cannabisnews.com: Healing Pot Wins a Round in Court Healing Pot Wins a Round in Court Posted by CN Staff on April 22, 2004 at 08:35:35 PT By Howard Mintz, Mercury News Source: Mercury News Adding another puff of hope to the medicinal marijuana movement, a federal judge on Wednesday sided with a Santa Cruz cannabis cooperative, issuing an order allowing pot to be grown for the sick and dying without fear of a raid by federal drug agents.San Jose U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel blocked federal agents from enforcing drug laws against the Wo/Men's Alliance for Medical Marijuana in Davenport, prompting founders Valerie and Michael Corral to immediately begin planting marijuana seeds for a fall harvest. The cooperative, known as WAMM, has nearly 200 members who say they've got a doctor's recommendation to use marijuana to relieve the painful symptoms of diseases such as cancer and AIDS.The ruling marked the first lower court interpretation of a recent federal appeals court decision that crafted an exemption to federal drug laws for seriously ill patients who grow their own marijuana or get it for free. For the Corrals, Fogel's decision is just more ammunition in the long-running conflict between medicinal marijuana advocates and the federal government.``We can grow marijuana in our collective's garden without any reprisals from the federal government and without fear of them coming in and putting guns to our heads,'' Corral said.Justice Department spokesman Charles Miller said there would be no comment on the ruling until it is evaluated by government lawyers. The Bush administration has argued that federal drug laws trump any state efforts to permit the use, possession or sale of marijuana, including California's 1996 voter-approved medicinal marijuana law.The Corrals have been tied up in federal court since September 2002, when drug agents seized more than 160 pot plants during a raid and arrested the couple. The Corrals were never charged with any crime and have been attempting to gain the right to resume providing marijuana to their seriously ill members.Fogel ruled against the Corrals last year. However, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in December ruled 2-1 that prosecuting medicinal marijuana users is unconstitutional if the cannabis isn't sold or transported across state lines or used for non-medical purposes. That case was brought by two seriously ill California women, including one from the East Bay, who raised the argument as a way around a 2001 U.S. Supreme Court ruling against medicinal marijuana clubs.Fogel found that the appellate decision shifts the law in favor of the Corrals. In a letter earlier this month to Fogel, Justice Department lawyers said they were preparing soon to appeal the 9th Circuit's recent decision to the Supreme Court. Fogel acknowledged there remains legal uncertainty over the issue, one reason he cited for at least temporarily blocking the government from pressing criminal charges against the Santa Cruz group.The judge's order effectively enables WAMM to provide medicinal marijuana while it presses its central legal argument against the federal government -- that seriously or terminally ill patients have a constitutional right to control their own pain relief that is exempt from the drug laws.Until or unless higher courts reverse Fogel, Corral said, ``It's all smiles and seeds.''Note: Federal Judge sides with movement for it's medicinal use.Source: San Jose Mercury News (CA)Author: Howard Mintz, Mercury NewsPublished: Wednesday, April 21, 2004Copyright: 2004 San Jose Mercury NewsContact: letters sjmercury.comWebsite: http://www.mercurynews.com/Related Articles & Web Sites:WAMMhttp://www.wamm.org/Pictures From WAMM Protesthttp://freedomtoexhale.com/eventpics.htmPot Group Wins Legal Roundhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread18708.shtmlJudge Tells Feds To Back Off from Med Pot Grouphttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread18705.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #3 posted by jose melendez on April 22, 2004 at 18:08:18 PT stick an apple in their mouths! from: http://pipepeace.com/zAttention John Ashcroft, et al:I have every reason, right and responsibity to undertake to resolve a matter as serious a challenge to the constitutionality of such fraudulently enacted, disproportionately enforced and demonstrably counter-productive criminal contraband statutes and any simultaneous, unreasonable, disingenuous or otherwise corrupted civil code enforcement, and do hereby and will continue to provide articulate, adequate and perpetual notice to the Government, all Persons and Corporations, here and elsewhere in print, video and audio, via public domain publications, records and broadcasting services, file sharing and internet streaming, word of mouth, peaceful assembly, Successful, Incontrovertible and Indisputable Oral and Written Argument, Ritual of Religious Sacrament, Petition, Boycott and Civil Disobedience in Just and Proper accordance with the history of this Nation and it's Founders and Citizens, and with the benefit of a fully developed factual record (to the extent necessary that any argument to the contrary is moot, and or otherwise must therefore include false statements, omissions of relevant material fact, perjury, fraud or otherwise frivolus litigation, opinions or commentary), and do seek and will require the sharpening of said issues at trial and invite or otherwise engage the