SANTA CRUZ OFFICIALS TO DEFY FEDS, HAND OUT MEDICAL POT AT CITY HALL

Stung by last week's federal raid of a local medical marijuana collective,
Santa Cruz city officials have issued a provocative public challenge to the
Drug Enforcement Administration.

Members of the raided group will distribute marijuana to their members
Tuesday on the doorstep of City Hall. City Council members pledge to be on
hand, and the national news media are expected to attend en masse to witness
the event.

"We want to call attention to this issue," Mayor Christopher Krohn said.
"There was an injustice here being done, and I think it's incumbent of the
elected representatives to stand up for their constituents and make a
statement."

City Councilman Mark Primack noted that the event will take place in a
courtyard area that is a popular spot for free-speech events and that
council members will attend as individuals.

"We are not appearing on behalf of the city," Primack said. "But as
individuals, we are expressing what we feel to be the entire community's
outrage and our support for those who are struggling to make this program
work. "

Event organizers note that most of the people who will be lining up for
their monthly allotment of marijuana on Tuesday are seriously -- some
terminally -- ill. The question on everyone's mind is whether the DEA will
risk a sure dose of bad publicity to make more arrests.

"The thought is, do they want to come and confront a 70-year-old woman in a
wheelchair?" said Santa Cruz City Attorney John Barisone. "The comments that
council members are getting from people on the street are along the line of,
'With all of the things the DEA is responsible for, how did this get to No.
1 on the 'to do' list?' "

Agency spokesman Rich Meyer said federal officials are weighing their
options.

"I can't comment now on our plans regarding" the public cannabis
distribution, Meyer said. "But marijuana is illegal to cultivate, possess or
distribute in any amount. They will be breaking federal law.

"We are appalled that elected officials would break federal law in that way,
" Meyer continued. "They're sending the message that in Santa Cruz, you only
obey the laws you like. And that is a recipe for chaos."

The Santa Cruz standoff was sparked on Sept. 5, when agents raided the
Wo/Men's Alliance for Medical Marijuana, seized 167 marijuana plants and
arrested founders Mike and Valerie Corral -- who helped draft Proposition
215, California's 1996 medical marijuana initiative.

The Corrals were freed and driven back to Santa Cruz the same day, and the
U.S. attorney's office has not yet filed charges in the case.

The raid infuriated local officials, who had cooperated closely with the
Corrals for six years to craft a system to define medical users, issue
identification and provide organically grown pot free of charge.

It also led state Attorney General Bill Lockyer to fire off a letter to U.S.

Attorney General John Ashcroft asking for a meeting to "discuss the federal
government's unprecedented attacks on locally authorized medical marijuana
operations."

Santa Cruz's defiant stance is part of the battle between California voters
and the federal government over medical marijuana.

Eight states have passed laws legalizing the medical use of marijuana to
ease symptoms of illness, a directive that flies in the face of federal
rules that make all marijuana use strictly illegal.

Advocates hope the bust of Santa Cruz's Wo/Men's Alliance for Medical
Marijuana will provide material for a successful appeal of federal
precedence over state law in this matter.

The Corrals' legal team includes civil rights heavyweights Gerald Uelmen and
Tony Serra, as well as Ben Panzer, Paul Meltzer and Santa Cruz defense
attorney Ben Rice.

Uelmen predicted that the Corrals and members of the Wo/ Men's Alliance for
Medical Marijuana will have to file suit to get the legal ball rolling,
noting that federal charges may never be filed against his clients.

"Our feeling is that they just don't want to take this case before a jury,"
Uelmen said. "It's like arresting Mother Teresa."