MARGARET SANGER OF MARIJUANA ARRESTED

On September 5, D.E.A. agents arrested epileptic patient Valerie
Corral and her husband Michael in Santa Cruz, Calif., on charges of
cultivating marijuana for distribution.

The Corrals have made no secret of the fact that their Women's
Alliance for Medical Marijuana cooperative serves the needs of
seriously ill Californians who have recommendations from their doctors
to use marijuana for medicine. W.A.M.M. operated under state law and
with the blessing of local officials, but has become the latest victim
of an alarming pattern of heavy-handed federal interference in state
policy.

The arrest of the Corrals is reminiscent of the 1916 arrest of birth
control activist Margaret Sanger after she opened the first birth
control clinic in the U.S. At the time, New York state law prohibited
even the distribution of information about birth control. But Sanger,
a public health nurse in the poorest communities of New York, could no
longer stand to witness the suffering of her patients and flouted the
law.

In those gentler times Sanger faced only local authorities and a
30-day jail sentence. Today, the Corrals face federal charges carrying
mandatory minimum sentences of five to ten years or more, despite the
fact that federal authority over the matter is highly
questionable.

California Health and Safety Code 11362.5, passed by the voters of
California as Proposition 215 in November 1996, exempts Californians
from laws against possession and cultivation of marijuana if they have
their doctor's approval. The county of Santa Cruz approved a similar
measure in 1995. Since then dozens of cooperatives like W.A.M.M. have
bravely opened their doors across the state to meet the needs of
patients unable to cultivate adequate supplies of medicine for
themselves. Valerie Corral is an especially well-respected and
well-spoken advocate for her cause, and her arrest led Dale Gieringer
of California NORML (National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana
Laws) to declare, "This means war."

According Gieringer, a federal campaign has been mounted against
small-time marijuana growers, particularly those who claim a medical
exemption. "The feds are targeting honest providers who openly supply
medicine to sick people under state law rather than large-scale
criminal traffickers who clandestinely supply the recreational
market," he said. Gieringer says medical marijuana accounts for fifty
percent of the 21 federal marijuana cases filed in the U.S. district
court in San Francisco this year. Half the medical marijuana cases
involve fewer than 300 plants; only two or three more than 1,000. But
only one arrest for terrorism is known to have been reported in
California during this time.

DEA agents have moved against medical marijuana gardens as small as
six plants, over the protests of local district attorneys. In at least
three cases, federal officials have arrested patients already
acquitted on state charges because of their medical needs. So far,
over a half-dozen medical marijuana growers have been sent to federal
prison this year for activities they had reason to believe were legal
under state law. The latest is Brian Epis, who was convicted for
growing marijuana for a patients' group in Chico, Calif., and faces
sentencing in Sacramento on Sept. 23.

In a case similar to the Corrals, Ventura County residents Judy and
Lynn Osburn are currently in federal prison in Los Angeles after being
arrested by the D.E.A. for growing a small personal-use medical
garden. The Osburns were targeted for their past involvement in
supplying the 800-member strong Los Angeles Cannabis Resource Center.
That center's closing was protested by the local sheriff and other
public officials, but to no avail.

In the state of Washington, which also has a medical marijuana law,
U.S. attorneys in the western district have announced that they will
no longer adhere to the Clinton administration's guidelines of not
prosecuting cases of fewer than 100 plants. Seattle defense attorney
Jeffrey Steinborn says that prosecutors told him that they are under
orders from Attorney General John Ashcroft to target medical marijuana
providers. Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Nevada and Oregon
have also passed medical marijuana laws.

Meanwhile, our neighbors to the north are taking a decidedly different
tack. Under Canadian law, Steve Kubby, a U.S. citizen and medical
marijuana user, is permitted to grow 49 plants and possess 6 pounds of
processed marijuana by judge's order while he is in Canada. And on
September 4, the Canadian Senate Special Committee on Illegal Drugs
endorsed the establishment of "compassion clubs" as an alternative for
serving medical users. The 600-page report -- the result of a two-year
study -- urges Parliament to amend federal laws to allow for the
regulated use, possession and distribution of marijuana for
recreational and medicinal purposes.

"Scientific evidence overwhelmingly indicates that cannabis is
substantially less harmful than alcohol," the report states. "It
should be regulated by the state much as we do for wine and beer,
hence our preference for legalization over decriminalization."

Gieringer doesn't see any relief in these matters in the U.S. unless
perhaps the Democrats re-take control of Congress and hold hearings on
medical marijuana. He also looks forward to the results of an upcoming
University of California study on the efficacy of marijuana as
medicine and hopes to hold public officials to their pledge to follow
its findings. A National Academy of Science study commissioned by then
drug-czar Barry McCaffrey failed to produce a change in policy,
although it found many promising medical uses for marijuana.

For now, however, it seems more medical marijuana martyrs will be
seeing the inside of U.S. prisons.