quadracer
Active member
WAMM does amazing work and are considered the gold standard when it comes to marijuana collectives. We all could learn a lot from WAMM. I try to donate whenever possible and I encourage others to do the same.
It is pretty messed up that all WAMM got from the federal government was a wink and a nod, when WAMM had all their plants cut down and assault rifles to the head. Valerie Corral's statement made in court is pretty powerful too.
We'll see how this plays out in the long run though.
Marijuana farm founders settle federal lawsuit
Government will follow AG's guidelines
By LINDA GOLDSTON
MediaNews
Updated: 01/23/2010 01:33:40 AM PST
Seven years after gun-toting DEA agents raided a Santa Cruz medical marijuana farm and rousted several patients from bed, founders of the collective that runs the farm agreed Friday to settle a lawsuit against the federal government that will enable them to continue helping the terminally and critically ill.
Valerie and Mike Corral, who founded Wo/Men's Alliance for Medical Marijuana in the early 1990s, cheered the settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice and the provision that if federal agents attempt to raid WAMM again, the lawsuit can resume where it left off.
"It's the only medical marijuana case that did not end in defeat," Mike Corral said after the short hearing before U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel in San Jose. "It's basically a draw. They didn't win; we didn't win."
Attorneys for WAMM said the settlement means the federal government is committed to the new policy laid out by Attorney General Eric Holder last spring. Holder said his office will not enforce federal drug laws against medical marijuana providers in states with medical pot laws, as long as providers are obeying state laws.
WAMM agreed to drop the lawsuit in light of the new policy.
The attorney who represented the Justice Department was not available for comment. He conducted his part of the settlement hearing by phone.
The lawsuit had been widely viewed as one of the fiercest struggles in the federal government's war with the states over medical marijuana. It had the backing of the city and county of Santa Cruz and had as many setbacks as steps forward — until Holder's surprise announcement last year.
Valerie and Mike Corral's refusal to give up became legend, gaining WAMM many supporters and much-needed donations to help defray the legal costs estimated to be "in the millions" by Mike Corral.
One of WAMM's attorneys, University of Santa Clara law professor Gerald Uelmen, said the case does not set precedent for the rest of the country. But patients and collectives in other states "can make the same argument," attorney Ben Rice said.
The Corrals' lawsuit argued the federal government under the Bush administration had been enforcing drug laws selectively to interfere with California's medical marijuana law. State voters overwhelmingly passed Proposition 215 in 1996 to allow medical marijuana use, making it the first state in the nation to legalize medicinal use of marijuana for people with a doctor's recommendation.
Dozens of the cooperatives and medical marijuana dispensaries that opened around the state were raided dozens of times in recent years. Many gave up and closed or were forced to do so, making WAMM the longest-running medical marijuana organization in the country. The collective provides medical marijuana for free to about 150 patients suffering from cancer, seizures and other severe medical problems.
Several dozen cooperative members and supporters were in the courtroom Friday as Valerie Corral read a prepared statement.
In the aftermath of the raid by DEA, she said, "many members fled from our collective for fear of reprisal, while others died agonizingly because we simply did not have enough medicine to serve them. Their deaths galvanized our efforts and we prepared to endure the obstacles ahead."
Among the WAMM members committed to the fight for legal access to a drug shown increasingly by research to help critically ill patients is Suzanne Pfeil, who suffers from post polio syndrome and was staying at the Corrals' home the morning DEA raided it.
Pfeil said she looked up from her bed to see "five federal agents pointing assault rifles at my head. They kept screaming at me to get up. I am paralyzed and was on a respirator." Agents finally pushed aside the covers and "saw that my legs weren't quite right" but they still "handcuffed me behind my back, she said.
Several people attending the hearing said they know the battle is far from over.
"It's a step in the right direction," said Lauren Vasquez, director of the Silicon Valley Chapter of Americans for Safe Access, an organization of patients, medical professionals, scientists and concerned citizens formed to promote safe and legal access to marijuana for medical use and research. "We hope this sends a message to cities like San Jose that they can move forward in regulating medical cannabis distribution."
Fourteen states have enacted medical marijuana laws and "D.C. is about to enact a medical marijuana program," said Allen Hopper, litigation director for the ACLU's Drug Law Reform Project and one of WAMM's attorneys.
