SANTA CRUZ MEDICAL POT COLLECTIVE SETTLES LAWSUIT WITH FEDS

Seven years after gun-toting DEA agents raided a Santa Cruz medical
marijuana farm and rousted several patients from bed, founders of the
collective that runs the farm agreed Friday to settle a lawsuit
against the federal government that will enable them to continue
helping the terminally and critically ill.

Valerie and Mike Corral, who founded Wo/Men's Alliance for Medical
Marijuana in the early 1990s, cheered the settlement with the U.S.
Department of Justice, and the provision that if federal agents
attempt to raid WAMM again, the lawsuit can resume where it left off.

"It's the only medical marijuana case that did not end in defeat,"
Mike Corral said after the short hearing before U.S. District Judge
Jeremy Fogel in San Jose. "It's basically a draw. They didn't win; we
didn't win."

Attorneys for WAMM said the settlement means the federal government
is committed to the new policy laid out by Attorney General Eric
Holder in the spring. Holder said his office will not enforce federal
drug laws against medical marijuana providers in states with medical
pot laws, as long as providers are obeying state laws.

WAMM agreed to drop the lawsuit in light of the new policy.

The attorney who represented the Justice Department was not available
for comment. He conducted his part of the settlement hearing by phone.

The lawsuit had been widely viewed as one of the fiercest struggles
in the federal government's war with the states over Advertisement
medical marijuana. It had the backing of the city and county of Santa
Cruz and had as many setbacks as steps forward - until Holder's
surprise announcement last year. Valerie and Mike Corral's refusal to
give up also became well-known, gaining WAMM many supporters and much
needed donations to help defray the legal costs estimated to be "in
the millions" by Mike Corral.

One of WAMM's attorneys, University of Santa Clara law professor
Gerald Uelmen, said the case does not set precedent for the rest of
the country. But patients and collectives in other states "can make
the same argument," attorney Ben Rice said.

"It's a great day for WAMM," Rice said. "It really moves WAMM from
being just a Santa Cruz jewel to a treasure for the whole state."

The Corrals' lawsuit argued the federal government under the Bush
administration had been enforcing drug laws selectively to interfere
with California's medical marijuana law. State voters overwhelmingly
passed Proposition 215 in 1996 to allow medical marijuana use, making
it the first state in the nation to legalize medicinal use of
marijuana for people with a doctor's recommendation.

Dozens of the cooperatives and medical marijuana dispensaries that
opened around the state were raided dozens of times in recent years.
Many gave up and closed or were forced to do so, making WAMM the
longest-running medical marijuana organization in the country. The
collective provides medical marijuana for free to about 150 patients
suffering from cancer, seizures and other severe medical problems.

Several dozen cooperative members and supporters were in the
courtroom Friday as Valerie Corral read a prepared statement.

"In the more than seven years that have passed since the DEA raided
our home, took medicine from our collective of critically ill
patients and hastened their deaths, every day has been marked by the
actions of our government," Corral said. "Everything has changed, yet
one thing has not ceased; that is the unrelenting death of WAMM
members, now numbering more than 200."

In the aftermath of the raid by DEA, "many members fled from our
collective for fear of reprisal," she said, "while others died
agonizingly because we simply did not have enough medicine to serve
them. Their deaths galvanized our efforts and we prepared to endure
the obstacles ahead."

Among the WAMM members committed to the fight for legal access to a
drug shown increasingly by research to help critically ill patients
is Suzanne Pfeil, who suffers from post polio syndrome and was
staying at the Corrals' home the morning Drug Enforcement
Administration raided it.

Pfeil said she looked up from her bed to see "five federal agents
pointing assault rifles at my head. They kept screaming at me to get
up. I am paralyzed and was on a respirator." Agents finally pushed
aside the covers and "saw that my legs weren't quite right" but they
still "handcuffed me behind my back," she said.

Several people attending the hearing said they know that the battle
is far from over.

"It's a step in the right direction," said Lauren Vasquez, director
of the Silicon Valley Chapter of Americans for Safe Access, an
organization of patients, medical professionals, scientists and
concerned citizens formed to promote safe and legal access to
marijuana for medical use and research. "We hope this sends a message
to cities like San Jose that they can move forward in regulating
medical cannabis distribution."

Fourteen states have enacted medical marijuana laws and Washington,
D.C., is about to, said Allen Hopper, one of WAMM's attorneys.