MEDICAL-POT SUPPORTERS FIGHT FEDS

A Raid On A Clinic In California Raises Oregonians' Fears.

The last time Wendell Basye felt such outrage, it was over a new communist
regime in Cuba, and he joined the Navy with the intention of going after
Fidel Castro himself.

Debilitating arthritis, retirement and the passing decades haven't dulled
his passions or convictions.

His outrage now, however, is directed at a different government - the U.S.
government - and what he and others see as federal attempts to usurp states'
medical marijuana laws.

A recent raid on a Santa Cruz, Calif., medical marijuana dispensary has
raised fears that Oregonians will be the next target.

"They're terrorizing our own people. Many victims are the very vets who
defended our country," said Basye, the assistant director of Salem's Medical
Cannabis Resource Center.

The fast-talking, hyper-kinetic Vietnam veteran said he'll go to jail if
necessary to defend the rights of Oregon medical marijuana patients.

On Sept. 5 the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration cracked down on the
Wo/Men's Alliance for Medical Marijuana, which serves hundreds of sick
patients. Since then, medical marijuana patients and advocates around the
country have responded with a fervor some say hasn't been seen since the
Boston Tea Party.

Supporters railed, editorial writers went wild and members of the Santa Cruz
City Council invited the dispensary to distribute marijuana to patients in
the City Hall courtyard.

Fearful that the DEA will do the same in other states with medical marijuana
laws, some Oregonians are joining protests at the California state Capitol
in Sacramento and the DEA office in Portland today.

Mark Cummins, who uses marijuana to control the nausea from his HIV
medications, said he's there with them in spirit.

"If one state goes down, then all the states go down," said Cummins, 40, of
Salem.

Oregon is one of eight states that has passed medical marijuana laws in
recent years.

The Santa Cruz incident followed raids earlier this year on cannabis clubs
in Oakland and San Francisco. Advocates see the incidents as part of a
stepped-up effort by the Bush Administration to put an end to the growing
medical marijuana movement. In November, Nevada voters will decide whether
to become the first state to legalize the use of marijuana for recreation.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled last year that "medical necessity" isn't a
defense against federal prosecution because federal law recognizes no
medical benefit in marijuana. Shortly thereafter, DEA agents started raiding
California marijuana co-ops and arresting prominent marijuana activists.

Federal officials say they are enforcing the Controlled Substances Act,
which regulates the manufacture and distribution of drugs.

Marijuana falls into Schedule 1, the group of drugs considered to be the
most dangerous.

The spate of clashes between federal and state law led to the introduction
of a bill in Congress this summer that would reclassify marijuana so that
doctors can legally prescribe it for patients. The bill also would give
those living in states with medical marijuana laws immunity from federal
prosecution. The bill is still pending.

Meanwhile, the Oregon Department of Justice is assessing its role in light
of recent DEA actions.

"We have previously defended statues that Oregonians adopted by initiative
against the federal government's efforts to overturn them, assisted suicide
in particular, and certainly we would defend the choice Oregonians made in
the medical marijuana act," said Pete Shepherd, deputy attorney general.

The office also is determining if the state's medical marijuana act and its
unique physician-assisted suicide law, challenged by U.S. Attorney John
Ashcroft last year, involve the same legal question - that of states'
rights.

"Many perceive it as being similar," Shepherd said. "It doesn't necessarily
follow that the fate of one of those will decide the fate of the other."

While the federal situation appears to be coming to a head in California,
not all advocates and patients see the DEA action in California as a threat
in Oregon.

Mary Leverette, administrator of the Oregon Medical Marijuana Program, said
she has no reason to believe Oregon's law is at risk.

If anything, new rules adopted last March have made the program more
efficient, boosting the number of card holders to about 3,600.

Stormy Ray, one of the petitioners for Oregon's law and a patient herself,
said the state law is safe because it was written to avoid the thorny issue
of state sovereignty by setting up the patient registration system.

"Everything we do goes through the state and that gives us protection that
other states don't," Ray said.

(SIDEBAR)

Protest Planned

At 4:30 p.m. today, Oregon medical-marijuana patients and advocates
plan to protest the DEA's raid on a California cannabis club. The
protest will be in front of the Portland DEA office, 220 SW Third St.,
Portland.

The rally is set on the same day that protesters plan to converge at
the California state Capitol in Sacramento.

For more information, call the National Organization For Reform of
Marijuana Laws, Oregon Chapter, at (503) 239-6110.