cannabisnews.com: Medical Pot Dispute Boiling Over





Medical Pot Dispute Boiling Over
Posted by CN Staff on September 18, 2002 at 10:11:48 PT
By Claire Cooper -- Bee Legal Affairs Writer
Source: Sacramento Bee
With a helicopter circling tightly overhead and a dozen local officials applauding from a distance of 15 feet, medical marijuana patients approached a table outside City Hall on Tuesday and chose from an array of pot products-to-go -- muffins, tinctures and small baggies of the weed itself.The dramatic demonstration came in response to an apparent federal crackdown on medical pot in California that is starting to draw protests from public officials from across the state.
"When our government becomes the aggressor against powerless people, I feel I have a higher moral obligation to stand with the powerless," said Santa Cruz County Supervisor Mardi Wormhoudt. "That's why I'm here today."None of the officials who gathered on City Hall Plaza touched the pot, though, and none of the recipients consumed it at the event, which was provoked by the arrest two weeks ago of Valerie and Michael Corral, founders of the Wo/Men's Alliance for Medical Marijuana. The couple, who helped write Proposition 215, the medical marijuana law passed by voters in 1996, have not been charged.Federal agents destroyed the collective's farm. A week later, federal agents raided a pot collective in Sebastopol, confiscating 3,454 plants. Robert Schmidt faces federal charges of manufacturing and intending to distribute pot and assaulting a federal officer in connection with the Sebastopol raid.The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws counts 23 federal raids in the state in the past year against large and small pot suppliers, sometimes after they've been acquitted by local juries.Richard Meyer, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration spokesman in San Francisco, refused to confirm or deny the presence of federal agents at or above the hourlong Santa Cruz event Tuesday, which was attended by about 30 gaunt WAMM members, at least 100 pot patients bused in from around the state and almost as many media representatives. Meyer also declined to comment on possible DEA reprisals but said he was "shocked and appalled that elected city officials would choose to just flaunt federal law."The crowd on City Hall Plaza didn't see it that way. They waved signs calling for "state's rights" and "health, not war."Although the state Supreme Court has recognized Proposition 215 and local officials have worked to implement it in Santa Cruz, Sonoma and some other counties, the drug remains illegal under federal law and a 2001 U.S. Supreme Court ruling.That conflict has produced some tense relationships between federal and California authorities."I don't want any DEA people in my county," Norman Vroman, the district attorney in Mendocino County, said in an interview. "I will not cooperate with any DEA people in my county."After the DEA raided a cooperative in San Francisco last year, District Attorney Terence Hallinan and three county supervisors joined pickets outside a luncheon speech by DEA Chief Asa Hutchinson.Since the U.S. Supreme Court decision, DEA agents have been swooping in all over California -- slashing crops, making arrests or threatening forfeiture proceedings against property.The raids usually have been undertaken without informing local authorities and in some cases over their strong objections.California Attorney General Bill Lockyer this month wrote to U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft and Hutchinson, asking for a meeting of federal, state and local officials to discuss what he called the DEA's "punitive expeditions" against growers who are following state law. Federal-state cooperation in crime-fighting was in jeopardy, Lockyer warned.At the Santa Cruz demonstration, a statement was read from Lockyer criticizing the federal government for "targeting people who were acting consistently with the direction of California voters."Santa Cruz County Sheriff Mark Tracy, who stayed away from the event Tuesday, said in an interview: "I think there's been a very uniform frustration at the local law-enforcement level, no matter who you talk to in the state, about the lack of movement to put together coherent law that separates this medical issue from criminal use."Snipped: Complete Article: http://www.sacbee.com/content/news/story/4447789p-5468829c.htmlSource: Sacramento Bee (CA)Author: Claire Cooper -- Bee Legal Affairs WriterPublished:  Wednesday, September 18, 2002Copyright: 2002 The Sacramento BeeContact: opinion sacbee.comWebsite: http://www.sacbee.com/Related Articles & Web Sites:WAMMhttp://www.wamm.org/NORMLhttp://www.norml.org/Pictures From WAMM Protesthttp://freedomtoexhale.com/eventpics.htmPot Giveaway in Santa Cruz Draws 1,100http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14156.shtmlWorld Watches Pot Handouthttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14154.shtmlSanta Cruz Defies U.S. On Marijuana http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14153.shtml
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Comment #2 posted by malleus on September 18, 2002 at 10:55:07 PT
Looks like someone has no problem with 
being unemployed:Officials elsewhere, including Gary Lacy, the district attorney in El Dorado County, where the DEA confiscated thousands of records from an agency that provided doctor's referrals to marijuana patients, said they weren't troubled by the federal agency's actions.Evidently, Mr. Lacy believes that he is set for life. I hope that in the next round of elections, El Dorado County voters let Mr. Lacy know how wrong he is to think that.
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Comment #1 posted by JR Bob Dobbs on September 18, 2002 at 10:29:50 PT
The rest of the story
Mike Ramsey, the district attorney in Butte County, which enforces a six-plant limit, said, "The federal guidelines that we've been used to all these years is that they're not interested in anything under 100 plants."Nevertheless, in August, Butte County sheriff's officers stood eyeball to eyeball with federal agents in a six-plant pot patch in Oroville while Ramsey was on the phone with John Vincent, the U.S. attorney in Sacramento, urging him to call off the DEA.According to Ramsey, Vincent told him "that this was contraband -- they could not leave it.""After that," Ramsey said, "I have instructed our folks in the field that the DEA is not to tag along unless it is clearly a huge grow that would meet federal standards."Officials elsewhere, including Gary Lacy, the district attorney in El Dorado County, where the DEA confiscated thousands of records from an agency that provided doctor's referrals to marijuana patients, said they weren't troubled by the federal agency's actions.Other county prosecutors, while unwilling to criticize the federal agency, said they just didn't like being kept in the dark."Minimally, they probably should have let us know when they got there," Sheriff Tracy said.James Fox, the district attorney in San Mateo County, which has been sponsoring tests of marijuana's medical effectiveness, said, "I would be very concerned if the federal authorities were coming into our county without giving us prior knowledge because it could lead to a dangerous situation" if DEA agents crossed paths with local undercover agents."The (federal) government needs to follow whatever their mandate is," said Humboldt County District Attorney Terry Farmer. "(But) I wish they would be more respectful." 
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