Date: Wed, 25 Sep 2002 07:00:43 -0700
Subject:CA: San Diego: Local Pot Advocate's Home Raided Up TOC

From

http://www.thesandiegochannel.com/sand/news/stories/news-168515120020924-180951.html

or if the URL wraps go to http://www.thesandiegochannel.com/ and it is at 
the top of this TV station's news page (along with a link to a discussion)

MAP is working on a Focus Alert on this, just waiting for the story to 
appear in the San Diego Union Tribune

Richard

- ----------------

Local Pot Advocate's Home Raided
McWilliams Handed Out Medical Marijuana In Front Of City Hall
Posted: 4:14 p.m. PDT September 24, 2002
Updated: 4:29 p.m. PDT September 24, 2002
SAN DIEGO -- Federal agents have raided a home where medical marijuana has 
been available by state law since 1996, 10News reported.

[Discussion]
[Medical Marijuana]
MEDICAL MARIJUANA
[Discussion] Should Marijuana Be Legal In The U.S.?
Federal agents stormed the North Park home of advocate Steve McWilliams 
Tuesday.

What led up to the raid goes back to last week, when members of medical 
marijuana advocacy group Shelter From The Storm distributed marijuana in 
front of San Diego City Hall. McWilliams serves as head of Shelter From The 
Storm.

The move was similar to one that took place in San Jose. In both cases, 
marijuana was only distributed to patients with a doctor's approval.

The headline grabbing stunt apparently grabbed the attention of the wrong 
people -- the feds. Although Proposition 215 allows medical marijuana use 
in California, it remains against federal law.

McWilliams has a state permit to grow and distribute medical marijuana, but 
the federal government has chosen to overstep state law, 10News reported.

Federal agents collected evidence and confiscated all the cannabis plants 
they could find at McWilliams' home, 10News reported.

"Apparently, all of our medicine is being destroyed," McWilliams said.

"We are just enforcing the law," an unnamed federal agent told 10News.

However, McWilliams said that there were fewer plants to confiscate, since 
the raid has been anticipated for several days.

An agent from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration approached 
McWilliams on the street Thursday and hand-delivered a letter warning him 
to stop growing marijuana or face arrest, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported.

The letter, signed by U.S. Attorney Carol C. Lam, advised McWilliams that 
he is not protected by a state law that allows chronically ill patients to 
use and grow the drug, the newspaper reported.

Over the weekend, Shelter From The Storm members purposely cut down some of 
its plants, so its patients could stock up.

Some patients, like Summer Bello, said the drug is what keeps them alive.

"I'm a manic depressive. I tried to kill myself. Then I discovered medical 
marijuana ... it prevents me from trying to kill myself, basically," Bello 
said.

An attorney representing Shelter From The Storm said he feels the group's 
constitutional rights were violated, and he will file a motion to have 
their property -- or marijuana plants returned.

Meanwhile, federal agents are reviewing the evidence and will forward the 
case to the U.S. Attorney, who will decide whether or not to prosecute.

------------------------------
Date: Wed, 25 Sep 2002 07:06:36 -0700
Subject:FL: Drug Czar Blasts Legalization 'Lie' Up TOC

Newshawk: krinklyfig
Pubdate: Tue, 24 Sep 2002
Source: Daytona Beach News-Journal (FL)
Webpage: http://www.news-journalonline.com/2002/Sep/24/AREA5.htm
Copyright: 2002 News-Journal Corp
Contact: letters@news-jrnl.com
Website: http://www.n-jcenter.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/700
Author: Susan Wright

DRUG CZAR BLASTS LEGALIZATION 'LIE'

DAYTONA BEACH -- The national drug czar brought his no-holds-barred message
here Monday, calling medical marijuana "a lie" and arguments for legalizing
the drug as a medicine "selling snake oil."

In a whirlwind tour that included stops in Volusia and Flagler counties to
talk to teenagers, local law enforcement and drug treatment leaders, John
Walters said he and the president are committed to the drug war and opposed
to any attempt to legalize drugs for any reason.

Walters, director of the National Drug Control Policy, said his immediate
focus is battling "the lie of medical marijuana."

As for campaigns in some states to legalize the drug for treating medical
conditions, such as glaucoma and to stop nausea, Walters said, "It's not
going to happen, not on my watch.

"I'm going into every state where there is a ballot on this," he said,
adding "fortunately right now that only includes Arizona, Ohio and Nevada."

Voters or legislatures in eight states have approved some form of medicinal
marijuana legalization, according to the nonprofit Marijuana Policy
Project. At stops at Flagler Palm Coast High School and the
Stewart-Marchman Treatment Center in Daytona Beach, he said marijuana use
is "out of control," exceeding alcohol as the drug most commonly used by
teenagers.

He said that while many people view marijuana as harmless, more than 60
percent of the nation's 6 million illegal drug users are dependent on it
and it often leads to more serious drugs.