reasoning, intellectual honesty, genuine and good behavior of any Uncompromised Judge or Judges in any Court without prejudice or conflict of interest, deference to anyone Corrupted by Sellers or Distributors of or the Use of far more harmful foods, supplements, medications or intoxicants and with equitable jurisdiction over such matters and Rights long and Historically deemed most Basic and Inviolable by our Constitutional and common Laws, and gifted to ALL of US on Earth by God our Creator and in Whose Most High Likeness we are Made by Holy, Natural and Unique Design, and HAVE Symbiotically and Verifiably through archeaological, microbial and elemental and otherwise scientific and legal evidence IN FACT Evolved with these Seed Bearing Plants that were Actually or by Ancient, Common, Statistical, True and International Understanding Gifted to Us for Our Use, as is Our Right, Skill, Ritual, Trade, Method of Pursuit of Happiness, Intellect, Relief, Worship, Defense or Sustenance, Tradition, Source of Energy, Policy, Construction Materials, Clothing, and Social or Individual Want or Need and Love. My thoughts are free.Jose MelendezP.S.As for the rest of you crooks with guns and badges out there, go fight real crime, or you're fired:http://computercops.biz/article1243.htmlI agree with John Kerry, we need to crack down on superfund site polluters. Methinks someone really does need to retire to that Crawford ranch. [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by kaptinemo on April 22, 2004 at 17:41:48 PT: Swine are tenacious creatures They just keep rooting and digging, grunting and squealling and generally making a mess of things, don't they?*Two* smack's on the snout weren't enough? They want more? Okay, if that's what they want... [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by FoM on April 22, 2004 at 15:10:43 PT ASA: Press Release NEWS RELEASE from Americans for Safe Access Wednesday, April 21, 2004Supreme Court Asked to Overturn Ban on Medical Marijuana ProsecutionsGovernment Wants Reversal in Raich v. Ashcroft; Raids Were Ruled UnconstitutionalSan Francisco –The government wants to roll back the decision by a federal appeals court that the prohibition on marijuana is unconstitutional when used to prosecute people who use it medicinally. Tuesday the Justice Department asked the Supreme Court to review the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals’ ruling in Raich vs. Ashcroft, which found that the federal ban does not apply to those who use cannabis for medical purposes on their doctors' advice, obtain the medicine without buying it, and get it within their state's borders. The government contends there should be no medical exceptions to the federal anti-marijuana laws.“I hope the Supreme Court understands that I’m fighting for my life,” said Angel McClary Raich, the lead plaintiff in the case. “The government doesn’t dispute that I would die without cannabis, but they not only want to keep my medicine from me, they want the right to take me from my children and see me die in prison.”The December 16, 2003 decision in Raich vs. Ashcroft (Ninth Circuit Case No. 03-15481) was the first time a federal court had found a constitutional limitation to application of the Controlled Substances Act, the federal law that prohibits all use of marijuana. The court ruled that patients who grow their own or receive it free do not affect interstate commerce. Congress’s ability to regulate interstate commerce is the basis for federal drug laws. The December ruling applies to California and the six other states in the Ninth Circuit's jurisdiction that allow medical cannabis use: Alaska, Arizona, Hawaii, Nevada, Oregon and Washington.A U.S. District Judge in San Francisco, the Honorable Martin J. Jenkins, is currently drafting the preliminary injunction the appeals court ordered (District Court Case No. CV 02-04872 MJJ).The original lawsuit, filed in October 2002, sought an injunction against Attorney General John Ashcroft and the federal government to prohibit the prosecution of two medical cannabis patients – Angel McClary Raich and Diane Monson – and the two anonymous caregivers who provide Mrs. Raich with cannabis. Angel Raich has used cannabis for six years in her fight with an inoperable brain tumor, wasting syndrome, a seizure disorder and many other serious medical conditions. According to her doctor, Frank Lucido M.D., she is unable to use other medications and would risk death without cannabis. In August 2002, federal agents raided the Oroville home of Diane Monson, who uses marijuana to relieve severe chronic back pain and muscle spasms. After a dramatic standoff with local law enforcement who attempted to stop the action, the federal agents seized and destroyed her six cannabis plants. The State of California, Alameda and Butte counties, and the City of Oakland, as well as the California Medical Association and the California Nurses Association, all filed briefs supporting the injunction.# # #For interviews or more information, contact William Dolphin at (510) 919-1498 or asa williamdolphin.com. A national coalition of 10,000 patients, doctors and advocates, Americans for Safe Access is the largest organization working solely on medical marijuana. To learn more about the Raich vs. Ashcroft case, go to http://angeljustice.org Hilary McQuieCampaign DirectorAmericans for Safe Access1678 Shattuck Ave. #317Berkeley, CA 94709510-486-8083http://www.safeaccessnow.org [ Post Comment ] Post Comment