cannabisnews.com: World Watches Pot Handout





World Watches Pot Handout
Posted by CN Staff on September 18, 2002 at 07:48:21 PT
By Brian Seals, Sentinel Staff Writer
Source: Santa Cruz Sentinel 
The medical-marijuana debate was thrust back onto the national stage Tuesday in Santa Cruz. Two weeks after federal agents raided the Davenport pot garden of the Wo/Men’s Alliance for Medical Marijuana, about a dozen of the cooperative’s members picked up their weekly pot allotment on the steps of City Hall.The alliance always doles out its marijuana on Tuesdays, but this week had added significance. The group did so in front of about 1,000 supporters, a handful of opponents and a string of elected officials.
And the world.There were at least a dozen TV crews, from national outlets including NBC News and CNN to local and regional stations. Reporters from The New York Times, Reuters and dozens of other publications were on hand, as were more than a dozen photojournalists.The handout event was part rally, part publicity stunt, organized by WAMM to put a face on medical-marijuana users."Were we able to touch our legislators? Were we able to reach out to our leaders?" alliance co-founder Valerie Corral asked after the event. "I hope so."While a DEA official said earlier this week that he was "shocked" by the planned giveaway, no confrontation materialized. An unmarked helicopter chattered hundreds of feet above, at times drowning out the speakers, but it was unclear if it was a DEA chopper. DEA spokesman Richard Meyer would neither confirm nor deny if DEA agents were present."But we were monitoring the situation," Meyer said.The Santa Cruz Police Department, which has worked cooperatively with WAMM, had about a dozen plainclothes detectives at the event just to keep the peace, said Sgt. Steve Clark.Clark said other law enforcement agencies were present, but said he wasn’t at liberty to say which.WAMM co-founder Mike Corral said the group wasn’t seeking a confrontation."It’s to show the people of America the truth about medical marijuana," he said.However, the DEA has a different version of that truth. While California and seven other states allow the sick to possess, grow and use pot for medical reasons, the federal government maintains it has no medical value.That increasingly has pitted medical cooperatives and clubs in California against the federal government. Medical-pot clubs took a blow in May 2001 when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled medical necessity is not a defense against distributing pot in a case involving an Oakland group. To the federal agency, marijuana is an illegal drug, and the clubs are high-volume dealers."Marijuana is illegal," Meyer said recently. "Our job is to enforce the law, and we will. We have no choice."Since the court decision, enforcement has increased. While the alliance and similar operations in California frequently work with local authorities, DEA agents have increasingly cracked down on high-profile medical-marijuana advocates and distribution clubs.That led to the raid earlier this month in which the Corrals were arrested and their crop pulled up. No charges have been filed.Speakers Tuesday said the federal policy was wrong-headed.Santa Cruz physician Arnold Leff, a deputy director of drug policy in the Nixon administration, said marijuana has medical benefits, including easing nausea and increasing appetite. While homemade protest signs dotted the crowd, contributing to a near-circus atmosphere in the City Hall courtyard, there was a more somber mood on the front steps, where about a dozen cooperative members picked up their weekly allowance of muffins and other forms of medical pot."I just wanted to show my support for Valerie and Mike and for WAMM," said Levi Castro, who was left a quadriplegic in 1999 after a surfing injury.He has been a cooperative member for about two years.Patients with AIDS, cancer and other ailments came before and after Castro. A few were in wheelchairs. All had a similar message for the federal government."I am not the enemy," said Suzanne Pfeil, a Santa Cruz resident who suffers post-polio syndrome and uses a wheelchair. "I am a person who happens to have a serious illness." Supporters from around