cannabisnews.com: DEA Raid Sparks Medical Marijuana Protests DEA Raid Sparks Medical Marijuana Protests Posted by CN Staff on September 06, 2002 at 15:56:59 PT By Martha Mendoza, AP National Writer Source: Associated Press Medical marijuana advocates outraged by a raid at a local prescription pot supplier protested at federal offices in several cities in Northern California and across the country Friday."Medical marijuana patients and advocates around the country realize what's happening in California is absolute terror," said Steph Sherer, executive director of Americans for Safe Access, who was heading to the Drug Enforcement Agency office in Oakland to protest. DEA spokesman Richard Meyer in San Francisco said his agents simply were doing their job."Federal law says marijuana is illegal," he said. "We have no choice. We're enforcing the law."On Thursday, federal agents raided a small pot farm located on a quiet coastal road about 55 miles south of San Francisco, pulling up about 100 plants and arresting the owners - Valerie and Michael Corral.The couple, leading activists for medical marijuana, were the latest high-profile advocates to be arrested in a series of sweeps during the past year in California.State law in California, as well as Alaska, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Nevada, Oregon and Washington, allows marijuana to be grown and distributed to people with a doctor's prescription. Federal law, on the other hand, prohibits marijuana use under any circumstances.California medical marijuana growers and distributors work closely with local law enforcement, and are quite open about their programs. In fact, the farm raided Thursday morning by DEA agents had been featured in national media, and the program is listed in the local telephone book.But in recent months, federal agents - working strictly without local support - have been busting pot clubs and farms in Northern California.News of the Santa Cruz raid spread quickly across the country"This is an issue that faces all of us," said Karen Heikkala, holding a "Arrest Pain, Not Patients and Caregivers" in front of the federal building in Austin, Texas."It's a sad day in the United States when the federal government goes after the sick and dying in direct violation of states' rights," she said.In Washington, D.C., 15 people protested in front of the Justice Department."We are in solidarity with our brothers and sisters in California who don't have access like we do to the Justice Department headquarters but need to be heard," said Adam Eidinger.In Northern California, protesters gathered at DEA offices in San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose.On a downtown street corner in San Jose, Dennis Umphress and a half dozen other demonstrators said President Bush and Attorney General John Ashcroft should stop "the shameful crackdown.""A lot of people still think of marijuana as a drug for hippies from the 1950s and 60s, when in fact it is an important medication," he said.Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance said, "The only way to explain this is in a truly fanatical, inhumane ... spirit that this was carried out."Back at the Corrals' farm, where users had been preparing their annual harvest, a sign "Love Grows Here" still stood but there were only a few large stems and leaves scattered on the ground.Prosecutors said the Corrals, who helped write the provision in California's Proposition 215 that allows patients and their caregivers to cultivate their own medicine, had not been charged by Friday morning. But their attorney said they could be indicted at any time.This was not the first arrest for the Corrals.Before state and local laws allowed their program, they were arrested in 1992 and 1993. In 1992, Valerie Corral was prosecuted, but was found innocent after being the first person in California to challenge marijuana laws by arguing it was medically necessary. When they were arrested again in 1993, local authorities decided not to prosecute.Valerie Corral said Friday she was deeply pained by the raid."They cannot know how many people's lives they are causing suffering in because, if they did, they would not do this," she said.Source: Associated Press Author: Martha Mendoza, AP National WriterPublished: Friday, September 6, 2002 Copyright: 2002 Associated Press Related Articles & Web Site:WAMMhttp://www.wamm.org/Drug Policy Alliance http://www.drugpolicy.org/Americans For Safe Access http://www.safeaccessnow.org/The Compassion Flower Innhttp://www.compassionflowerinn.com/Activists Nabbed in Raid of Marijuana Site http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14017.shtmlDEA Agents Raid Medical Marijuana Farmhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14016.shtmlSanta Cruz Officials Fume Over Pot Club Busthttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14015.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #13 posted by eco-man on September 07, 2002 at 11:35:27 PT Clarification. DRCnet article on WAMM raid. When I wrote "I have read nothing anywhere that does a such a good job of compiling the information" I was referring to the DRCnet article. It is found in a couple places: http://www.drcnet.org/wol/253.html#deavspatients and http://santacruz.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=1646The last link has the article in a format that is easier to email. Lots of blank lines have been added. [ Post Comment ] Comment #12 posted by eco-man on September 07, 2002 at 07:47:16 PT Best article on WAMM raid background. DRCnet. Best article on WAMM raid background. DRCnet. Archival quality. Medical cannabis raid in Santa Cruz. The DRCNet article by itself is found at Santa Cruz Indymedia: http://santacruz.