POT CHARGES AGAINST ACTIVIST DROPPED

BURBANK - The Burbank City Attorney's Office on Thursday dropped a
misdemeanor drug possession charge against a Santa Cruz medical
marijuana patient who was cited in July at the Bob Hope Airport, the
ACLU said Thursday.

The charge against Valerie Corral, who was detained when screeners
allegedly spotted marijuana in her carry-on bag, was dismissed.

She was cited by police even though she had a Santa Cruz
County-issued medical marijuana card, authorized under the state's
Compassionate Use Act, said her attorney, Christina Alvarez, with the
American Civil Liberties Union Drug Law Reform Project.

Police wrote her a misdemeanor drug possession citation, which
carried a $100 fine, and her marijuana was seized. The ACLU took up
her case, and challenged the citation in court.

The city attorney dropped the charge in a hearing in Burbank Superior
Court on Thursday, but refused to clear her misdemeanor record,
declaring her factually guilty, an issue the ACLU said it will
challenge in court. As a result, if Corral were ever convicted of a
federal crime, she could get an enhanced sentence, Alvarez said.

A call to the City Attorney's Office for comment was not returned.

"The police had absolutely no reason to doubt that Ms. Corral was a
legal patient once they saw her identification card," said Alvarez.
"It should have ended there. Instead, they wasted Ms. Corral's time
and the court's time by ignoring well-established California law."

Corral uses marijuana to quell seizures that are caused by head
trauma she suffered in a car crash years ago. She is the co-founder
of the Santa Cruz-based Women's Alliance for Medical Marijuana. She
is also a high-profile activist and plaintiff in a lawsuit against
the federal government's law against pot use for medical purposes.

Under a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling, the federal government can
prosecute people for marijuana possession even if they have a
doctor's recommendation and live in a state that approves of it.

California's Compassionate Use Act, passed in 1998, allows patients
with their doctor's OK to legally use pot for medical purposes, and
California Attorney General Bill Lockyer has said that the federal
mandate has no impact on state law.

"We intend to challenge this policy until we gain a factual finding
of innocence from the city attorney," Alvarez said.