FEDERAL AGENTS RAIDS MARIJUANA FARM

SANTA CRUZ, Calif. ­­ Medical marijuana activists said they would protest a
federal raid on a marijuana farm operated by a couple who helped write the
state law legalizing medical use of the plants.

Officers seized more than 100 marijuana plants, three rifles and a shotgun
in the raid Thursday, said Drug Enforcement Agent spokesman Richard Meyer
in San Francisco.

Owners Valerie and Michael Corral were arrested on federal charges of
conspiracy and intent to distribute marijuana, he said.

Medical marijuana activists said they planned to protest the raid Friday.

"These are incredibly compassionate people who've worked closely with law
enforcement to help the sick and dying in our community," said Ben Rice, an
attorney for the Corrals. "This is absolutely outrageous."

Valerie Corral said the weapons the agents seized were heirlooms that
belonged to her and her husband's fathers and grandfathers.

The Corrals helped write the 1996 law that allows patients and their
caregivers to grow marijuana for their own medicine. They work with local
authorities to dispense the drug to people with doctors' recommendations to
use marijuana.

Mardi Wormhoudt, a Santa Cruz County supervisor, said county officials had
been very impressed with the Corrals' professionalism in running the club.

The raid was a surprise to local medical marijuana growers and advocates,
as well as the Santa Cruz County Sheriff's office and even DEA officials in
the agency's closest office, in San Jose.

The farm about 15 miles north of Santa Cruz is known to local law
enforcement agencies that have complied with state law rather than federal
drug laws, said sheriff's spokesman Kim Allyn.

"The DEA didn't tell us they did this, not before, and not after," he said.

DEA agents have repeatedly cracked down on high-profile medical marijuana
advocates and distribution clubs in California, bypassing local law
enforcement agencies that have followed the state law.

Andrea Tischler, owner of the Compassion Flower Inn, where guests with
doctors' recommendations are allowed to use medical marijuana, said she was
outraged.

"We're absolutely shocked that the DEA would step in like this at harvest
time when so many patients would be able to benefit from this medication,"
she said.