A federal judge promised Monday to decide "soon" whether to restrain the U.S. government from acting against a medical marijuana users' group in Santa Cruz whose farm it raided in the fall. The decision can't come soon enough for the plaintiffs, who say time is against them. Fourteen members of the Wo/Men's Alliance for Medical Marijuana have died since agents of the Drug Enforcement Administration raided the group's co-op in September, said Valerie Corral, alliance co-founder and a plaintiff in the suit. [continues 495 words]
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) - A Drug Enforcement Administration raid on a farm that cultivated pot for ailing patients was both illegal and immoral, medical marijuana supporters argued at the start of a federal trial. The trial comes three months after the city and county of Santa Cruz sued the federal government over the raid, demanding that agents stay away from a farm that grows marijuana on a quiet coastal road about 15 miles north of the city. In September, agents uprooted about 165 plants and arrested the owners of the Wo/Men's Alliance for Medical Marijuana. [continues 319 words]
Judge Will Decide 'Soon' On Whether To Block U.S. From Acting Against Santa Cruz Marijuana Group A federal judge promised Monday to decide "soon" whether to restrain the U.S. government from acting against a medicinal marijuana users' group in Santa Cruz whose farm it raided in September. The decision can't come soon enough for the plaintiffs, who say time is against them. Fourteen members of the Wo/Men's Alliance for Medical Marijuana have died since agents of the Drug Enforcement Administration raided the group's co-op in September, said Valerie Corral, alliance co-founder and a plaintiff in the suit. [continues 651 words]
Hunting for a Legal 'Hook' for Injunction A San Jose federal judge, expressing sympathy for the suffering of terminally ill patients, asked medical marijuana advocates Monday for a legal "hook" to grant an injunction halting federal raids against a free Santa Cruz pot cooperative. During arguments before U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel, patient advocates said their case was unique among federal-state pot skirmishes. It is the first time local government officials have joined in a legal battle to stop federal drug agents from raiding a medical marijuana operation. [continues 570 words]
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) - A Drug Enforcement Administration raid on a farm that cultivated pot for ailing patients was both illegal and immoral, medical marijuana supporters argued at the start of a federal trial Monday. The trial comes three months after the city and county of Santa Cruz sued the federal government over the raid, demanding that agents stay away from a farm that grows marijuana on a quiet coastal road about 15 miles north of the city. In September, agents uprooted about 165 plants and arrested the owners of the Wo/Men's Alliance for Medical Marijuana. [continues 386 words]
SANTA CRUZ -- An area medical-marijuana cooperative is fighting the feds with a little help from its friends. The Wo/men's Alliance for Medical Marijuana plans to sue the federal government Wednesday -- and the city and county of Santa Cruz are joining in the lawsuit. The suit, which has been planned for months, is expected to be filed in federal court in San Jose following a 10 a.m. press conference at the Santa Cruz County Government Center. The suit, which has ramifications for all medical marijuana groups in the Golden State, will name Attorney General John Ashcroft, federal drug czar John Brown and acting Drug Enforcement Administration chief John Walters. [continues 520 words]
SANTA CRUZ - An area medical-marijuana cooperative is fighting the feds with a little help from its friends. The Wo/men's Alliance for Medical Marijuana plans to sue the federal government Wednesday - and the city and county of Santa Cruz are joining in the lawsuit. The suit, which has been planned for months, is expected to be filed in federal court in San Jose following a 10 a.m. press conference at the Santa Cruz County Government Center. The suit, which has ramifications for all medical marijuana groups in the Golden State, will name Attorney General John Ashcroft, federal drug czar John Brown and acting Drug Enforcement Administration chief John Walters. [continues 520 words]
Raid Reinvigorates WAMM, Medical Pot Debate DANENPORT -- Sept. 5 was a nightmare for Valerie and Mike Corral. Just before dawn, federal agents stormed their Davenport-area home, ordering them and friend Suzanne Pfeil to the floor. In the hours that followed, about 167 marijuana plants the Corrals say were destined for members of the Wo/men's Alliance for Medical Marijuana would be plucked from the ground and the Corrals would find themselves in a federal jail. The raid drew national publicity and put Santa Cruz front and center on the media map for two weeks, reigniting the national debate over medical marijuana and whether states have the power to enact laws the fly in the face of laws adopted by the federal government. [continues 770 words]
