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California
County,
Patients
Sue
Federal
Drug
Warriors
Over
Medical
Marijuana
Raids
4/25/03
reprinted from NORML News,
http://www.norml.org
The city and county of Santa
Cruz joined a federal lawsuit filed this week by the Wo/Mens' Alliance
for Medical Marijuana (WAMM) and seven patients charging that the plaintiffs'
civil rights were violated by last September's federal raid of the WAMM
cooperative.
Attorney Gerald Uelmen, co-counsel
in the suit, called the decision by Santa Cruz's officials to join the
suit unprecedented. "It's quite significant; it's really unprecedented,"
he said. "There haven't been any prior lawsuits where local governments
have joined in."
The lawsuit, filed Wednesday
in the US District Court in San Jose, argues that US Attorney General John
Ashcroft, acting Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) director John Brown
III, and White House Drug Czar John Walters are violating the 5th, 9th
and 10th Amendments as well as exceeding their authority under the Commerce
Clause of the US Constitution by cracking down on medical marijuana use
in California.
"Congress has made no finding
that intrastate cultivation and use of medical marijuana for seriously
ill patients with the approval of their physicians, as permitted by California's
Compassionate Use Act, has any effect whatsoever on interstate commerce,"
the suit says. It asks the Court to bar the DEA from carrying out
similar raids of state medical marijuana dispensaries, and requests punitive
damages for the WAMM raid.
Federal law enforcement officials
destroyed 167 medical marijuana plants in the WAMM bust. The dispensary
served some 250 patients, 85 percent of whom suffered from terminal illness,
by providing medicinal marijuana and other health related services free
of charge.
-- END --
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Issue #284, 4/25/03
Editorial: International Singularity | Vienna: UN Reaffirms Prohibitionist Path, Cracks Appear in the Consensus as Clamor for Change Grows | Peru: Coca Farmers Claim Partial Victory After Meeting With President | If It's 20-Apr and We're in San Francisco, This Must Be NORML | California County, Patients Sue Federal Drug Warriors Over Medical Marijuana Raids | Newsbrief: Lying Tulia Undercover Cop Indicted for Perjury | Newsbrief: Canadian Government to Unveil Marijuana Decriminalization Bill in June, Newspaper Says | Newsbrief: Brazilian Health Ministry Proposes Legalization of Drug Possession | Newsbrief: Russia Declares War on Drug Barons | Newsbrief: This Week's Corrupt Cop Story | New WOLA Report on Mexico's Military in the War on Drugs | The Reformer's Calendar
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