GROWN IN SANTA CRUZ

ALAN BRADY of Santa Cruz carried a flag emblazoned with a snake that read
"'Don't tread on me." He was part of a double-digit size crowd that turned
out to support a lawsuit filed by the Santa Cruz Wo/Men's Alliance for
Medical Marijuana (WAMM) against the federal government. Brady wasn't a
member of WAMM, he said, but he took medical marijuana for an injured knee.
(Well, that's what he said.)

The group announcing the lawsuit in front of the Santa Cruz County
Courthouse Wednesday had its share of gray-haired, pony-tailed and
wool-sock- and-sandal clad participants. But it wasn't a smoke-filled
celebration of recreational users claiming dubious illnesses. There was no
contact high.

The lawsuit, which is being paid for with private dollars, reflected a
sense of resolve, not revelry. Last September, federal agents raided WAMM,
seized 167 marijuana plants and booked WAMM founders Mike and Valerie
Corral. The U.S. Attorney has yet to charge the Corrals, but according to
local Drug Enforcement Agency spokesman Rich Meyer, the Corrals could face
a sentence of "not less than five years" if charged and found guilty.

With the threat of prosecution hanging over her, Valerie Corral nonetheless
is a plaintiff in the lawsuit. She uses marijuana to control epileptic
seizures. Other plaintiffs include cancer and HIV patients, whose doctors
have prescribed marijuana on top of a laundry list of high-powered drugs.
One patient listed "Vioxx, Protonix, Vicodin, Donnatal, Immodium, Ativan,
Wellbutrin, Flexeril, Zofran, Paxil, Morphine, Oxycodone and
Prochlorperzine." The oldest member of WAMM, 93-year-old Dorothy Gibbs,
suffers from post-polio syndrome. She had been taking morphine and other
drugs when her doctor prescribed marijuana to ease her severe nausea,
according to the WAMM brief.

According to Corral, 15 WAMM members have died since the DEA raid. (With
the help of Chronicle researcher Kathleen Rhodes, I was able to verify 13
of those deaths before my deadline, although one occurred a month before
the raid. )

The DEA raid depleted WAMM's marijuana stash. Because its 200-plus members
must pledge not to buy medical marijuana outside of the cooperative --
that's how serious these people are about defying and changing the law, but
by acting within local law -- the lawsuit charges that some very sick
people have at times had to go without a drug that they believe relieves
their pain.

Attorney Judith Appel of the Drug Policy Alliance, which favors legalizing
marijuana, explained, "(Drug czar) John Walters and the federal government
are picking on sick people and this lawsuit gives them the opportunity to
fight back."

For the DEA's part, it is charged with enforcing federal drug law, which
does not recognize a medical use for marijuana. Neither, the DEA's Meyer notes,

does the American Medical Association.

Even still, San Jose Police Chief William Lansdowne was so angered by the
WAMM raid that he yanked his officers off a DEA task force. He told The
Chronicle that the feds' "priorities are out of sync," as methamphetamines
were a bigger problem than medical marijuana, which voters were right to
legalize.

I can't imagine this lawsuit succeeding, even though attorneys were
creative in claiming that since WAMM doesn't sell marijuana to members and
since it is a -- pardon my pun -- homegrown operation, WAMM engages in no
interstate commerce, which is the legal justification for federalized drug
laws.

As a conservative, I tell Appel, I love watching the left argue in favor of
local control, because local control is good for conservatives who want to
opt out of onerous federal laws. Alaskans who want to drill in the Arctic
National Wildlife Refuge can point to their buddies in the
medical-marijuana community.

Except that the Supreme Court has been steadfast in its rejection of claims
that state and local laws -- like Proposition 215, which California voters
approved in 1996 -- can undermine federal drug laws. That's a job for Congress,

Justice Clarence Thomas has maintained, and he has a point.

Congress should change federal law to accommodate medical marijuana use in
states that have legalized it. Rep. Sam Farr, D-Carmel, has written a bill
toward that end.

Sadly, many of the members of WAMM won't live long enough to see the day,
if it ever comes, when Congress does the right thing. So they gathered in
Santa Cruz to announce: Don't tread on me.