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=1646I suggest (not demand) that MAP-DrugNews begin archiving specific DRCNet articles. Not whole newsletters, but specific articles. I have read nothing anywhere that does a such a good job of compiling the information below. No corporate media have the paid staff, longterm knowledge, and longterm sympathy to quickly compile such an article in such a timely fashion while the news is hot. DRCNet has all three. The corporate media need quick access to such articles in order to write better articles. So do MAP letter writers. Only MAP-DrugNews presently provides this type of QUICK access to drug-related periodical articles from many sources. Through its excellent site search engine. No other drug-related archive site has such a broad range of articles that can be QUICKLY searched in many ways to find exactly the info one desires. The only problem is that MAP does not have enough non-corporate periodical articles that put out the honest truth without corporate disinformation spin. Therefore it would greatly help if MAP could archive some of the better DRCNet articles. Media and letter writers need more TRUTH. To counter corporate media spin and/or inadequate research capabilities. One can't write about the truth without access to the truth. Spin must be countered with truth. http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews NEWS sites. Europe, USA, world. http://corporatism.tripod.com/fairuse.htm *ASA. Americans for Safe Access to medical cannabis. ASA-related LINKS. http://www.angelfire.com/rnb/y/asa.htm Many WAMM raid articles and messages are archived at the link below. Please forward or distribute any part, or all, of this message. This message is archived here: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cannabisaction --MMM list homepage. To learn more about the Million Marijuana March (MMM), and other creative multi-city cannabis action, drug reform, and creative media and websites worldwide please visit the public archives of the MMM Yahoo Group email list found at the link above. -- It seems all Yahoo Groups now allow longer titles (68 characters) in their archive indexes. So the archives now have lists of titles that are easy to scan for interesting list messages. Archives can be public or private. HUNDREDS, AND POSSIBLY THOUSANDS, OF NON-SUBSCRIBERS READ THE ARCHIVED MMM MESSAGES. The archive has been linked to from many places (such as Dana Beal's many MMM email compilations). [ Post Comment ] Comment #11 posted by The GCW on September 07, 2002 at 07:12:06 PT THC kills cancerous cells. Med-pot news by Dana Larsen (03 Sept, 2002) THC destroys cancer cells, but the research is buried and ignored. http://www.hempbc.com/articles/2587.html [ Post Comment ] Comment #10 posted by JR Bob Dobbs on September 07, 2002 at 06:44:22 PT You realize, of course, that this means war... I was wondering... sometime soon, there is going to be a state or local government grow operation. Either in Nevada, for their stores, or in San Francisco. What is going to happen when the DEA and the feds come to raid a garden and find an equal force of state and local LEOs there to protect it? Sounds like something which could spark a war, doesn't it? [ Post Comment ] Comment #9 posted by Lehder on September 07, 2002 at 05:20:46 PT Hate Crimes No one in this movement impresses me more than Ethan Nadelmann, except maybe George Soros for having the wit and brains to hire him. If you have have not heard Nadelmann's speeches at the 2000 Shadow Convention or read his testimony to the Canadian Senate committee, look them up on the Internet and you'll be impressed. It's an arena packed with thumbs turned down for any prohibitionist who would debate him.As always he cuts to the bone:Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance said, "The only way to explain this is in a truly fanatical, inhumane ... spirit that this was carried out."I call marijuana arrests "hate busts." I have for a long time and for many good reasons, most of them displayed by the DEA in this particular invasion: the timing that coincides with the Canadian report and with the crop nearly at harvest, the DEA's contempt for local authorities, its targeting of the gravely ill, its disregard for state law, the bellicose display of armamants in the face of its absolutely passive victims, the mess and destruction it leaves behind, the masks and black suits, its threatening the Carrols with indictment and arrest "maybe in a day, a week or a year"...it all reeks of hatred and intimidation, it's the Nazi blind hatred for the Jew escaped again.These arrests are hate crimes. They have no other basis, not in science, not in fact, not in law, not in the will of the people. Just enforcing the law? Hitler had laws too, and the enforcement of those laws was determined at Nuremberg to be a crime. As hate crimes these raids, under federal law, are subject to enhanced criminal penalties. The trials of the drug warriors are coming sooner or later. Because this war will not be over until we can say, "Never Again!" L'Shana Tova. [ Post Comment ] Comment #8 posted by p4me on September 06, 2002 at 23:33:54 PT Cut the crap "We have no choice. We're enforcing the law,"Yes and the DEA also controls the schedules of so-called controlled substances and misclassifies MJ by the guidelines. They ignore the guidelines that would make all the medical debate moot. They demonize marijuana with lies costing hundreds of millions of dollars a year that has nothing to do with enforcement. Ignoring the proper classification of marijuana in any article such as this warps any coverage beyond acceptance to anyone that is informed.At least they didn't mention anything Walters