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CounterPunch
September
17, 2002
DEA's War on California
The Crackdown
on Medical Marijuana
by Heidi Lypps
The month of September has seen a dramatic escalation
of the War on Drugs in California, with DEA raids on two leading
medical marijuana dispensaries. On September 5th, DEA agents
arrested Valerie and Michael Corral of WAMM (Wo/Men's alliance
for Medical Marijuana) and destroyed 150 marijuana plants intended
for use by WAMM's members, most of whom are terminally ill.
On September 12, the Petaluma-based Genesis 1:29 medical cannabis
dispensary was raided, and Robert Schmidt, the owner, was arrested
by the DEA. On the same day, the agents also raided a garden
in Sebastopol, which supplied the Genesis dispensary.
These raids are only the most recent
actions in an escalating DEA campaign directed at medical cannabis
co-ops in California. The Petaluma and Santa Cruz co-ops were
among California's most carefully law-abiding: each required
members to have a doctor's prescription, issued ID cards, and
worked with local officials to shape agreements and protocols
for operation.
The passage of California's Proposition
215 in 1996 legalized marijuana for medical use with a physician's
prescription, but any use of marijuana remains a federal crime.
President Bush promised in a 2000 campaign speech to leave medical
marijuana as a states' rights issue, saying "I believe
each state can choose that decision as they so choose."
The DEA's recent actions, however, speak louder than those words;
some are calling it a "War on the sick", saying that
the DEA has gone too far in targeting those who supply medical
marijuana to the ill in compliance with California law.
Despite state law, since 2001 many groups
and individuals supplying medical cannabis in California have
found themselves raided and imprisoned by the DEA. These include
the Los Angeles Cannabis Resource Center, the Market Street
Cannabis Club, CHAMPS, the Oakland Cannabis Resource Center,
Santa Rosa's Aiko Compassion Club, Steve and Michele Kubby,
Ed Rosenthal, and others.
The recent busts were carried out without
the support, or even the knowledge, of local law enforcement,
prompting California Attorney General Bill Lockyer to question
the incursion of federal agents; he requested a meeting with
federal Drug Enforcement Agency director Asa Hutchison and
Attorney General John Ashcroft to discuss the WAMM bust. "A
medical marijuana provider such as the Santa Cruz collective
represents little danger to the public and is certainly not
a concern which would warrant diverting scarce federal resources,"
says Lockyer.
Drug policy reform advocates fear that
the raids in California are part of a carefully coordinated
campaign on the part of the DEA to snuff out the burgeoning
public opposition to the War on Drugs. Eight states - California,
Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Oregon and Washington
- have legalized medical marijuana in some form, and Attorney
General Ashcroft and other federal officials may be eager to
break the growing movement before it gains further ground.
Drug policy reform advocates have planned
actions in response to the DEA's campaign to eradicate medical
marijuana in California. In Santa Cruz, WAMM and the Santa
Cruz City council have planned a version of the Boston Tea party
for September 17th, where they will defy federal officials and
distribute medical marijuana to gravely ill patients.
On September 23rd, the group Americans
for Safe Access (ASA) is sponsoring a rally at the state capitol
in Sacramento to protest these heavy-handed tactics against
critically ill patients, and advocate for compassionate use
of medical marijuana. They ask all like-minded individuals to
join them at the rally.
The ASA event will start with a press
conference and rally at 9 am in front of the Federal Building
(501 I Street, Sacramento) and will proceed to a demonstration
at the Capitol starting at noon, and later a civil disobedience
action at an undisclosed location.
Heidi Lypps
is Director of Communications at the Center for Cognitive Liberty
& Ethics. She can be reached at: nemo@cognitiveliberty.org
Notes
Further information about the September
23rd demonstration can be found on the Americans for Safe Access
Web site: http://www.safeaccessnow.org
WAMM's Web site: http://www.wamm.org/
Attorney General Bill Lockyer's statement
regarding the WAMM case: http://caag.state.ca.us/newsalerts/2002/02-103.htm
AP News on the WAMM raid: http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/14/thread14018.shtml
Santa Rosa Press-Democrat coverage of
the Petaluma raid: http://www.pressdemocrat.com/local/news/13pot_a1.html
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