cannabisnews.com: Co-Op Wins Medical-Pot Case





Co-Op Wins Medical-Pot Case
Posted by CN Staff on April 22, 2004 at 08:45:28 PT
By Sentinel Staff and Wire Reports
Source: Santa Cruz Sentinel 
A judge ordered the federal government Wednesday to keep away from a California medical marijuana group that grows and distributes cannabis for its sick members.The decision from U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel in San Jose was the first interpretation of a federal appeals-court decision here last year that ordered the federal government not to prosecute a sick Oakland woman who smoked marijuana with a doctor’s recommendation under a 1996 California medical-marijuana law.
Fogel ruled that the Justice Department cannot raid or prosecute the 250 members of the Wo/Men’s Alliance for Medical Marijuana, which sued the government after the Drug Enforcement Administration raided its Santa Cruz County growing operation in 2002 and seized 167 marijuana plants.That raid drew criticism from area officials, and the city of Santa Cruz later allowed WAMM to hold a medical-marijuana giveaway to about a dozen of its members on the steps of City Hall.Both the city and the county signed on as plaintiffs in the suit.Director Valerie Corral said her group had been receiving and growing marijuana in secret since the raid for fear of prosecution. But with Fogel’s decision, the group intends to plant hundreds of plants immediately on Corral’s acre of land in the Santa Cruz hills."We’re the first people in the United States that are able to grow medical marijuana legally," she said.Mike Corral, co-founder of the cooperative, told the Sentinel late Wednesday afternoon that members were being called with the news.He said he was on "cloud nine." The ruling comes at a good time of the year to begin growing."We’re making arrangements to break out the rototillers," he said. "It couldn’t happen at a better time."The Corrals said they were elated, even though the victory may be temporary. Santa Cruz lawyer Ben Rice, one of WAMM’s attorneys, said the ruling was "vindication" not only for the cooperative, but for the city and county which signed on to the suit."I think those guys deserve our thanks," Rice said.The Justice Department, which urged Fogel not to issue an injunction barring new raids or prosecutions, declined comment. Spokesman Charles Miller said the government was reviewing the decision.The marijuana group asked Fogel to issue the injunction after the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in December that a congressional act outlawing marijuana may not apply to sick people with a doctor’s recommendation in states that have approved medical marijuana laws.The San Francisco-based court, ruling 2-1, wrote that prosecuting these medical-marijuana users under a 1970 federal law is unconstitutional if the marijuana isn’t sold, transported across state lines or used for non-medicinal purposes."The intrastate, noncommercial cultivation, possession and use of marijuana for personal medical purposes on the advice of a physician is, in fact, different in kind from drug trafficking," Judge Harry Pregerson wrote for the 9th Circuit in December.The court added that "this limited use is clearly distinct from the broader illicit drug market, as well as any broader commercial market for medical marijuana, insofar as the medical marijuana at issue in this case is not intended for, nor does it enter, the stream of commerce."That decision was a blow to the Justice Department, which argued that medical-marijuana laws in nine states were trumped by the Controlled Substances Act, which outlaws marijuana, heroin and a host of other drugs nationwide. The Justice Department appealed that 9th Circuit decision to the Supreme Court on Tuesday.The Controlled Substances Act, as applied to the Santa Cruz cooperative, Fogel wrote, "is an unconstitutional exercise" of federal intervention.Fogel’s decision, meanwhile, furthers the conflict between federal law and California’s 1996 medical-marijuana law, which allows people to grow, smoke or obtain marijuana for medical needs with a doctor’s recommendation.Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Nevada, Oregon and Washington state have laws similar to California, which has been the focus of federal drug interdiction efforts. Agents have raided and shut several medical-marijuana growing clubs.The appeals court, the nation’s largest, does not have jurisdiction over Colorado and Maine.Wednesday’s decision, in addition to December’s Circuit ruling, are outgrowths of a 2001 U.S. Supreme Court ruling. That year, the Supreme Court said that medical-marijuana clubs could not dole out medical marijuana based on the so-called "medical necessity" of patients, even if they have a doctor’s recommendation to use marijuana.Justice Clarence Thomas wrote that an Oakland pot club could not defend its actions against federal drug laws by declaring it was dispensing marijuana to the medically needy.But the justices said they addressed only the issue of a so-called "medical necessity defense" being at odds with the Controlled Substances Act that says marijuana, like heroin and LSD, has no medical benefits and cannot be dispensed or prescribed by doctors.In the 2001 decision, Justice Thomas wrote that Supreme Court left several questions unresolved, including whether the government could interfere with the states to make their own medical-marijuana laws."The Supreme Court had left this door open," said Gerald Uelmen, a scholar at the Santa Clara University School of Law who represented the Wo/Men’s Alliance for Medical Marijuana.The case decided Wednesday is Santa Cruz v. Ashcroft, 03-01802. Note: DEA can’t raid local group’s marijuana garden, judge rules.Source: Santa Cruz Sentinel (CA)Published: April 22, 2004 Copyright: 2004 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.htmHealing Pot Wins a Round in Courthttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread18709.shtmlPot Group Wins Legal Roundhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread18708.shtmlJudge Tells Feds To Back Off from Med Pot Grouphttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread18705.shtml
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Comment #3 posted by global_warming on April 22, 2004 at 16:03:12 PT
A Matter Of Trust
Something I don't have for those anti mentallities.
I hope the Corrals find peace at the end of all this legal battle.Please watch your back, remember, the judges are big shot lawyers, and the cops are wannabe lawyers, so the whole system is tightly bound by these people. All you need is one corrupt apple in the bunch to rot the system.Otherwise, this is very good news.I hope that the people that have chosen careers in "law" enforcement can accept the decisions of the people, the laws and the spirit in which these efforts have been expended.Meanhile, back at the ranch, here in the northeast, the terror alert is still some color that suggests that we should be prepared. I wish that all this incredible bunch of dedicated law enforcement people could make us feel a little bit better, lower the color, so that we all might feel a little safer.Peace
-gw
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Comment #2 posted by Max Flowers on April 22, 2004 at 09:57:12 PT
Excellent
Defeat in court, with everything thus out in the open, is the only kind of defeat these tyrants can accept. Nothing less will get the job done. That's why every time we prevail in a courtroom, it gets better, but not a moment before. Exposing their cruelty in the press won't do it, pleading with them to try to act like human beings and have compassion for others won't work... nothing works except a good solid ass-kicking in court, usually the state or federal Supreme Court.This is excellent news.Suck on that for a while, Asscroft. What's that---you don't lke the taste? Tough, get used to it, just like we had to get used to your crap (for a while anyway).
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Comment #1 posted by fearfull on April 22, 2004 at 09:09:49 PT
WOW
It's like watching some one walk up Ashcroft and spitting right in his eye! Dear god please watch over these brave people.
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