the region joined the local group.Kay Mitchell, 82, drove with her son from Sebastopol to show support. The cancer patient said she takes seven different kinds of medicine and uses marijuana to bolster her appetite and decrease nausea."It’s not psychological, it’s a fact," she said from her wheelchair, with a faux marijuana-plant lei in her hands. "I don’t know why I should be deprived of it."With the Sept. 5 raid taking 167 plants, some WAMM members said they were worried about the future.Santa Cruz attorney Ben Rice and Santa Clara University law professor Gerald Uelman said they plan to file motions, possibly this week, seeking return of the pot. "I’m absolutely convinced it has been destroyed, but we will bring that motion," Rice said.No charges have been filed in connection with the raid.With a few exceptions, the crowd was decidedly pro-medical marijuana. Santa Cruz resident and City Council candidate Phil Baer was one of a handful of people protesting it. He was not sympathetic to the plight of people using it."I think it would be noble of them if they felt the pain a little bit and did something for the higher good," Baer said.He held up a sign decrying connections he sees between marijuana use and heroin problems in the city’s Beach Flats neighborhood.Another woman held a sign reading, "City officials, stop teaching my kids that illegal is OK."Leff, the physician, said, "There’s a difference between recreational use and medical use of a lot of drugs. That doesn’t mean we’re sending the wrong message."The local politicians certainly agreed. The list of leaders who came to offer support for WAMM read like a Who’s Who of Santa Cruz County — county Supervisor Mardi Wormhoudt, Santa Cruz Mayor Christopher Krohn, and council members Tim Fitzmaurice, Ed Porter, Scott Kennedy, Mark Primack and Emily Reilly. Also introduced to the crowd were former mayors Mike Rotkin, Celia Scott and Jane Weed."As an elected official, I am committed to changing social policy and bad law through the legislative process," Wormhoudt said. "But when our government becomes the aggressor against powerless people, I feel I have a moral obligation to stand with the powerless."Few elected officials seemed worried about any negative publicity."I’m glad the spotlight is on something as positive as this," Primack said.Note: Medical-marijuana advocates hope to send message.Contact Brian Seals at:  bseals santa-cruz.comRelated Article:‘Typical’ Santa Cruz Gathering was Tightly Controlled By Jason Schultz and Brian Seals, Sentinel Staff WritersTuesday’s medical-marijuana rally at City Hall drew a typical Santa Cruz crowd.There was a three-person theater troupe re-enacting the recent federal raid of a local pot garden that triggered the rally. The crowd booed as an actor, dressed as a federal agent, busted a woman dressed as a doctor. She was pushing a wheelchair carrying a "patient" with aqua-colored hair.One man played drums on the back of a trailer as he was driven around the block.Joining them was an odd assortment of hippies, students, townspeople and the just the plain old curious."I’ve never been to one of these things," said John Darpino of Santa Cruz. "If medical marijuana is right for you, go ahead, as long as it doesn’t hurt anybody else."But while the atmosphere around the rally was loose, what they watched was a strictly controlled event.The giveaway — cooperative members were the only recipients — was organized by the Wo/Men’s Alliance for Medical Marijuana, but had the support of the City Council. Six of seven members attended, as did a county supervisor.City officials stressed before the event that it was not city-sanctioned and that officials would handle no marijuana, and that’s how the event unfolded.The public stood in the hall’s courtyard, facing the front of the building. A horde of media people was corralled on the steps to the left of the entrance, with politicians facing them on the right. Alliance patients sat behind the columns of the porch in the middle.About a dozen plain-clothed police detectives could be seen, some hanging around the edges of the crowd in black shades and shiny black dress shoes, watching the event as others mingled in the crowd.About a dozen members of the cooperative — chosen by drawing names out of a hat — were on hand. They proceeded to the front, one by one, collected their weekly supply of marijuana and briefly shared their story. Then it was on to the next one.Members do not pay for the marijuana.Santa Cruz homeowner George Mead said he showed up to see the spectacle. He did not think the national attention the event was drawing would help Santa Cruz’s image or the local tourism industry, but said at least it was taking media attention away from the city’s problems with panhandlers on Pacific Avenue.Woody Carroll of Santa Cruz said he showed up to support the patients. He said he came, in part, because he believes marijuana will one day be legal and his two young daughters will ask him about the days when it was outlawed, and he wants to be able to share that history with them.Tony Madrigal said he would like to see the city use the negative national publicity the Drug Enforcement Administration has been receiving from their raid on the garden earlier this month as leverage to get the DEA to crack down on the problem of heroin dealers in the Beach Flats.Alan Brady of Santa Cruz said he thinks the confrontation between medical users in California and the federal government could change national marijuana policy."This is the beginning of the end of the prohibition," he said.Source: Santa Cruz Sentinel (CA)Author: Brian Seals, Sentinel Staff WriterPublished: September 18, 2002 Copyright: 2002 Santa Cruz SentinelContact: editorial santa-cruz.comWebsite: http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/Related Articles & Web Sites:WAMMhttp://www.wamm.org/Pictures From WAMM Protesthttp://freedomtoexhale.com/eventpics.htm Santa Cruz Defies U.S. On Marijuana http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14153.shtmlMedical Marijuana Backed in Santa Cruz http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14152.shtmlDefiant California City Hands Out Marijuanahttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14151.shtml
Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help




Comment #8 posted by diana2030 on September 19, 2002 at 08:02:16 PT:
wamm
We stood strong we spoke the truth.... in reading the NY times and washington post ... they said people were lighting up... i think one or two were asked not to light up and respected us.. this was no smoke out.. most people got it.... it was a great day i felt humanity... it was good.
i was able to find a quote from President Bush in 1999 when asked about his position on Medical Marijuana... he said and i quote from the dallas morning news...
“I believe each State can choose that decision as they so choose.”  
well we have voted... mr President i say we all call him on that statement..... SACRAMENTO SEPT 23...
AS MANY PEOPLE WHO CAN GET THERE DO ...... love and Peace diana
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #7 posted by BGreen on September 18, 2002 at 19:57:05 PT
It should have read
Please let Valerie, Mike and all the WAMM members know how sorry we at CNews are
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #6 posted by BGreen on September 18, 2002 at 19:54:35 PT
Artworks
Please let Valerie, Mike and all the WAMM members how sorry we at CNews are. We're behind you 100% and are doing everything we can to get the laws changed. This has torn us up and we don't even know you personally. We feel so helpless, but are encouraged at the response of your local LEA and gov't. In Missouri I would get no help from anybody on my trip to jail.Bless you all!Bud Green
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #5 posted by FoM on September 18, 2002 at 19:44:02 PT
Welcome Artworks 
Many of us here on CNews yesterday kept CNN Headline News on and talked about the giveway all day long and well into the late night. I'm am so very sorry for what happened to all of you. Valerie has been an inspiration to me and many others for years even though we don't all have the pleasure of knowing her but some here do. I hope and pray that this is the beginning of the end. I'm only sorry that you had your garden destroyed and all of you put thru this stress. You did a superb job representing medical marijuana yesterday and thank you from the bottom of my heart.
