SANTA CRUZ LEADERS TO DOLE OUT MEDICAL MARIJUANA AT CITY HALL

SANTA CRUZ, Calif. -- City leaders plan to join medical marijuana users at
a pot giveaway at City Hall next week. Their goal is to send a message to
federal authorities that, in this town, medical marijuana is welcome.

The invitation comes one week after agents from the Drug Enforcement
Administration arrested the high-profile owners of a pot farm and
confiscated 130 plants that had been grown to be used as medicine.

"It's just absolutely loathsome to me that federal money, energy and staff
time would be used to harass people like this," said vice mayor Emily
Reilly, who with several colleagues on the City Council plans to help pass
out medical marijuana to sick people from the gardenlike courtyard at City
Hall on Tuesday.

City Attorney John Barisone said that although the City Council passed a
resolution denouncing the raid, there is no official city sponsorship of
the event. He said council members and medical-marijuana advocates are
acting on their own accord.

DEA spokesman Richard Meyer was surprised at the plan, saying council
members were flouting federal law. "I'm shocked that city leaders would
promote the use of marijuana that way," Meyer said. "What is that saying to
our youth?"

Last Thursday, federal agents -- acting without support from state and
local law enforcement -- raided a small pot farm on a quiet coastal road
about 55 miles south of San Francisco and arrested the owners, Valerie and
Michael Corral.

The couple, leading activists for medical marijuana, have not been
indicted. Their attorney, Ben Rice, said he was informed by the DEA that
the U.S. attorney has declined to prosecute the case.

A spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office said she could not comment on
the case, and DEA spokesman Meyer said his agency isn't involved in
decisions on whether to prosecute.

State law in California, Alaska, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Nevada, Oregon
and Washington allows marijuana to be grown and distributed to people with
a doctor's prescription. Federal law, on the other hand, prohibits
marijuana use under any circumstances.

Said Robert Kampia, executive director of the Washington, D.C.-based
Marijuana Policy Project: "The courage of the Santa Cruz City Council and
the growing anger in Congress are signs of a genuine grassroots rebellion
all across this country that will put an end to these attacks on the sick
and vulnerable."