NATIONAL DRUG LAW REFORM PROJECT COMES TO SANTA CRUZ

ACLU Group Moves In Downtown

SANTA CRUZ - In a town nationally known for welcoming medical marijuana, a
national drug law reform program has set up house.

With fresh white walls and boxes stacked carefully in corners, the American
Civil Liberties Union's Drug Law Reform Project, with their three active
cases, is the newest boon to Santa Cruz's growing ACLU chapter.

Based in downtown Santa Cruz on the third floor of the University Town
Center, the DLRP is one of several ACLU projects; others involve women's
and immigrant's rights.

"The project reflects a decision by the ACLU to make drug policy reform a
priority," said Allen Hopper, a staff attorney with the project.

The DLRP currently has three active cases.

In Kelly v. Paschall, the group is representing 10 African-American
students arrested in a drug sweep in Hearne, Texas.

In Alexander v. Goose Creek, it is representing 19 students held at
gunpoint in their high school hallway during a drug raid.

In a third case, In the Matter of Lyle Crake, the DLRP is representing a
professor at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst who is seeking to end
what they call a federal monopoly on the legal production of marijuana.

Retired University of California, Santa Cruz history professor and ACLU
board member David Sweet said the local chapter was excited to see the work
the DLRP is doing.

"It's basically a civil liberties question," Sweet said. "They're concerned
with defending the rights of people in the states where medical marijuana
use is legal."

The DLRP moved to the Santa Cruz office from New Haven, Conn., over the
summer, after founder Graham Boyd's wife took a position teaching at UCSC.
The project's four staff members relocated with the Boyds. The move has
given the DLRP room to grow.

Since the New Haven days, the project has hired six new employees and plans
to hire two more. The Santa Cruz office will have three times the manpower
of the New Haven office.

Anjuli Verma, public education coordinator for the project, said the staff
looks forward to growing its litigation and public education efforts as well.

"The vision for growth is public education as well," she said. "We'll be
writing reports, alerting the media and community organizations."

Though the focus of the DLRP is national, Verma said, the staff looks
forward to being involved on a community level in Santa Cruz as well. As
the group settles into its new offices, it is also working to add
internship programs for undergraduate as well as law students from UCSC and
Stanford University. In New Haven, Verma said, the project had a close
connection to Yale University, and it is looking to replicate that locally.

Local ACLU members are looking forward to supporting the program's work.

"Santa Cruz County is very well positioned to (work on drug law policy
reform) because we have a law enforcement community that is moderate in its
approach to this project," Sweet said. "And there is a full array of drug
problems, but Santa Cruz is on a smaller scale. You can have more dialogue
here than you could have in Los Angeles. We're in a good position to have a
useful public discussion about drug policy."
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Meet staff members of the ACLU's Drug Law Reform Program at the group's
first public meeting in Santa Cruz, to be held Thursday at 7 p.m. at the
Holy Cross Parish Hall. The title for the evening is "America's Failed Drug
War: Santa Cruz and the National Debate." It will be conducted as a town
hall meeting with DLRP members answering public questions related to drug
law reform.

The DLRP staff also hopes the Santa Cruz public will talk about local
experiences with drug law policy at the free event.