WAKEUP CALL

While the Capitola 13 were busy serenading the DA on the second floor of the
county building, reps from the city and county of Santa Cruz were assembled
outside in the sunshine, along with seven members of the Wo/Men's Alliance
for Medical Marijuana, to announce that they are suing Attorney General John
Ashcroft, acting administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration John
Brown, drug czar John Walters and 30 DEA agents who raided the WAMM gardens
last September.

The suit asks the federal court to stop the feds from raiding the WAMM
gardens in the future, an act that founder Valerie Corral says was in
violation of California's Prop. 215, which she helped author.

"We trust the American courts will protect us from further injustice. We are
community members, parents, grandparents, teachers, secretaries. The only
difference is that most of us are terminally ill, and commonly share our
suffering. It's difficult to understand why the federal government would
want to add to our troubles," said Corral, who is named as a plaintiff in
the suit along with fellow WAMMsters Eladio Acosta, Dan Baehr, Dorothy
Gibbs, Jennifer Hentz, Harold Margolin and Michael Cheslosky.

Corral's husband Michael said he felt "a lot of happiness and a little fear,
because we're taking on John Ashcroft, the meanest man in America," while
WAMM co-plaintiff Michael Cheslosky said, "It's been a few nights of not a
lot of sleep, worrying if jackboots are gonna be kicking down my doors and
stealing the five grams I've got in my house. But the real thing I'm worried
about is my mother's phone call asking me what on Earth I'm up to now."

Cheslosky was diagnosed with HIV/AIDS in 1983. "Without medical marijuana,
my only relief from the effects of the virus, chemotherapy and other
AIDS-related diseases, would come from "horrible, debilitating tranquilizers
and drugs," he said.

County Supe Mardi Wormhoudt, who wants to introduce an ID card system to
protect medical marijuana patients from harassment, pointed out that "unless
we allow people who are willing and able to help themselves, many will need
help from the county at a time when we can barely serve those already in
need." Santa Cruz Mayor Emily Reilly pleaded with Ashcroft "to use this
group for research."

Meanwhile, Santa Clara University law professor Gerald Uelman argued that
controlling the circumstances of death lies at the heart of this matter.

"Becoming a plaintiff would not be a priority for me at the time of death,
and many of these patients will frankly not live to see a successful
outcome, but they are interested in leaving a legacy, in not having the DEA
as an uninvited guest at their bedside."