At the high school, Walters asked several dozen assembled students how many
knew other students who took drugs, and almost all of them raised their
hands. At Stewart-Marchman's Residential Addiction Program, he heard from
teens who told him that drugs were everywhere.

One young boy asked Walters not to give up on the addicts who, he said,
have a disease that going to prison doesn't cure. Walters said the young
recovering addicts could make a difference by going on to help educate
others about the dangers of drugs.

At the high school, some students argued for legalization, and Walters
countered by calling the proposal "irresponsible."

"I personally think you are overdramatizing the problem," said senior Gabe
Clifton at the end of a spirited exchange with Walters.

Walters countered that Clifton and his friends underestimate the power of
drugs.

"Is there a single family, is there a single city, is there a single school
that is going to be better off with more drugs and alcohol in it?" said
Walters, a former college professor.

Accompanying Walters on the tour was U.S. Rep. John Mica, R-Winter Park, a
member of a congressional subcommittee on drug policy and a co-chairman of
the House Speaker's Drug Task Force.

Mica said the war on drugs had briefly stalled while Congress delayed
confirming Walters' appointment last year.

Since Walters' confirmation, Mica said the war is back on track: "He really
hit the ground running." Walters' nomination was opposed by many who
believe his views are too hardline.

Monday, Walters said despite the president's emphasis on the war on
terrorism, Bush is still committed to reviving and winning the war on
drugs. "It's not peripheral. It's not an add-on. It's at the core of his
policy," he said.

The federal anti-drug effort is supporting campaigns to crack down on drug
suppliers in Mexico and Columbia, he said. While getting rid of the drug
trade in those countries is a step toward eliminating drugs, he said the
U.S. will have to guard its borders to make sure those drug dealers don't
simply move here.

"We don't want to just move the problem, we want to eliminate it," Walters
said, adding that would take attacking the drug market at both the supply
and the demand ends.

- -- Staff writer Daniel Lathrop contributed to this story.
__________________________________________________________________________
Distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in
receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom------------------------------
Date: Wed, 25 Sep 2002 07:20:46 -0700
Subject: LATimes: Pot Got You Confused? You Must Be the DEA

- --=====================_2250800==_.REL
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed

LA Times
September 25, 2002

COMMENTARY
Pot Got You Confused? You Must Be the DEA
blackpix5.gif Raids on medical marijuana are reefer madness.
By GERALD F. UELMEN, Gerald F. Uelmen, a professor at Santa Clara 
University School of Law, represents the Wo/Men's Alliance for Medical 
Marijuana in a federal court challenge to the Sept. 5 DEA search.

The leaders of the federal war on drugs are upset. At the very moment they 
were launching a multimillion-dollar media campaign to educate parents and 
kids about the risks of marijuana, the city fathers of Santa Cruz gathered 
on the steps of City Hall to witness the distribution of marijuana to the 
patients of a medical marijuana collective.

A representative of the Drug Enforcement Administration decried the 
confusion this will create among our adolescent population: The Santa Cruz 
festivities sent "the wrong message."

That's the same phrase government officials used in 1992 when they closed 
down the federal government's Compassionate Investigative New Drug program 
to distribute government-grown marijuana to the sick and dying. When the 
program was deluged with applications from AIDS patients, federal 
authorities decided that compassion was going too far and closed off new 
applications because the program was "sending the wrong message." 
Distribution was continued for previously enrolled patients, six of whom 
still survive.

One of the real ironies of the gathering in Santa Cruz was the presence of 
one of those six patients, holding the canister of marijuana cigarettes she 
received from the U.S. government, sitting beside the hundreds of patients 
whose marijuana had just been taken away by the U.S. government.

If kids are confused about marijuana, it's not because they can't 
understand why sick people want to use a widely abused drug as medicine. 
Even kids can understand the difference between recreational abuse of a 
substance and therapeutic use under the care of a physician. We make that 
distinction with cocaine and narcotics, both of which are widely abused but 
can be prescribed by a physician.

The real confusion about marijuana for most kids is trying to figure out 
why it's so different from alcohol. The government's "Open Letter to 
Parents" published in American newspapers last week talked about the havoc 
that marijuana can cause in high-pressure social situations, leading to 
risky decision-making on such issues as sex, criminal activity or riding 
with someone who is driving high.

Although marijuana certainly contributes to such risky behavior, it 
accounts for a much smaller proportion of teenage sex, criminality and 
driving high than does alcohol. Why is a multimillion-dollar government ad 
campaign on drug education leaving out alcohol, the No. 1 killer of our 
teens? It's rather confusing.

The best message to send to young people is the simple truth. And the 
simple truth about medical marijuana was with those patients who limped 
across the steps of Santa Cruz City Hall. The simple truth has been 
discovered by thousands of AIDS patients, wasting away from loss of 
appetite, and thousands of cancer patients, vomiting away their breakfast, 
lunch and dinner.

