POT CLUB RAID SIGNALS NEW PUSH

Federal Officials Step Up Assault On Medicinal Marijuana

By raiding a nationally known medicinal marijuana farm in Santa Cruz
this week, federal law enforcement officials served notice that they
are escalating their legal assault in the Bay Area, the cradle of
California's medical pot movement.

While the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has launched similar
raids throughout the state during the past year, including one in San
Francisco in February, the Santa Cruz operation marked the most
aggressive crackdown on a major Bay Area medical marijuana outfit to
date. The raid appeared to cement a policy change for the region's
federal law enforcement officials, who for the most part have relied
on civil court orders to weed out medical pot distributors since
California enacted Proposition 215 six years ago.

Medicinal pot advocates reacted angrily Friday to the raid on the
cooperative owned by Valerie and Michael Corral, both of whom were
involved in drafting the state initiative that legalized supplying
marijuana to the sick and dying. The Corrals had been operating with
the support of local law enforcement officials and political leaders.

California Attorney General Bill Lockyer, a strong backer of
Proposition 215, fired off a letter Friday to U.S. Attorney General
John Ashcroft, asking for a meeting and criticizing ``punitive
expeditions'' against ``locally authorized medical marijuana
operations.''

The raid also sparked protests Friday against the DEA in San Jose, San
Francisco and Oakland.

``Where are the federal government's priorities?'' said Jeff Jones,
executive director of the Oakland Cannabis Buyers Cooperative, which
has been locked in a federal court battle with the Justice Department
for four years. ``At the anniversary of 9/11, you would think the
federal government and its agencies would have more important things
to do than raid someone who has not caused harm.''

Federal prosecutors said Friday that they are still mulling over
whether to file criminal charges against the Corrals, who were
arrested and released Wednesday. Agents seized more than 100 marijuana
plants, a shotgun and three rifles in the raid.

``No final decision has been made,'' said Charles Ben Burch, chief of
the criminal division for the Northern California U.S. Attorney's
Office. ``We're still considering the case.''

Richard Meyer, DEA spokesman in San Francisco, defended the raid,
saying the Corrals have been flouting the law.

The raid on the Corrals' farm, in the hills near Davenport, is the
latest example of the seemingly irreconcilable tension between
Proposition 215 and federal drug laws. The U.S. Supreme Court this
year dealt a major blow to California and the six other states that
permit medicinal marijuana when it ruled that there is no medical
exception to federal drug laws.

The ruling ensured that medicinal pot distributors, even with the
support of local and state officials, could survive only if the
federal government chose to leave them alone -- and that is not happening.

The Supreme Court ruling came in a case brought in 1998 by the U.S.
Justice Department against six Bay Area cannabis clubs, including
Oakland's. At that time, the government took a different approach to
medicinal pot suppliers in the Bay Area, suing in federal court to
obtain court orders to shut the clubs down instead of raiding them and
making arrests.

The Bush administration, however, has taken a different tack than the
Clinton administration, using DEA raids, criminal charges and even
forfeiture laws to shutter the leading medicinal marijuana suppliers
in California. Burch would not comment on whether San Francisco's new
U.S. attorney, Kevin Ryan, has adopted any new policies on medicinal
marijuana outfits.

But statewide, there is growing evidence of a more aggressive
approach. Last October, agents raided a West Hollywood cooperative and
prosecutors have sued to seize the property. In that case, which
involved the biggest medical marijuana operation in Southern
California, no criminal charges have been brought.

Scott Immler, the head of the club, said Friday that the raids and the
attempt to seize the property, if successful, are ``equivalent to an
organizational death penalty for us.''

Santa Clara University law professor Gerald Uelmen, who represents the
Oakland pot club and is assisting in the Corrals' case, said the
government could be vulnerable to a lawsuit on behalf of patients
being denied medicinal pot as a result of the Santa Cruz raid.

``What they are using is hit and run. It's what they did in L.A. Clean
it out and don't prosecute,'' Uelmen said.

Meanwhile, Valerie Corral and other leading medicinal marijuana
activists vowed at Friday's rallies to keep fighting the government.

``They can't know how many peoples' lives they are causing suffering
in,'' Corral said.