U.S. Agents Seized Marijuana From Davenport Couple Arguing that drug enforcement agents had no authority to raid a Davenport medicinal marijuana farm, an attorney on Monday asked a federal judge to order the 167 plants be returned to the operators. Gerald Uelmen also asked for the return of a video, a photo album and documents taken during the Sept. 5 raid on a farm run by Michael and Valerie Corral for the Wo/Men's Alliance for Medical Marijuana. U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel heard arguments from Uelmen and Mark Quinlivan, a Washington attorney representing the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, which ordered the raid. The Corrals were never charged with a crime. [continues 392 words]
SAN JOSE - The Santa Cruz couple who ran a medical marijuana farm raided by federal agents in September argued Monday that their pot plants, as well as confiscated videos and photo albums, should be returned to them. Federal prosecutors said they need the seized items as evidence. U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel said he would make a ruling in a few weeks. Drug Enforcement Administration agents arrested Valerie and Michael Corral and cut down the 130 plants they grew for the Wo/Men's Alliance for Medical Marijuana. [continues 84 words]
A Santa Cruz County couple whose medicinal marijuana farm was raided by federal drug agents earlier this month have filed suit in federal court to get back their confiscated cannabis, launching a case that could challenge the federal government's right to regulate medicinal marijuana. Michael and Valerie Corral, who run the Wo/Men's Alliance for Medical Marijuana, argued the Sept. 5 seizure of 167 marijuana plants from the farm near Davenport was unconstitutional and needlessly brutal. A spokesman for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration said the agency's raid was legal and reasonable and that it had no intention of returning the marijuana. [continues 151 words]
The founders of a beleaguered Santa Cruz medical marijuana cooperative filed suit in U.S. District Court on Tuesday, demanding the return of items seized in a Sept. 5 bust by the Drug Enforcement Administration. Valerie and Michael Corral accuse the DEA of trampling the U.S. Constitution in an effort to shut down their group, the Wo/Men's Alliance for Medical Marijuana. Their attorneys called the suit an "opening salvo" in a larger effort in challenging the federal government's authority to prohibit the medical use of marijuana. [continues 298 words]
Motorists: Class Action Targets Officers Who Are Cracking Down On Drugs In Central California A federal class action lawsuit that charges that the California Highway Patrol uses racially biased patrolling standards is challenging fundamental drug war tactics in California. The lawsuit alleges that vehicles driven by black or Latino motorists are up to three times as likely as those driven by whites to be searched by state drug interdiction officers. The suit also charges that these officers routinely use intimidation, ruses and drivers' ignorance of their civil rights to obtain consent to search. [continues 1343 words]
Length of time defendants are held has more than doubled in 6 years On a typical Friday, Santa Clara County's Hall of Justice looks like it is going out of business. Some judges are toiling away in their chambers, but, with the exception of a few clerks and bailiffs, courtroom after courtroom has been abandoned. Despite a crushing criminal caseload, a five-month Mercury News investigation documented that by lunch time on most Fridays, a cadre of veteran judges, the men who hear the most notorious and heinous cases, have left for home, are off running errands or are on their way to play golf. [continues 3616 words]
IN 1994, the criminal courts in Los Angeles County were teetering on the verge of collapse, paralyzed by a backlog of more than 8,000 cases. The state's new ``three strikes, you're out'' law was threatening to clog the courts further. The board of supervisors, the district attorney, the police, the sheriff's department and the media all were blasting inefficiency in the city's criminal justice system. ``I called a meeting of the 100 judges in the criminal courts and read them what people were saying about us,'' recalls John Reid, the supervising judge of the criminal departments in the Los Angeles Superior Court. ``I asked, `Are you enjoying being criticized?' The answer was, `No!' I asked, `Do we have a response?' Again, the answer was, `No.' I said, `Well, we have to respond.' We left that meeting with a consensus that we had a problem, and had to do something about it.'' [continues 2386 words]