Marijuana helps many of these people when other drugs don't. Their 
physicians agree but are prohibited from writing a prescription for 
marijuana by federal law. Many of these patients are dying and aren't 
particularly concerned whether marijuana is carcinogenic or addictive. They 
are more concerned with keeping their breakfast down and their weight up, 
so they can benefit from the other medical treatments their doctors are 
prescribing.

During the last year, 40 of the patients served by the Santa Cruz 
collective died, four of them during the week before the DEA raid. The 
collective functioned as a hospice, and Valerie Corral, the director of the 
Wo/Men's Alliance for Medical Marijuana, was holding the hands of many of 
these patients when they passed on.

As a result of the federal raid, many patients in Santa Cruz have been 
condemned to a more painful, agonizing death. If the leaders of the U.S. 
drug war think that compassion for the sick and dying is the "wrong 
message," they are badly confused. If they think that the scarce resources 
available to suppress heroin trafficking and methamphetamine production 
should be used to send 30 agents armed with M-16s into the mountains of 
Santa Cruz to harass the sick and dying, they are worse than confused.

They are demented.


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------------------------------
Date: Wed, 25 Sep 2002 07:32:37 -0700
Subject:US: Networks Balk at Pot Spots Up TOC

Published: September 16, 2002
Subject: Networks Balk at Pot Spots
http://www.adweek.com/adweek/headlines/advertising_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1690015

Networks Balk at Pot Spots
Wendy Melillo

WASHINGTON -- The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy's 
biggest anti-marijuana initiative is already stirring controversy, even 
before its launches this week.

One network has rejected two ads for offensive language, and a second has 
imposed time restrictions on boundary-pushing spots that link pot smoking 
to violence and date rape.

Two 30-second ads by Ogilvy & Mather, New York, featuring the tag, 
"Responsibility is a bitch," were turned down by ABC. The network accepted 
a version without the profanity, sources said. ABC declined comment.

A CBS rep said the spots were being evaluated. NBC has restricted the spots 
to airing after 9 p.m. "We realize there is a substantially larger younger 
audience from 8 to 9 p.m. where people might find it inappropriate," said 
Alan Wurtzel, NBC president of research and standards. "Earlier than 9 
p.m., we don't want the language in there."

Said Ogilvy ecd Chris Wall: "We knew it was a controversial thing, and even 
if ONDCP approved, there might be network issues."

The commercials, "Stacey" and "Dan," trace a marijuana purchase to a 
horrible end. Copy reads, "This is Stacey. This is the dime bag that Stacey 
bought. This is the dealer who sold the dime bag that Stacey bought. This 
is the supplier who smuggled the pot to the dealer who sold the dime bag 
that Stacey bought. This is Carla hit by a stray bullet from Stacey's 
supplier and paralyzed for life." Tagline: "Responsibility is a bitch, 
isn't it,Stacey?"

In "Dan," the purchase is traced to a drug cartel and an innocent family is 
shot.

ONDCP rep Jennifer de Vallance said Ogilvy made several versions of the ads 
in case of network rejection. Meanwhile, ABC has ruled that a 
date-rape-themed spot by Leo Burnett in Chicago can air only after 10 p.m. 
because of its sexual content, sources said.

Burnett created four spots through the Partnership for a Drug-Free 
America's pro-bono process. In "Couple," a teen girl at a party gets high 
in episodic shots. When she is incapacitated, a guy reaches for the buttons 
on her blouse. The tag is, "Marijuana: Harmless?"

Burnett referred calls to the client. A Partnership rep said the ads tested 
"superbly" and the results will be shared with the networks to address any 
concerns.

------------------------------
Date: Wed, 25 Sep 2002 19:01:58 -0700
Subject:San Diego raid Up TOC

Pot garden uprooted in raid

Federal warrant used to search home of marijuana activists

By Jeff McDonald and Marisa Taylor
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITERS

September 25, 2002

One week after Steve McWilliams handed out medical marijuana outside San=
 Diego
City Hall, drug enforcement agents uprooted his Normal Heights pot garden=
 and
said he may face cultivation charges in federal court.

The first of its kind ever in San Diego, the raid began at around 11:20 a.m.
yesterday when about 10 members of a regional drug enforcement task force=
 used
a federal warrant to search the property.

They confiscated 26 maturing plants =AD some as tall as 8 feet =AD and about=
 10
pounds of loose marijuana cultivated by McWilliams under a state law that
permits medicinal use of the drug. Officers also carted away irrigation
equipment, fans and other marijuana-growing tools.

No arrests were made. Agents said the decision to bring charges against
McWilliams or his partner, Barbara MacKenzie, would be made by the U.S.
Attorney's Office.

"He claims this is medicine," said Donald Thornhill Jr. of the U.S. Drug
Enforcement Administration, which sought the warrant. "From our perspective,
there's no medical use for this."

U.S. Attorney Carol Lam said her office is reviewing the case to decide
whether to pursue charges. She declined to comment further.

Medical-marijuana activists across the state contend that the federal
government is cracking down on activists such as McWilliams so that more
people do not attempt to grow marijuana under California's Proposition 215.

Thornhill said the seizure had nothing to do with McWilliams' protest=
 outside
City Hall last Tuesday. "This has been on the agenda for a while," he said.
"It's the politics of the time."

McWilliams had staged his protest to support a similar demonstration in=
 Santa
Cruz, where elected officials joined 1,000 or more people criticizing the=
 DEA
for an earlier raid on a marijuana cooperative there.

Neither McWilliams nor MacKenzie was home when the narcotics team went to=
 the
Wilson Avenue residence. Agents climbed through an open window before taking
an inventory of the home's contents.

Television news crews taped the raid as it unfolded, while neighbors came=
 out
of their homes to watch.

McWilliams arrived about 10 minutes later and was told that if he entered=
 the
property he would be detained. He left soon afterward but not before sharply
criticizing the government's action.

"I don't know why this is happening," he said. "I've had police officers out
here, probation officers out here, even the city attorney's office out here=
 I
don't know how many times."

The search warrant was executed at the height of the annual harvest.
McWilliams said most of the marijuana seized was not yet useable.

"It might have been 10 pounds with the branches and leaves, but it was=
 totally
unmanicured," he said.

The action was not entirely a surprise.

McWilliams was hand-delivered a letter from Lam last week warning him that=
 his
plants violated federal drug laws =AD even though they are allowed by city=
 and
state officials under Proposition 215.

MacKenzie and McWilliams said that over the weekend they trimmed their=
 plants
and delivered marijuana to patients. They said several of the patients
returned the marijuana Monday because they feared reprisals from the
government.

Both marijuana activists have been working closely with local officials to
abide by guidelines being drafted by a city task force. Those=
 recommendations
are scheduled to be debated by a City Council committee next month.

"I trusted the political process," said MacKenzie, who was angry after
arriving home to find federal agents searching her home. "They don't want to
prosecute. They just want to take the medicine."

San Diego Councilwoman Toni Atkins, who helped organize the city task force,
called the seizure "unfortunate."

"It's a tragedy that the will of the voters of the state of California, who
overwhelmingly passed Proposition 215 in an effort to help sick people,
continues to be subverted," she said.

The city will push ahead with plans to issue identification cards to
medical-marijuana patients, Atkins said.

San Diego attorney Patrick Dudley is representing McWilliams and MacKenzie=
 for
free. Outside the home yesterday, he said there was little he could do but
wait to see whether his clients are charged.

"I've never seen a case with such a small amount (of marijuana)," he said.
"It's getting ludicrous. They're being targeted because they're speaking=
 out."

The question now is whether McWilliams will be charged with any crime. In
Santa Cruz, federal prosecutors declined to charge several activists who=
 were
arrested by federal agents earlier this month.

Peter Nunez, San Diego's U.S. attorney under President Reagan, predicted=
 that
the Justice Department would pursue criminal charges, especially because
McWilliams has refused to back down.

"This guy is begging to be prosecuted," Nunez said. "I'm sure there are=
 people
who are quietly growing 10 plants in their back yards but they won't be
prosecuted because they aren't publicizing the fact."

Stephen G. Nelson, a former assistant U.S. attorney of 25 years who headed=
 the
office's drug division, agreed that a prosecution is likely but said he=
 hoped
the U.S. attorney would turn down the case.

"If it's a small number of plants and they are being grown consistent with
California law, it's obviously a waste of federal resources to prosecute=
 this
guy," he said.

McWilliams said medical-marijuana activists are rallying to help him and are
planning protests for today at federal buildings around the state.

"Everyone knows what kind of place we ran," he said. "There was no large
amount of patients and no large amount of plants. People are very upset."




=



**




web:     http://www.crrh.org/

------------------------------
Date: Wed, 25 Sep 2002 19:04:37 -0700
Subject:DEA Destroys 20 Plants In Latest California Raid Up TOC

DEA Destroys 20 Plants In Latest California Raid

*********************PLEASE COPY AND DISTRIBUTE*************************

DrugSense FOCUS Alert #255  Wed Sep 25, 2002

On Tuesday morning, Sept 23 in San Diego, the DEA conducted yet another 
raid on a medical marijuana provider. This time the victim was Steve 
McWilliams and his Shelter From the Storm garden, which provides legal 
medical marijuana to six patients in the SoCal area.  Agents arrived to 
seize the plants from his modest garden which had already been trimmed and 
the useful medicine distributed.

This action comes on the heels of the Feds previous arrests of McWilliams 
for growing in larger quantities and following a warning last week by 
letter to McWilliams from the local U.S. Attorney.

Any of the federal raids on legal California medical marijuana dispensaries 
are reprehensible, but this latest is likely the most audacious and 
heartless move yet by John Ashcroft and Asa Hutchinson's agents.  With the 
U.S./Mexico border just miles away providing an entry point for literally 
millions of dollars per day in illegal drugs, the DEA decided to divert 
agents and valuable resources to shutting down the Shelter From the Storm 
garden.

As shown in the article below, this raid is still another direct and overt 
attempt by the Feds to punish anyone who might be publicly critical of U.S. 
policy.

Additionally, this action took place less than a week following an 
extremely strong opinion column in the San Diego Union-Tribune by the Drug 
Policy Alliance's Ethan Nadelmann.  In his column, archived at 
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02.n1804.a11.html Nadelmann astutely and 
accurately demonstrates why any such raids by federal agents are foolhardy 
practice and a sad waste of valuable federal law enforcement agents.

These DEA actions against medical cannabis users and those who help them 
are far from rare, as shown by the list maintained here 
http://www.canorml.org/news/fedmmjcases.html

Please contact the San Diego Union-Tribune today and let them know how you 
feel about this latest raid. Further, let them know how you feel about 
Nadelmann's column and thank them for their continued coverage of this very 
urgent topic.

Thanks for your effort and support.

              It's not what others do it's what YOU do

***************************************************************************
PLEASE SEND US A COPY OF YOUR LETTER OR TELL US WHAT YOU DID
(Letter, email messages, etc.)

Please post a copy of your letter or report your action to the sent letter 
list (sentlte@mapinc.org) if you are subscribed, or by E-mailing a copy 
directly to MGreer@mapinc.org if you are not subscribed. Your letter will 
then be forwarded to the list so others can learn from your efforts and be 
motivated to follow suit.

This is _Very_ Important as it is one very effective way of gauging our 
impact and effectiveness.

Subscribing to the Sent LTE list (sentlte@mapinc.org) will help you to 
review other sent LTEs and perhaps come up with new ideas or approaches as 
well as keeping others aware of your important writing efforts.

To subscribe to the Sent LTE mailing list see
http://www.mapinc.org/lists/index.htm
and/or
http://www.mapinc.org/lists/index.htm#form

**************************************************************************
CONTACT INFO

Source: San Diego Union Tribune (CA)

Contact: letters@uniontrib.com

**************************************************************************

FOLLOWING is the story of the raid from the San Diego Union Tribune 
published today, Wednesday, 25 September:

POT GARDEN UPROOTED IN RAID

Federal warrant used to search home of marijuana activists

By Jeff McDonald and Marisa Taylor, Staff Writers

One week after Steve McWilliams handed out medical marijuana outside
San Diego City Hall, drug enforcement agents uprooted his Normal
Heights pot garden and said he may face cultivation charges in federal
court.

The first of its kind ever in San Diego, the raid began at around
11:20 a.m. yesterday when about 10 members of a regional drug
enforcement task force used a federal warrant to search the property.

They confiscated 26 maturing plants - some as tall as 8 feet - and
about 10 pounds of loose marijuana cultivated by McWilliams under a
state law that permits medicinal use of the drug. Officers also carted
away irrigation equipment, fans and other marijuana-growing tools.

No arrests were made. Agents said the decision to bring charges
against McWilliams or his partner, Barbara MacKenzie, would be made by
the U.S. Attorney's Office.

"He claims this is medicine," said Donald Thornhill Jr. of the U.S.
Drug Enforcement Administration, which sought the warrant. "From our
perspective, there's no medical use for this."

U.S. Attorney Carol Lam said her office is reviewing the case to
decide whether to pursue charges. She declined to comment further.

Medical-marijuana activists across the state contend that the federal
government is cracking down on activists such as McWilliams so that
more people do not attempt to grow marijuana under California's
Proposition 215.

Thornhill said the seizure had nothing to do with McWilliams' protest
outside City Hall last Tuesday. "This has been on the agenda for a
while," he said. "It's the politics of the time."

McWilliams had staged his protest to support a similar demonstration
in Santa Cruz, where elected officials joined 1,000 or more people
criticizing the DEA for an earlier raid on a marijuana cooperative
there.

Neither McWilliams nor MacKenzie was home when the narcotics team went
to the Wilson Avenue residence. Agents climbed through an open window
before taking an inventory of the home's contents.

Television news crews taped the raid as it unfolded, while neighbors
came out of their homes to watch.

McWilliams arrived about 10 minutes later and was told that if he
entered the property he would be detained. He left soon afterward but
not before sharply criticizing the government's action.

"I don't know why this is happening," he said. "I've had police
officers out here, probation officers out here, even the city
attorney's office out here I don't know how many times."

The search warrant was executed at the height of the annual harvest.
McWilliams said most of the marijuana seized was not yet useable.

"It might have been 10 pounds with the branches and leaves, but it was
totally unmanicured," he said.

The action was not entirely a surprise.

McWilliams was hand-delivered a letter from Lam last week warning him
that his plants violated federal drug laws - even though they are
allowed by city and state officials under Proposition 215.

MacKenzie and McWilliams said that over the weekend they trimmed their
plants and delivered marijuana to patients. They said several of the
patients returned the marijuana Monday because they feared reprisals
from the government.

Both marijuana activists have been working closely with local officials to
abide by guidelines being drafted by a city task force. Those=
 recommendations
are scheduled to be debated by a City Council committee next month.

"I trusted the political process," said MacKenzie, who was angry after
arriving home to find federal agents searching her home. "They don't want to
prosecute. They just want to take the medicine."

San Diego Councilwoman Toni Atkins, who helped organize the city task force,
called the seizure "unfortunate."

"It's a tragedy that the will of the voters of the state of California, who
overwhelmingly passed Proposition 215 in an effort to help sick people,
continues to be subverted," she said.

The city will push ahead with plans to issue identification cards to
medical-marijuana patients, Atkins said.

San Diego attorney Patrick Dudley is representing McWilliams and MacKenzie=
 for
free. Outside the home yesterday, he said there was little he could do but
wait to see whether his clients are charged.

"I've never seen a case with such a small amount (of marijuana)," he said.
"It's getting ludicrous. They're being targeted because they're speaking=
 out."

The question now is whether McWilliams will be charged with any crime. In
Santa Cruz, federal prosecutors declined to charge several activists who=
 were
arrested by federal agents earlier this month.

Peter Nunez, San Diego's U.S. attorney under President Reagan, predicted=
 that
the Justice Department would pursue criminal charges, especially because
McWilliams has refused to back down.

"This guy is begging to be prosecuted," Nunez said. "I'm sure there are=
 people
who are quietly growing 10 plants in their back yards but they won't be
prosecuted because they aren't publicizing the fact."

Stephen G. Nelson, a former assistant U.S. attorney of 25 years who headed=
 the
office's drug division, agreed that a prosecution is likely but said he=
 hoped
the U.S. attorney would turn down the case.

"If it's a small number of plants and they are being grown consistent with
California law, it's obviously a waste of federal resources to prosecute=
 this
guy," he said.

McWilliams said medical-marijuana activists are rallying to help him and are
planning protests for today at federal buildings around the state.

"Everyone knows what kind of place we ran," he said. "There was no large
amount of patients and no large amount of plants. People are very upset."



CRRH is working to regulate and tax the sale of cannabis to adults like=20
alcohol, allow doctors to recommend cannabis through pharmacies and restore=
=20
the unregulated production of industrial hemp.

*Campaign for the Restoration and Regulation of Hemp*
mail:     CRRH ; P.O. Box 86741 ; Portland, OR 97286 USA
email:   crrh@crrh.org
phone:  (503) 235-4606
fax:       (503) 235-0120
web:     http://www.crrh.org/

------------------------------
Date: Wed, 25 Sep 2002 19:04:37 -0700
Subject: DEA Destroys 20 Plants In Latest California Raid

DEA Destroys 20 Plants In Latest California Raid

*********************PLEASE COPY AND DISTRIBUTE*************************

DrugSense FOCUS Alert #255  Wed Sep 25, 2002

On Tuesday morning, Sept 23 in San Diego, the DEA conducted yet another 
raid on a medical marijuana provider. This time the victim was Steve 
McWilliams and his Shelter From the Storm garden, which provides legal 
medical marijuana to six patients in the SoCal area.  Agents arrived to 
seize the plants from his modest garden which had already been trimmed and 
the useful medicine distributed.

This action comes on the heels of the Feds previous arrests of McWilliams 
for growing in larger quantities and following a warning last week by 
letter to McWilliams from the local U.S. Attorney.

Any of the federal raids on legal California medical marijuana dispensaries 
are reprehensible, but this latest is likely the most audacious and 
heartless move yet by John Ashcroft and Asa Hutchinson's agents.  With the 
U.S./Mexico border just miles away providing an entry point for literally 
millions of dollars per day in illegal drugs, the DEA decided to divert 
agents and valuable resources to shutting down the Shelter From the Storm 
garden.

As shown in the article below, this raid is still another direct and overt 
attempt by the Feds to punish anyone who might be publicly critical of U.S. 
policy.

Additionally, this action took place less than a week following an 
extremely strong opinion column in the San Diego Union-Tribune by the Drug 
Policy Alliance's Ethan Nadelmann.  In his column, archived at 
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02.n1804.a11.html Nadelmann astutely and 
accurately demonstrates why any such raids by federal agents are foolhardy 
practice and a sad waste of valuable federal law enforcement agents.

These DEA actions against medical cannabis users and those who help them 
are far from rare, as shown by the list maintained here 
http://www.canorml.org/news/fedmmjcases.html

Please contact the San Diego Union-Tribune today and let them know how you 
feel about this latest raid. Further, let them know how you feel about 
Nadelmann's column and thank them for their continued coverage of this very 
urgent topic.

Thanks for your effort and support.