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #4 posted by Artworks on September 18, 2002 at 19:06:46 PT:
Hello from the frontlines
Wo/Men’s Alliance for Medical Marijuana
I've been the artist/photographer for the Wo/Men’s Alliance for Medical Marijuana in Santa Cruz, CA for 5 years, and was at the blockade when the DEA cut down our beautiful garden on Sept. 5. My husband, George, is WAMMs garden coordinator, and a Glaucoma patient. I have designed a memorial ribbon for WAMM, and would like to offer it as a free download.If any group can reverse these laws, it will be WAMM and Valerie Corral. We've done things right, have all our paperwork, and love each other enough to get through this. I hope we'll be able to eventually get marijuana off schedule 1 for patients all over the US. The DEA picked the wrong target this time. Grrrrr!When our local police came to where our WAMM members were at the gate to the garden, it was because the DEA called them saying they couldn't get out - Oh, NO, sick people are blocking our way. Since they never bothered to let any local law enforcement know this was going to happen, our Sheriff was miffed. Said he would NOT disperse the crowd, but did help us get a phone call through to our founder Valerie Corral, still in San Jose in a holding cell. We told them to let Val go, and we'll let the DEA off the property. We were willing to lay (lie?) down in the road for her. Over the phone, Val asked us to let the DEA through the gate and not to do anything to get ourselves hurt. She told us that if we opened the gate, she'd be let go and the DEA would let her and Mike come home., They dropped them off in Davenport and wouldn't go all the way up to the farm 'cause we're such bad-ass invalids! HA!While handcuffed, Valerie had two hours to talk to some of these DEA guys, and that's plenty of time for her to convince someone that she's right. There were eyes glazed with tears in that room before she was done, she's so quietly powerful. They don't know what they're facing here. We CAN change the law so that no one has to be sick and scared to use what works to make them better. Please write your Congressman
Wo/Men’s Alliance for Medical Marijuana
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #3 posted by SParker on September 18, 2002 at 11:54:00 PT
Letter to the Sentinel
Here's the text of a letter to the editor at the S.C. Sentinel that I just submitted. (I had to drop a few adjectives to meet the 250 word maximum.) I'll letcha know if it gets published."Phil Baer and his wife, Jane, are not only an embarrassment to the community of Santa Cruz, they are a disgrace to the human race.I was willing to suffer in silence their criticisms of the City Council's plan to join in the medical marijuana distribution, and I respected their right to bring their protest signs to the event.But with his statement that he thinks "it would be noble of them if they felt the pain a little bit and did something for the higher good", he has crossed the line from ignorance to cruelty.His opposition to medical marijuana would be understandable and forgivable if he simply doubted its veracity. But his words make it clear he acknowledges it provides relief for these desperately ill people, relief that cannot be duplicated by substituting legal pharmaceuticals. He simply chooses to minimize and dismiss their pain because he cannot reconcile it with his narrow political and "moral" views.I truly feel sorry for the teenagers that these two heartless dolts are struggling to raise, but not because of any "confusing messages" being sent by the community and City Council. I am instead saddened by their lack of a decent role model for simple logic and compassion.I am confident that most, if not all, of the medical marijuana users in Santa Cruz would not wish their suffering upon John Ashcroft himself, let alone Phil and Jane Baer. But I am not so forgiving. I wish a cancer on them both."SParker
Santa Cruz
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #2 posted by Mike on September 18, 2002 at 09:47:14 PT
Absolutely!
"I think it would be noble of them if they felt the pain a little bit and did something for the higher good," Baer said.Indeed, Mr. Baer. We must make sure that our White daughters do not seek the sexual relations of Negroes.. at whatever the supposed cost. After all, the seriously ill are just going to die quickly anyway, right? Hail Harry Anslinger and his "scientific reasons" that John Walters holds so dearly! Hail to them both! (or is it Heil?)"A man is dangerous after a whiff or two of marihuana. He doesn't need to smoke an entire cigarette. A few sucking puffs are enough to give him the heart of a lion and make him as resilient to punishment as a rubber ball. He will commit any crime if he is mentally so inclined, and he will take chances he would not dare normally. It will cause masturbation." 
- The 'New York Times', December 1934	
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #1 posted by malleus on September 18, 2002 at 08:21:31 PT
Is this guy for real?
With a few exceptions, the crowd was decidedly pro-medical marijuana. Santa Cruz resident and City Council candidate Phil Baer was one of a handful of people protesting it. He was not sympathetic to the plight of people using it."I think it would be noble of them if they felt the pain a little bit and did something for the higher good," Baer said.And he's politicking for a seat on the Council? And he says this? With a remark like that, I wouldn't vote him in as dogcatcher; he's liable to torture the critters before they get to the pound.
[ Post Comment ]


Post Comment