife Refuge can point to their buddies in the 
medical-marijuana community.

Except that the Supreme Court has been steadfast in its rejection of claims 
that state and local laws -- like Proposition 215, which California voters 
approved in 1996 -- can undermine federal drug laws. That's a job for Congress,

Justice Clarence Thomas has maintained, and he has a point.

Congress should change federal law to accommodate medical marijuana use in 
states that have legalized it. Rep. Sam Farr, D-Carmel, has written a bill 
toward that end.

Sadly, many of the members of WAMM won't live long enough to see the day, 
if it ever comes, when Congress does the right thing. So they gathered in 
Santa Cruz to announce: Don't tread on me.
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MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart