cannabisnews.com: Growers File Suit To Stop Federal Raids 





Growers File Suit To Stop Federal Raids 
Posted by CN Staff on October 10, 2002 at 08:05:44 PT
By Josh Richman, Staff Writer
Source: Oakland Tribune 
Medical marijuana patients and growers sued U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft and Drug Enforcement Administration chief Asa Hutchinson on Wednesday, claiming federal raids are violating their civil rights. The federal lawsuit is both a response to the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling against the Oakland Cannabis Buyers Cooperative last year, and a reaction to recent DEA raids against medical marijuana patients and providers.
At an Oakland news conference, attorney David Michael said he and co-counsel Robert Raich will file a motion within the next five days requesting a preliminary injunction to bar federal agents from conducting any more raids against patients or their growers until this case is decided. Michael called it a "landmark litigation" in which the constitutional issues won't be clouded by any other concerns. "This case is clean; it's going before the courts in a very clean fashion." The federal government still deems all marijuana growth, possession or use illegal, even though California voters approved medical use in 1996. Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Oregon and Washington have similar laws. This case's plaintiffs are patients Angel McClary Raich of Oakland -- the attorney's wife of several months -- and Diane Monson of Oroville, plus two "John Doe" marijuana growers from Oakland who supply Raich. The case makes four major arguments: * That the Ninth and 10th amendments limit federal power, leaving certain powers -- such as authorizing medical marijuana use -- to the states.* That the Constitution's commerce clause lets Congress regulate only interstate commerce, and that Californians' medical marijuana use neither crosses state lines nor is commerce.* That federal interference violates the Fifth Amendment due process rights of Californians to be free from pain, prolong their lives and maintain the physician-patient relationship's sanctity.* That medical necessity provides an exception to the federal ban on marijuana. Angel Raich said Wednesday that she's trying "to assert my own rights to fight for my own life." She said she has trouble maintaining enough weight -- she's 97 pounds, while a woman of her height should weigh between 115 and 125 pounds -- and suffers chronic pain from scoliosis, temporomandibular joint disease, endometriosis, fibromyalgia, a uterine fibroid tumor and a rotator cuff injury. She also has an inoperable brain tumor and suffers post-traumatic stress disorder from childhood abuse and nonepileptic seizures. The lawsuit says marijuana boosts her appetite, controls her pain and helps her cope with her post-traumatic stress, and doctors hope it might slow her brain tumor's growth. She vowed Wednesday that she won't put herself and her family -- she has two teenage children -- through another round of the pain and partial paralysis she suffered before she began taking marijuana. "There's no way I'm going to allow the federal government to send me back to hell." Her family practice doctor, Dr. Frank Lucido of Berkeley, said Wednesday that he's convinced she has a medical necessity for marijuana. Monson, a bookkeeper using marijuana to control chronic back pain, said sheriff's deputies and DEA agents raided her home in August. Although the deputies and a local prosecutor agreed her six marijuana plants were within the county's guidelines for the state law, the DEA agents cut down and removed the plants without charging her with any crime. The DEA made similar raids Sept. 5 at the Wo/Men's Alliance for Medical Marijuana near Santa Cruz, seizing 167 plants, and Sept. 24 upon a San Diego activist and grower, seizing 26 plants; no charges were filed in either case. Some of the new case's constitutional arguments mirror those Robert Raich and other lawyers have made to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on the Oakland Cannabis Buyers Cooperative's behalf; the cooperative's opening appellate brief is due Nov. 8. The OCBC raised those issues after the U.S. Supreme Court last year struck down its medical necessity argument for resuming distribution to patients. But in his concurrence with that opinion, Justice John Paul Stevens wrote individual patients -- rather than clubs like the OCBC -- might have better legal standing to seek such an exception. Robert Raich on Wednesday called this new case "a direct response to the Supreme Court's ruling." Alameda County supervisors Keith Carson and Nate Miley and San Francisco Health Department director Dr. Mitchell Katz sent representatives or statements expressing their support of the lawsuit. Note: Plaintiffs say DEA, Justice Department are violating their constitutional, civil rights.Complete Title: Oakland Pot Patient, Growers File Suit To Stop Federal Raids Source: Oakland Tribune (CA)Author: Josh Richman, Staff WriterPublished: Thursday, October 10, 2002Copyright: 2002 MediaNews Group, Inc. Contact: triblet angnewspapers.com Website: http://www.oaklandtribune.com/Related Articles & Web Site:OCBChttp://www.rxcbc.org/Medicinal Pot Users Renew Legal Challenge http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14410.shtmlMedical Marijuana Users Sue Federal Officialshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14398.shtml
Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help




Comment #1 posted by Windminstrel on October 10, 2002 at 08:22:15 PT
this is freaking huge
if this sees any success at all it'll be a huge setback to the DEA -- and most other perversions of our constition. This is a direct attack on the New Deal interpretation of the commerce clause -- the interpretation that grants congress power over anything in the country. You can read more about the commerce clause at http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa-216.html
KIDS, GUNS, AND THE COMMERCE CLAUSE:IS THE COURT READY FOR CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERN
[ Post Comment ]


Post Comment