said. The DEA is just a collection of evil doers with Walters being more wicked than them all.I wish the media would spare us the crap while the constitution is being trampled on and the courts and Congress do the bidding of the conglomerates. And if you are reading this I hope you could cancel all your subscriptions to these media whores and even the overpriced AOL internet services that support the bottom line of AOL/Time Warner.1,21,2 [ Post Comment ] Comment #7 posted by John Tyler on September 06, 2002 at 20:04:52 PT Orders are orders "We have no choice. We're enforcing the law," (Ve hav our orders) he said as they were marched off to the DEAth camp. This guy may know the law but, he doesn't know much about justice does he? [ Post Comment ] Comment #6 posted by SoberStoner on September 06, 2002 at 19:23:09 PT: Sigh... Greetings everyone..It's been quite a while since i posted here..I've been checking the headlines, but I've been unable to contribute to the fight as much as I would like..I came here tonight to see the reaction to Canada finally speaking out for cannabis and instead i see two heroes being attacked by my government..I take that back....the organization that attacked Valerie and Michael is NOT my government. I cannot and will not obey any government that has so little regard for it's citizens and the laws that it is supposed to uphold..the way this regime treats our constitution is treason of the highest regard..I used to make fun of canadians...now i wish i was one..SS [ Post Comment ] Comment #5 posted by Gary Storck on September 06, 2002 at 18:59:02 PT Action in Madison WI Read about the Madison protest here: Madison Medical Marijuana Activists Decry CA Medical Cannabis raids by DEA [ Post Comment ] Comment #4 posted by mayan on September 06, 2002 at 18:26:36 PT also... For more information regarding Ruppert's appearances go to:http://www.fromthewilderness.com/events.html [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by mayan on September 06, 2002 at 18:10:27 PT Change of Venue! Sorry, off topic but this is very important! Mike Ruppert will be in Manhattan on September 7th. There has been a change of venue!!! Here it is: Riverside church, South hall. 490 Riverside Drive, New York, N.Y. 10027 - Between 120th St. & 122nd St.(120th & Riverside Drive, Manhattan,1 Block from Columbia University) Please do not call the Church! also: Mike Ruppert will do a live radio show on KBOO radio on Sept. 11th. Link below shows entire schedule for the day and you can listen via internet: http://www.kboo.fm/index.php FOREKNOWLEDGE: Michel Chossudovsky, Economics Professor at the University of Ottawa, and Editor of Global Research and Michael Ruppert, Publisher of From the Wilderness are the guests. This segment will focus on events during September 11th, 2001, government foreknowledge of the attacks, insider trading connected to the attacks, and why established procedures to respond to hijackings were ignored. Connections between the Bush & bin Laden families, and how US / Saudi relationships influenced these events will be presented throughout the morning. Andrew Geller hosts.maybe relative:US pulls the plug on Muslim websites(from Sept.10th 2001!) http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4253580,00.html [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by The GCW on September 06, 2002 at 17:47:25 PT legalizeit Jesus Christ said: LOVE YOUR BROTHER.The FEDS, clearly are not.Bush seems to hate Us.The Green Collar Worker [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by legalizeit on September 06, 2002 at 17:03:25 PT Where does it end? > "We have no choice. We're enforcing the law."So, Mr. Tyrant, er, Meyer, what if the prohibs got a law passed that said that anyone caught growing pot would have his/her immediate family tortured and executed? Would you lead the little kiddies out to the firing squad?I know this sounds outrageous, but I get really tired of these boneheads ruining someone's way of existence, in this case people who use cannabis by necessity not by choice, and then say they are "enforcing the law." If they must spend all their free time enforcing, why don't they go after the meth labs and such? And if they must target MJ why not roust out some of the clandestine boobytrapped gardens in our national forests?They must pick on peaceful people that they know won't put up a fight or set them a boobytrap. I know there are some Jesus followers on C-News (BGreen et al), and I wonder if you would agree that this is analogous to the Romans and Pontius Pilate going after Jesus and his disciples, persecuting peaceful and loving people for nothing more than preaching or following a religion that fell outside of accepted doctrine.This must not stand. The DEA, which always goes too far, has gone WAY too far this time. I'm glad that there is such widespread outrage over this, and if I lived in the Bay Area I would be out there to show my support as well.I just wonder if AssCrock will hold true to his word and not butt in should Nevada legalize. If the DEA can't keep still when the sick are receiving medicine in CA, how are they going to react when anyone of legal age, regardless of health status, can get some Herb in a liquor store? What will they do then, raid all the 7-11s in Vegas??I agree with whomever suggested earlier that local law enforcement give all growers in the region a green light. There will be so many gardens that the DEA will go bonkers trying to uproot them all!If a miracle occurs and Nevada does become a safe haven, at least the ill who can afford a move will have a place to go without getting harrassed. We can only hope. At least Canada is looking friendlier every day! [ Post Comment ] Post Comment