              It's not what others do it's what YOU do

***************************************************************************
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**************************************************************************
CONTACT INFO

Source: San Diego Union Tribune (CA)

Contact: letters@uniontrib.com

**************************************************************************

FOLLOWING is the story of the raid from the San Diego Union Tribune 
published today, Wednesday, 25 September:

POT GARDEN UPROOTED IN RAID

Federal warrant used to search home of marijuana activists

By Jeff McDonald and Marisa Taylor, Staff Writers

One week after Steve McWilliams handed out medical marijuana outside
San Diego City Hall, drug enforcement agents uprooted his Normal
Heights pot garden and said he may face cultivation charges in federal
court.

The first of its kind ever in San Diego, the raid began at around
11:20 a.m. yesterday when about 10 members of a regional drug
enforcement task force used a federal warrant to search the property.

They confiscated 26 maturing plants - some as tall as 8 feet - and
about 10 pounds of loose marijuana cultivated by McWilliams under a
state law that permits medicinal use of the drug. Officers also carted
away irrigation equipment, fans and other marijuana-growing tools.

No arrests were made. Agents said the decision to bring charges
against McWilliams or his partner, Barbara MacKenzie, would be made by
the U.S. Attorney's Office.

"He claims this is medicine," said Donald Thornhill Jr. of the U.S.
Drug Enforcement Administration, which sought the warrant. "From our
perspective, there's no medical use for this."

U.S. Attorney Carol Lam said her office is reviewing the case to
decide whether to pursue charges. She declined to comment further.

Medical-marijuana activists across the state contend that the federal
government is cracking down on activists such as McWilliams so that
more people do not attempt to grow marijuana under California's
Proposition 215.

Thornhill said the seizure had nothing to do with McWilliams' protest
outside City Hall last Tuesday. "This has been on the agenda for a
while," he said. "It's the politics of the time."

McWilliams had staged his protest to support a similar demonstration
in Santa Cruz, where elected officials joined 1,000 or more people
criticizing the DEA for an earlier raid on a marijuana cooperative
there.

Neither McWilliams nor MacKenzie was home when the narcotics team went
to the Wilson Avenue residence. Agents climbed through an open window
before taking an inventory of the home's contents.

Television news crews taped the raid as it unfolded, while neighbors
came out of their homes to watch.

McWilliams arrived about 10 minutes later and was told that if he
entered the property he would be detained. He left soon afterward but
not before sharply criticizing the government's action.

"I don't know why this is happening," he said. "I've had police
officers out here, probation officers out here, even the city
attorney's office out here I don't know how many times."

The search warrant was executed at the height of the annual harvest.
McWilliams said most of the marijuana seized was not yet useable.

"It might have been 10 pounds with the branches and leaves, but it was
totally unmanicured," he said.

The action was not entirely a surprise.

McWilliams was hand-delivered a letter from Lam last week warning him
that his plants violated federal drug laws - even though they are
allowed by city and state officials under Proposition 215.

MacKenzie and McWilliams said that over the weekend they trimmed their
plants and delivered marijuana to patients. They said several of the
patients returned the marijuana Monday because they feared reprisals
from the government.

Both marijuana activists have been working closely with local
officials to abide by guidelines being drafted by a city task force.

Those recommendations are scheduled to be debated by a City Council
committee next month.

"I trusted the political process," said MacKenzie, who was angry after
arriving home to find federal agents searching her home.

"They don't want to prosecute. They just want to take the
medicine."

San Diego Councilwoman Toni Atkins, who helped organize the city task
force, called the seizure "unfortunate."

"It's a tragedy that the will of the voters of the state of
California, who overwhelmingly passed Proposition 215 in an effort to
help sick people, continues to be subverted," she said.

The city will push ahead with plans to issue identification cards to
medical-marijuana patients, Atkins said. San Diego attorney Patrick
Dudley is representing McWilliams and MacKenzie for free. Outside the
home yesterday, he said there was little he could do but wait to see
whether his clients are charged.

"I've never seen a case with such a small amount (of marijuana)," he
said. "It's getting ludicrous. They're being targeted because they're
speaking out."

The question now is whether McWilliams will be charged with any crime.
In Santa Cruz, federal prosecutors declined to charge several
activists who were arrested by federal agents earlier this month.

Peter Nunez, San Diego's U.S. attorney under President Reagan,
predicted that the Justice Department would pursue criminal charges,
especially because McWilliams has refused to back down.

"This guy is begging to be prosecuted," Nunez said. "I'm sure there
are people who are quietly growing 10 plants in their back yards but
they won't be prosecuted because they aren't publicizing the fact."

Stephen G. Nelson, a former assistant U.S. attorney of 25 years who
headed the office's drug division, agreed that a prosecution is likely
but said he hoped the U.S. attorney would turn down the case.

"If it's a small number of plants and they are being grown consistent
with California law, it's obviously a waste of federal resources to
prosecute this guy," he said.

McWilliams said medical-marijuana activists are rallying to help him
and are planning protests for today at federal buildings around the
state.

