POT BUST DRAWS STATEWIDE PROTESTS

SANTA CRUZ -- A day after federal agents uprooted its garden and arrested
two of its leaders, a local medical-marijuana club remained defiant, while
the state's top prosecutor asked the federal government for answers.

"We consider this a minor interference by the federal government in the
lives of sick people," said the recorded message on the phone line of the
Santa Cruz-based Wo/Men's Alliance for Medical Marijuana.

State Attorney General Bill Lockyer, meanwhile, requested a meeting with
federal Drug Enforcement Agency director Asa Hutchison and Attorney General
John Ashcroft to discuss the arrests of Valerie and Michael Corral.

The couple was arrested Thursday during a DEA raid of their home north of
Davenport. Agents also destroyed about 130 marijuana plants, which were
destined for the club's 238 members.

Also Friday, protests were carried out in front of federal offices in San
Francisco, Oakland, San Jose, and Washington, D.C. There was also a protest
of about 40 people at the Santa Cruz County Courthouse.

Meanwhile, Valerie and Michael Corral were left to ponder their legal future.

While the Corrals were arrested on suspicion of possessing marijuana with
intent to distribute, they were released later that day and no charges have
been filed by the U.S. Attorney's Office.

A spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in San Francisco would only
say charges have not been filed. Debbie Young said there is a five-year
statute of limitations and that the office does not comment beyond what is
available on public record.

"We generally don't confirm we're not going to do something," she said.

Meanwhile, local attorney Benjamin Rice said he was assembling a legal team
to defend the Corrals, if needed.

Rice said he too has been unable to get information from the U.S.
Attorney's Office.

"The proverbial other shoe has yet to drop," Rice said.

Other cases in the state offer no clear picture of what will happen next.

In four other cases this year, the DEA has raided medical marijuana gardens
but no charges have been filed, according to the California chapter of the
National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.

In one high-profile Los Angeles case, though, the federal government has
begun property forfeiture proceedings. The Los Angeles Cannabis Resource
Center in West Hollywood was raided be federal agents in October without
the cooperation of local law enforcement. In June, the federal government
moved to confiscate the resource center's building.

"This could be a copy cat of what happened in West Hollywood," Rice said.

The local arrests appear to be part of an increase in medical- marijuana
arrests by federal agents since Sept. 11. Since then, there have been 21
medical-marijuana related cases in the state involving 37 people, according
to the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.

"There's no doubt there has been a team of DEA agents infiltrating clubs in
California," said Dale Gierenger of NORML.

As with other federal raids in California, the local case pits states
rights vs. federal authority.

"Under federal authority, there is no such thing as medical marijuana," DEA
spokesman Richard Meyer told the Sentinel.

But under Proposition 215 passed in 1996, the use of marijuana for
medicinal purposes is legal under state law. That leaves local authorities
trying to implement the voter-approved state proposition at odds with
federal enforcers.

"This has to be resolved at the federal level," county Sheriff Mark Tracy
said Friday. "That became very apparent yesterday."

U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, D-Massachusetts, sponsored a bill last year that
would allow states to regulate medical pot. U.S. Rep. Sam Farr, the Carmel
Democrat whose district includes Santa Cruz, is among 13 other
representatives from California to sign on to the bill.

Farr said the DEA should focus on more pressing woes, calling Thursday's
action "outrageous."

"With all the difficult problems the world faces, I find it hard to believe
the DEA should further punish sick people, most of whom are terminally ill,
by arresting them and carting them off to jail," Farr said in a statement.
"This is truly outrageous."

Likewise, Lockyer questioned the DEA's actions in Santa Cruz County and the
rest of the state and requested to meet with Hutchison and Ashcroft to
discuss policy.

"A medical provider such as the Santa Cruz collective represents little
danger to the public and is certainly not a concern which would warrant
diverting scarce federal resources away from the fight against domestic
methamphetamine production, heroin distribution or international terrorism
to cite just a few more worthy priorities," Lockyer said.