NO CHARGES AFTER DEA ANTI-POT RAIDS

Amid Protests, Lockyer Urges Feds to Target 'Worthy Priorities'

OAKLAND -- Protesters planted marijuana sprigs in a concrete planter
outside the Ronald V. Dellums Federal Building on Friday, decrying federal
agents' raid of a medical marijuana facility near Santa Cruz one day earlier.

As similar protests occurred in San Francisco and San Jose, California
Attorney General Bill Lockyer wrote to U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft
and Drug Enforcement Administration director Asa Hutchinson calling
Thursday's raid "a disheartening addition to a growing list of provocative
and intrusive incidents of harassment by the DEA in California."

"A medical marijuana 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 wrote.

Staging raids without evidence of any illicit commercial distribution "is
wasteful, unwise and surprisingly insensitive when it comes to listening to
Californians who have made clear their support for medicinal marijuana at
the ballot box," he added.

The federal government still deems all marijuana growth, possession or use
illegal, even though California voters approved medical use in 1996.
Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Oregon and Washington have
similar laws.

Lockyer - who requested a meeting with the federal officials - also
questioned the "ethical basis" of the DEA's raids, because other recent
raids have failed to lead to any criminal charges.

Indeed, no charges had been filed by Friday's end against Valerie and
Michael Corral, who were awakened Thursday morning by riot-gear-clad,
assault-rifle-toting DEA agents raiding their home, the headquarters of the
Wo/Men's Alliance for Medical Marijuana about 60 miles south of San Francisco.

A spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's office would say only that no charges
were filed. A call to Assistant U.S. Attorney George Bevan Jr., who is
prosecuting the Bay Area men arrested in February's DEA raids in Oakland
and San Francisco, was not returned Friday.

DEA spokesman Special Agent Richard Meyer said the ball is entirely in the
U.S. Attorney's court, and defended his own agency's actions.

"We went by the book - we obtained a search warrant, we went and served it,
we found marijuana which is an illegal substance, and we took them into
custody," he said Friday. "We took them to San Jose, to our office, for
booking and processing. And by the close of business, the U.S. Attorney's
office had not filed charges, so we took them back to their residence as a
courtesy."

Meyer said the 167 marijuana plants and a small amount of hashish seized in
the raid already had been destroyed Friday, and that three rifles and a
shotgun - reportedly heirlooms from Michael Corral's grandfather - were
stored in the DEA's evidence vault.

About 75 people, including a few using wheelchairs, rallied outside
Oakland's federal building Friday, their chants of "DEA, go away!" echoing
in the courtyard.

"This is our Kristallnacht, and we'd better not forget it," said Dr. Mike
Alcalay, medical director of the Oakland Cannabis Buyers Cooperative,
likening Thursday's DEA raid to the 1938 Nazi "Night of Broken Glass"
rampage in which Jewish homes, businesses and synagogues were destroyed.

Berkeley City Council member Kris Worthington said the Republican Party
advocates states' rights to make and enforce their policies, yet the Bush
administration's trouncing of such rights is "about political expediency
and advancing a far-right agenda."

Angel McClary, director of Angel Wings Patient Outreach Inc., said further
raids will be met by further resistance.

"Our bodies may be weak but we are strong of spirit, and we will not back
down," she said.

About 15 people protested outside the Justice Department in Washington,
D.C., and a few other U.S. cities reported small protests as well.