"Everyone knows what kind of place we ran," he said. "There was no
large amount of patients and no large amount of plants. People are
very upset."

Copyright 2002 Union-Tribune Publishing Co.

**************************************************************************
EXTRA CREDIT

Every day more stories appear in the press about medical cannabis that 
could also make superb targets for Letters to the Editor. Please use this 
link to review the articles often, and please, write your letters 
http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm

To learn about the frequent protests please visit the Americans for Safe 
Access website - and consider signing up for their action announcement list 
http://www.safeaccessnow.org/

***************************************************************************

SAMPLE LETTER

(Please note: If you choose to use this letter as a model please modify it
at least somewhat so that the paper does not receive numerous copies of the
same letter and so that the original author receives credit for his/her work.)

To the editors of the San Diego Union-Tribune:

Thank you for running the astute commentary of Ethan Nadelmann (The Hospice 
Raid and The War On Drugs, Sep 19), which accurately decries continuing 
federal raids of legal California medical marijuana dispensaries.  How sad 
and tragic to read less than a week later of yet another raid, this time on 
the Shelter From the Storm garden of Steven McWilliams in San Diego, which 
provides legal medical marijuana to a whopping total of six patients.  DEA 
agents stormed McWilliam's garden to seize a hand full of plants?

With the U.S./Mexican border just miles away being an entry point for 
literally millions of dollars per day in illegal narcotics, the DEA chose 
to waste valuable resources and manpower on this petty and terroristic 
raid.  Considering McWilliams' history of publicly criticizing the federal 
government's policies on medical marijuana, such an operation can only be 
seen as utterly vindictive and yet another slap in the face to California 
voters and their law which permits him to operate legally.

Where are your governor and attorney general? Why are they not on the front 
page of every newspaper in the state demanding the end of this federal 
harassment and terrorism against your citizens?

Respectfully submitted,

Stephen Heath
Clearwater FL
(ALWAYS INCLUDE your address and phone number so the newspaper can verify. 
Most papers will not print your letter otherwise.)

***************************************************************************

ADDITIONAL INFO to help you in your letter writing efforts, Please See:

Writer's Resources http://www.mapinc.org/resource/

************************************************************************
Prepared by:
Stephen Heath,
Focus Alert Specialist,
Representing Florida Cannabis Action Network  http://www.flcan.org

************************************************************************

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********************* Just DO It!! **********************************

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Please help us help reform. Send drug-related news to editor@mapinc.org

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===

NOW YOU CAN DONATE TO DRUGSENSE ONLINE AND IT'S TAX DEDUCTIBLE

DrugSense provides many services to at no charge BUT THEY ARE NOT FREE
TO PRODUCE.

We incur many costs in creating our many and varied services. If you
are able to help by contributing to the DrugSense effort visit our
convenient donation web site at http://www.drugsense.org/donate.htm

********************* Just DO It!! **********************************

Mark Greer
Executive Director
DrugSense
MGreer@mapinc.org
http://www.drugsense.org/
http://www.mapinc.org/
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 26 Sep 2002 09:58:39 -0700
Subject: CA: Couple Sue For Return Of Pot Taken In Raid

Newshawk: Libertarians 1 - Drug Warriors 0 - http://www.plylar.org
Pubdate: Wed, 25 Sep 2002
Source: San Jose Mercury News (CA)
Copyright: 2002 San Jose Mercury News
Contact: letters@sjmercury.com
Website: http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/390
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/raids.htm (Drug Raids)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?115 (Cannabis - California)

COUPLE SUE FOR RETURN OF POT TAKEN IN RAID

A Santa Cruz County couple whose medicinal marijuana farm was raided by
federal drug agents earlier this month have filed suit in federal court to
get back their confiscated cannabis, launching a case that could challenge
the federal government's right to regulate medicinal marijuana.

Michael and Valerie Corral, who run the Wo/Men's Alliance for Medical
Marijuana, argued the Sept. 5 seizure of 167 marijuana plants from the farm
near Davenport was unconstitutional and needlessly brutal.

A spokesman for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration said the agency's
raid was legal and reasonable and that it had no intention of returning the
marijuana.

"In the United States, marijuana is an illegal substance," said DEA Special
Agent Richard Meyer. "Our job is to take it off the streets. We would be
failing our duty if we were to return a dangerous drug into the community."

U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel will consider the case at 9 a.m. on Nov. 4.

WAMM grows and distributes free marijuana to 230 patients with AIDS, cancer
and neurological diseases who have written approval from their doctors. It
has operated under an agreement with the Santa Cruz County sheriff's office
since Californians in 1996 approved Proposition 215 to legalize medicinal
marijuana.

The Corrals argue the raid was unconstitutional on a number of grounds,
including a claim that it exceeded the federal government's authority under
the 10th Amendment to regulate interstate commerce because the
organization's marijuana was grown and used locally.
__________________________________________________________________________
Distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in
receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom------------------------------
End of Restore-Digest V2002 #202
********************************