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Medical marijuana campaign heats up
Medical
marijuana users, grower/providers and their supporters served
notice to the Bush administration, the Justice Department and
the DEA on June 6, 2002 that the federal government's war on
medical marijuana in the states will not be uncontested.
DEA offices and other federal buildings hosted a variety of protests,
direct actions and civil disobedience in some 55 cities across
the country. Arrests occurred in San Francisco and Washington,
DC. The demonstrations, organized by Americans
for Safe Access (ASA), a campaign of the Cannabis Action
Network, told the DEA to "cease and desist" from persecuting
medical marijuana patients and providers in those states where
voters have opted for medical use.
In
other cities such as Portland (OR), Seattle, San Antonio, Wichita,
Tampa, Rock Island (IL) and Saginaw (MI) activists set up picket
lines, public rallies and 'banner drops' in highly visible locations.
The single largest demonstration was in Santa Rosa (CA) where
more than 300 people showed up to protest DEA raids there the
previous week.
Federal authorities responded in the weeks following by breaking
the 'first rule of holes' - when you're in one, stop digging!
Without evident shame or awareness, the aggressive federal offensive
targeting medical marijuana providers, growers and patients in
California has only energized common citizens and elected officials
alike in support. A raid September 5th against the Santa Cruz
Wo/Men's Alliance for Medical Marijuana (WAMM) may mark the beginning
of a real anti-federal mobilization of public indignation in
California. On September 12th the DEA struck again, this time
raiding the Genesis medical marijuana dispensary in Petaluma
and an associated garden in Sebastopol.
Santa Cruz residents approved Proposition 215, the 1996 medical
marijuana initiative, by a 74% margin. In 2000, the city council
approved an ordinance allowing medical marijuana to be grown
and used without a prescription. "It's just absolutely loathsome
to me that federal money, energy and staff time would be used
to harass people like this," announced vice mayor Emily
Reilly about her participation in handing out medical marijuana
to sick people at City Hall following the raid. More recently,
Santa Cruz officials are considering officially deputizing the
founders of WAMM, Michael and Valerie Corral, in an effort to
stave off further federal harassment. "Deputy" status
would put WAMM under the provisions of a federal law stating
a person can't be sued for having a controlled substance if he
or she is carrying it while "enforcing" local drug
laws.
"While
the country was on 'orange alert' on September 11, 30 DEA agents
were busily plotting an attack on the medical marijuana community.
President Bush warned us of an attack,but he didn't tell us it
would be from our own government," said ASA executive director
Steph Sherer. More protests were held on September 23rd at the
sentencing hearing for convicted medical marijuana grower Bryan
Epis, who received a 10-year federal mandatory minimum prison
sentence.
California's political class is slowly mobilizing in support
of the state's medical marijuana law while editorial page writers
chime in to denounce the raids. With medical marijuana supporters
and their allies taking to the streets, the federal government
may have finally found the confrontation it has been so resolutely
seeking.
(Source: DRCNet's The
Week Online)
Related story: DEA Direct Action
Day in Austin, TX
The Razor Wire is a publication of The November Coalition,
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