CITY, COUNTY, MARIJUANA CO-OP TO SUE

Santa Cruz Seeks Halt To U.S. Raids On Medicinal Pot

In what backers of medicinal marijuana say is a legal first, the city and
county of Santa Cruz are planning to sue the federal government to stop it
from raiding pot collectives.

The suit is expected to be filed Wednesday in San Jose and to seek an
injunction against raids such as the one the Drug Enforcement
Administration staged in September against the Wo/Men's Alliance for
Medical Marijuana (WAMM), near Davenport.

Plaintiffs include ailing marijuana users and the Drug Policy Alliance as
well as the city and county.

Attorney Gerald Uelmen, representing the marijuana collective and the
county, said two things about the planned suit make it unique: that among
the plaintiffs are terminally ill people who are "asserting their right to
die and asserting their right to control the circumstances" and that
government entities are "asserting their right to have primary
responsibility for the health and safety" of their citizens.

The plaintiffs plan a news conference Wednesday featuring Santa Cruz Mayor
Emily Reilly on the steps of the county courthouse in Santa Cruz, an event
reminiscent of the day marijuana was distributed on the steps of Santa Cruz
City Hall, with Reilly and other city officials looking on.

Reilly and Ellen Pirie, chairwoman of the county board of supervisors, have
issued declarations of support. Santa Cruz County passed a medicinal
marijuana law in 1992. The city passed one in 2000.

The planned federal lawsuit is the latest ripple spreading out from the
DEA's Sept. 5 raid on the WAMM farm, where agents confiscated marijuana
that the patients were growing and arrested Valerie and Michael Corral, who
founded the organization.

The Corrals have not been charged. Valerie Corral, who uses marijuana to
control epileptic seizures, is one of the plaintiffs in the new lawsuit.

Other ripples include:

* A motion to have the seized marijuana returned. The U.S. 9th Circuit
Court of Appeals has yet to rule.

* Two bills in Congress that aim at curbing federal power over medicinal
marijuana in states that have passed laws permitting it. One, by Rep. Sam
Farr, D-Salinas, would make medical need a legitimate defense in federal
marijuana cases. The other, by Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., would declare
federal policy invalid in those states.

* The deputization of Valerie and Michael Corral by the city of Santa Cruz.

And, Valerie Corral would add: the deaths of 15 WAMM members since the
raid, which severely restricted the members' ration of marijuana. She said
the collective still has about 250 members.

In the lawsuit to be filed Wednesday, plaintiffs plan to name U.S. Attorney
General John Ashcroft, federal drug czar John Walters, and DEA acting
administrator John Brown as defendants. In addition to an injunction
against such raids, it intends to ask for a declaration that the government
has no right to interfere with the operations of WAMM and similar
organizations.

Uelmen said WAMM is "a patient self-help alliance," as distinguished from a
buyer's club. At WAMM, "each member receives according to need and returns
to WAMM according to ability," he said.

Santa Cruz attorney Ben Rice, also representing WAMM and the county, said
the county will argue that suppressing the group throws a burden on county
services to care for patients that WAMM would have helped. The city will
argue that shutting down collectives that have been formally recognized
under its 2000 ordinance throws severely ill patients into the criminal
economy for their needs.

Plaintiffs' attorneys declined to release copies of their complaint until
it is filed. Valerie Corral said it would be on the WAMM Web site
(www.wamm.org) at that time.