NEWSMAKER OF THE YEAR VALERIE AND MIKE CORRAL

Raid Reinvigorates WAMM, Medical Pot Debate

DANENPORT -- Sept. 5 was a nightmare for Valerie and Mike
Corral.

Just before dawn, federal agents stormed their Davenport-area home,
ordering them and friend Suzanne Pfeil to the floor.

In the hours that followed, about 167 marijuana plants the Corrals say
were destined for members of the Wo/men's Alliance for Medical
Marijuana would be plucked from the ground and the Corrals would find
themselves in a federal jail.

The raid drew national publicity and put Santa Cruz front and center
on the media map for two weeks, reigniting the national debate over
medical marijuana and whether states have the power to enact laws the
fly in the face of laws adopted by the federal government.

But the raid was hardly the death knell for the group. As 2003 begins,
WAMM and its roughly 240 members continue their efforts, albeit with
much less marijuana than before the raid, and now the Corrals are even
deputized officers of the city of Santa Cruz.

Their roller-coaster ride of 2002 makes the Corrals -- and the local
medical marijuana movement -- the Sentinel's 2002 County Newsmaker.

The couple shares the honor with the Aptos Little League team, which
brought attention of a different kind to the county this year. The
boys of summer made it to the Little League World Series, and played
with an infectious enthusiasm and respect for the game that made
county residents proud.

While the federal raid brought plenty of attention to WAMM, the
Corrals say they would rather be quietly doing the work for which the
cooperative was formed, caring for sick people, some of them
terminally ill.

Twenty-five members have died during the past year, Valerie Corral
said.

"That's the big news," she said. "That should be the
headlines."

In typical Santa Cruz style, the county Board of Supervisors and the
Santa Cruz City Council passed resolutions condemning the bust. They
were joined by elected leaders from U.S. Rep. Sam Farr to state
Attorney General Bill Lockyer.

The City Council took its support a step further, allowing the group
to dispense medical marijuana to about a dozen of its members on the
steps of City Hall at an event that was part rally, part protest and
part publicity stunt.

About 1,000 people crowded the City Hall courtyard, with a helicopter
- -- rumored to be a federal Drug Enforcement Administration chopper --
hovering high above, and a media horde clicking and recording every
second.

To supporters, the couple and the group were doing saint's work. To
the DEA, though, it was just another pot bust, medicinal or not.

A DEA spokesman said the agency was simply enforcing federal drug laws
in carrying out raids against WAMM and a string of other medical
marijuana groups in California. While state law has made provisions
for medical use, federal law hasn't.

"Anybody who is growing marijuana, distributing marijuana, shouldn't
be surprised if we pay them a visit," DEA spokesman Richard Meyer told
the Sentinel in early December, echoing a message repeated often since
September.

Though the Corrals were already well-known in the medical marijuana
world, the raid pushed the couple into the national media spotlight
and revived the medical-marijuana debate.

The New York Times, CNN, USA Today and a plethora of other national
news outlets ate up the story.

The Corrals, who were released by the feds after a few hours in
custody, still have not been charged. Moreover, rather than defending
themselves in court, they have gone on the offensive by suing the
federal government to get their pot plants back.

The first round of that effort failed earlier this month when U.S.
District Judge Jeremy Fogel denied the request, but that was expected.

Getting the plants back is unrealistic and not even the point. The
couple's goal, they say, is to push the medical marijuana issue all
the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The couple's odyssey with medical marijuana dates to 1973 when Valerie
was involved in a car accident that left her with brain injuries that
cause seizures. Years of traditional treatment only put her in a
stupor. Then one day Mike read in a medical journal that marijuana
could help relieve the seizures she was suffering.

She tried it, and within four years was off traditional
medicines.

That set into motion the creation of WAMM. In the early '90s, the
Corrals were busted by the Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office and
state agents. Charges against Valerie were dropped based on a
medical-necessity defense. A 1993 raid resulted in no
prosecution.

But as word spread, like-minded sick people came together to form the
cooperative that now works cooperatively with county and city
authorities.

The Corrals were at the forefront of the medical marijuana movement in
the mid-1990s, helping to craft the state ballot measure approved by
voters in 1996 that allows patients with a doctor's recommendation to
use marijuana.

"We've worked diligently to change the law," Valerie Corral said. "To
have the federal government uproot that is sorrowful."

"It's so hard to shake that old image," she said. "It's not people
just laying around sitting on a couch. They actually use marijuana so
they can just get off the couch."