CALIFORNIA MARIJUANA RAID CONTRADICTS STATE LAW

Action Highlights Disparity Between State, Federal Law

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency raided a medicinal marijuana dispensary in
California last week, despite a California state law permitting
distribution to prescribed patients. DEA agents seized 167 marijuana plants
along with a small amount of hashish at an operation run by Michael and
Valerie Corral said Richard Myer, a DEA spokesman. The Corrals, who as of
Sunday had not been charged, grew and harvested their own cannabis plants
for patients around the Santa Cruz area.

Thomas Hinojosa, a DEA spokesman in Washington, D.C., said the
contradiction between state and federal laws could not continue.

"The DEA enforces the controlled substances act," Hinojosa said. "We
enforce what is law, unless the laws are changed, marijuana falls into that
category -- a dangerous drug."

The DEA's stance on medicinal marijuana remains steadfast, despite
criticism from advocacy groups like the Drug Policy Forum of Texas.
Thursday's busts were protested in nearly 50 cities nationwide including
Austin, said Karen Heikkala, an activist with the Austin chapter.

Heikkala said the busts showed the inhumanity of the federal government.
"It's a sad day when our federal government attacks the sick and the
dying," she said.

The DEA fails to recognize the importance of responsible marijuana use and
creates a negative image of patients who use cannabis, said Noelle Davis, a
volunteer with the Drug Policy Forum of Texas.

"It's very irresponsible of the DEA to say that all these people want to
get high," Davis said. "They're lying to America."

The issue of medicinal marijuana was explored by a special Senate committee
on illegal drugs in Canada last Wednesday. The committee concluded a
two-year study of public policy on cannabis and found that it should be
legalized.

Committee chair Sen. Pierre Claude Nolin said the government could not
differentiate its policies on alcohol with those designed for the
criminalization of marijuana.

"Whether or not an individual uses marijuana should be a personal choice
that is not subject to criminal penalties," Nolin said. "But we have come
to the conclusion that, as a drug, it should be regulated by the state much
as we do for wine and beer, hence our preference for legalization over
decriminalization."

The only instance in which the committee said that the government should
interfere would be in the event that harm to others was a risk -- illegal
trafficking, or selling marijuana to people under the age of 16. The DEA
disputed the committee's findings.

"I respect the right of the Canadian government to make laws that it feels
is in the best interest of its citizens," said DEA Director Asa Hutchinson
in a statement. "But I don't believe legalization is the right direction
for America. Marijuana is a dangerous and addictive drug. Legalizing
marijuana sends the opposite message -- that drug use is safe."

An annual household survey conducted by the U.S. Depart-ment of Health and
Human Services released last week, found that only 53 percent of Americans
felt that using marijuana once or twice presented a dangerous health risk.

The DEA suggests that patients using medicinal marijuana use Marinol - a
prescription drug designed to produce the same medicinal effects as smoking
marijuana. The Drug Policy Forum of Texas contends that patients fail to
see the same effects from the drug.

The California raid was the fourth since last October. The group said more
than 100 people have lost safe access to medicinal marijuana because of the
DEA crackdown.