June 6 - 16, 2005
Mercury News
Marijuana
Ruling Worries Santa Cruz Group
By Ken McLaughlin
Santa Cruz, Calif. -- Valerie
Corral had already been up all night, caring for Wayne Meyer, a 53-year-old man
who was dying of AIDS. The longtime member of the Wo/Men's Alliance for Medical
Marijuana took his last breath about 4 a.m. Monday.
Hours later, Corral got more
depressing news -- that the medicinal marijuana cooperative she and her
husband, Mike, founded was once again a possible target because of Monday's
U.S. Supreme Court ruling allowing federal pot laws to trump state medicinal
marijuana laws.
In September 2002, WAMM's
medicinal marijuana garden near Davenport was raided, and the Corrals arrested
-- triggering outrage in Santa Cruz's famed progressive community. Thumbing its
nose at federal drug laws, the Santa Cruz City Council stood by on the steps of
City Hall as WAMM members passed out marijuana to sick people.
Corral said Monday that the
death of Meyer -- the 155th WAMM member to die in the past 145 months -- was
telling in weighing the importance of the issue.
``He died a criminal,'' she
said. ``It's the justice system at its worst.''
Ray Miller, a former Baptist
pastor who was diagnosed with bladder cancer Sept. 12, 2001, couldn't agree
more.
``It's a sad situation when the
Supreme Court can overturn the judgment of my doctor when none of the justices
has ever examined me,'' said Miller, who used marijuana to combat the nausea
caused by chemotherapy.
Hal Margolin, 72, who smokes
marijuana for severe nerve and back pain, said he was just plain angry. ``This
is my government, my country -- the country I fought in the Army for for two
years,'' he said. ``What happened to the democratic process?''
After the 9th U.S. Circuit Court
of Appeals ruled in favor of Oakland's Angel McClary Raich in 2003, a judge
issued an injunction preventing federal raids on WAMM while the case wound its
way to the Supreme Court. With Monday's decision, legal experts say, that
injunction will be removed.
Santa Cruz County Supervisor
Mardi Wormhoudt said she worried that the raid leaves WAMM ``extremely
vulnerable'' to federal agents.
Javier Peņa, Drug Enforcement
Administration special agent in charge of the San Francisco field division,
said he would not comment specifically on WAMM because of litigation stemming
from the raid.
But, he added, ``We've
investigate the large marijuana traffickers in the past. And that priority will
continue.''
Staff Writer Howard Mintz
contributed to this report.
Note: Local medicinal marijuana
providers, users fear being targeted by federal law agents.
Source: San Jose Mercury News
(CA)
http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/20/thread20798.shtml
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