cannabisnews.com: Wo/Men’s Seeks Return of Pot Wo/Men’s Seeks Return of Pot Posted by CN Staff on September 24, 2002 at 08:26:06 PT By Brian Seals, Sentinel Staff Writer Source: Santa Cruz Sentinel As promised, attorneys for a local medical marijuana cooperative whose garden was raided by federal agents Sept. 5 will be in court today to try to get its pot plants back. Ben Rice and Gerald Uelmen, attorneys for the Wo/Men’s Alliance for Medical Marijuana, plan to file a motion this morning in U.S. District Court in San Jose. A hearing date will be set after the motion is filed. The motion will seek the return of at least 130 marijuana plants seized by the Drug Enforcement Agency, as well as personal items belonging to alliance co-founders Mike and Valerie Corral that were taken during the raid, attorneys said. The U.S. Attorneys Office has not filed criminal charges against the Corrals, and has not said whether any are planned.Rice said he and Uelmen plan to attack the agency’s probable cause for getting a search warrant. He said the affidavit shows that probable cause was based on viewing the alliance’s Web site and on a fly-over of the Davenport property where the garden was located."I just don’t know how they could justify that search," Rice said Monday.DEA spokesman Richard Meyer said he could not speak to specifics of the case. But he said the agency would fight returning the marijuana in any case."We’re not a marijuana distribution center," Meyer said. "We seize drugs."In some California cases, state courts have ordered the return of medical marijuana to its owners. Meyer said he was not aware of that happening in the federal court system.The raid reverberated through the Golden State’s medical marijuana community and drew criticism from local elected officials. It also sparked a medical pot giveaway to about a dozen of WAMM’s members last Friday on the steps of City Hall in a move that drew national media attention. The distribution was endorsed by six of Santa Cruz’s seven City Council members, three former mayors and a county supervisor, all of whom attended the event.While California voters approved medical marijuana use in 1996, the federal government still considers it a drug with no medical value. Rice said more legal action on behalf of the alliance would be forthcoming in the form of a lawsuit against the DEA."This is only our first salvo," Rice said of the motion to be filed today. Source: Santa Cruz Sentinel (CA)Author: Brian Seals, Sentinel Staff WriterPublished: September 24, 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.htmThe Thrashing of a Dying Dinosaur's Tail http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14202.shtmlWhy I'm Fighting Federal Drug Laws From City Hallhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14195.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #4 posted by karkulus on September 24, 2002 at 16:27:46 PT If only people would actually READ THE- CONSTITUTION and SEE the PERVUE of the FEDERAL GOVernment is 1. the facilitation of commerce 2. National Defense 3.the postal and treasury stuff ..They DON'T EVEN BOTHER anymore to pretend with the "tax-act" crap like the law's against pot were in-acted ,albeit disingenuosly..It makes me so mad i could spit ! [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by FoM on September 24, 2002 at 13:15:28 PT News Brief: Bay Area News Round-Up Tuesday, September 24, 2002 A constitutional law expert filed papers in federal court today seeking the return of the medical marijuana seized by federal agents in Santa Cruz County on Sept. 5. Santa Clara University law professor Gerald Uelmen, a member of the famed O.J. Simpson legal "Dream Team,'' filed the papers in U.S. District Court in San Jose on behalf of the Wo/Men's Alliance for Medical Marijuana and the alliance's founders Michael and Valerie Corral. Uelmen says that because the alliance does not engage in commerce, the state and not the federal government has authority over the matter. "It's ideal because we have such a strong showing that there's no commercial transaction involved,'' Uelmen said. "This is not a case where the government is closing down a storefront where marijuana is being sold to patients. This is not a drug store.'' California legalized medical marijuana in 1996 with Proposition 215. However, marijuana remains illegal for all uses under federal law. Uelmen said this case could potentially be a test case for the U.S. Supreme Court. In recent years the Rhenquist Court has moved to take authority away from the federal government and give it to the states. The action by the Drug Enforcement Administration on Sept. 5 represents a new assertion of federal authority, according to the lawyer. "The federal government is saying now that we have plenary authority to tell doctors how to practice medicine,'' and that has always been a state-controlled area, Uelmen said. U.S. District Court Judge Jeremy Fogel is scheduled to hear the case on Nov. 4. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2002/09/24/roundup.DTL [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by michael segesta on September 24, 2002 at 08:50:07 PT: Most interesting....... It will be most interesting to see if using the civil courts, as the feds did with OCBC & Jeff Jones, will provide any relief, especially if the constitutional issues are litigated.If I were the DEA, I could think of a dumber thing to do than raid the WAMM considering how many less reputable places they could have gone after. Sometimes I get the feeling they want to lose. [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by Cannabis jarhead on September 24, 2002 at 08:37:30 PT Johnny Why don't they go get Johnny cockrin(sp) and the simpson dream team. Or someone that will Make a big stink about the war on pot. and force fed the truth to the country. [ Post Comment ] Post Comment