"This nation's capitol will have now have medical marijuana."
It is pretty messed up that all WAMM got from the federal government was a wink and a nod, when WAMM had all their plants cut down and assault rifles to the head. Valerie Corral's statement made in court is pretty powerful too.
We'll see how this plays out in the long run though.
Marijuana farm founders settle federal lawsuit
Government will follow AG's guidelines
By LINDA GOLDSTON
MediaNews
Updated: 01/23/2010 01:33:40 AM PST
Seven years after gun-toting DEA agents raided a Santa Cruz medical marijuana farm and rousted several patients from bed, founders of the collective that runs the farm agreed Friday to settle a lawsuit against the federal government that will enable them to continue helping the terminally and critically ill.
Valerie and Mike Corral, who founded Wo/Men's Alliance for Medical Marijuana in the early 1990s, cheered the settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice and the provision that if federal agents attempt to raid WAMM again, the lawsuit can resume where it left off.
"It's the only medical marijuana case that did not end in defeat," Mike Corral said after the short hearing before U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel in San Jose. "It's basically a draw. They didn't win; we didn't win."
Attorneys for WAMM said the settlement means the federal government is committed to the new policy laid out by Attorney General Eric Holder last spring. Holder said his office will not enforce federal drug laws against medical marijuana providers in states with medical pot laws, as long as providers are obeying state laws.
WAMM agreed to drop the lawsuit in light of the new policy.
The attorney who represented the Justice Department was not available for comment. He conducted his part of the settlement hearing by phone.
The lawsuit had been widely viewed as one of the fiercest struggles in the federal government's war with the states over medical marijuana. It had the backing of the city and county of Santa Cruz and had as many setbacks as steps forward — until Holder's surprise announcement last year.
Valerie and Mike Corral's refusal to give up became legend, gaining WAMM many supporters and much-needed donations to help defray the legal costs estimated to be "in the millions" by Mike Corral.
One of WAMM's attorneys, University of Santa Clara law professor Gerald Uelmen, said the case does not set precedent for the rest of the country. But patients and collectives in other states "can make the same argument," attorney Ben Rice said.
The Corrals' lawsuit argued the federal government under the Bush administration had been enforcing drug laws selectively to interfere with California's medical marijuana law. State voters overwhelmingly passed Proposition 215 in 1996 to allow medical marijuana use, making it the first state in the nation to legalize medicinal use of marijuana for people with a doctor's recommendation.
Dozens of the cooperatives and medical marijuana dispensaries that opened around the state were raided dozens of times in recent years. Many gave up and closed or were forced to do so, making WAMM the longest-running medical marijuana organization in the country. The collective provides medical marijuana for free to about 150 patients suffering from cancer, seizures and other severe medical problems.
Several dozen cooperative members and supporters were in the courtroom Friday as Valerie Corral read a prepared statement.
In the aftermath of the raid by DEA, she said, "many members fled from our collective for fear of reprisal, while others died agonizingly because we simply did not have enough medicine to serve them. Their deaths galvanized our efforts and we prepared to endure the obstacles ahead."
Among the WAMM members committed to the fight for legal access to a drug shown increasingly by research to help critically ill patients is Suzanne Pfeil, who suffers from post polio syndrome and was staying at the Corrals' home the morning DEA raided it.
Pfeil said she looked up from her bed to see "five federal agents pointing assault rifles at my head. They kept screaming at me to get up. I am paralyzed and was on a respirator." Agents finally pushed aside the covers and "saw that my legs weren't quite right" but they still "handcuffed me behind my back, she said.
Several people attending the hearing said they know the battle is far from over.
"It's a step in the right direction," said Lauren Vasquez, director of the Silicon Valley Chapter of Americans for Safe Access, an organization of patients, medical professionals, scientists and concerned citizens formed to promote safe and legal access to marijuana for medical use and research. "We hope this sends a message to cities like San Jose that they can move forward in regulating medical cannabis distribution."
Fourteen states have enacted medical marijuana laws and "D.C. is about to enact a medical marijuana program," said Allen Hopper, litigation director for the ACLU's Drug Law Reform Project and one of WAMM's attorneys.
"This nation's capitol will have now have medical marijuana."
