By SHANNA McCORD, Sentinel staff writer (SANTA CRUZ) June 24, 2006 -- A federal judge will decide if medical marijuana patients and a proposed city-owned dispensary should be protected from federal prosecution.

American Civil Liberties Union attorneys and other lawyers presented arguments to a San Jose federal court Friday in a case aimed at forcing the U.S. government to recognize California's 10-year-old medical marijuana law and to allow Santa Cruz to establish an Office of Compassionate Use < the nation's first government-owned medical pot shop.

The lawsuit against U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and the Drug Enforcement Administration began after a federal raid of the Wo/Men's Alliance for Medical Marijuana in 2002. The case since has grown to include the city and county of Santa Cruz.

Justice Department attorney Mark Quinlevin asked the court to dismiss the case, which would leave the state's medical marijuana law intact but leave users and providers vulnerable to arrest by federal agents.

No decision was made Friday by federal Judge Jeremy Fogel. His verdict could come in several months to a year.

"The federal government seeks to limit access to medical marijuana," said Graham Boyd, director of the ACLU Drug Law Reform Project. "The government needs to accept that, at least for some people, this is the only medicine keeping them alive."

City leaders voted in October to create a new department to distribute marijuana to seriously ill patients, but only if the federal government guaranteed the operation would be allowed to run without federal interference.

The city's effort to form a compassionate-use office tests the state's right to enact the medical marijuana law that voters passed in 1996, Proposition 215, which allows some patients to use marijuana. Santa Cruz aims to provide the drug to qualified patients at a reasonable price, proponents say, in a safe environment.

"If it were legal we might contract with Longs pharmacy," Councilman Mike Rotkin said. "They provide morphine, why not marijuana? This is not a recreational issue, and we wish the government would see that."

Marijuana co-op founders Mike and Val Corral were taken to federal holding cells in San Jose after the raid in 2002 and released later that day.

They contend some patients, such as those undergoing chemotherapy or treatment for HIV and AIDS, should be able to use marijuana to ease pain, reduce nausea and stimulate appetite.

"If people are dying, they have enough to worry about," Mike Corral said. "This case is really important for America in general. It has far reaching and broad impacts for life in America."

The federal government has been steadfast in viewing marijuana as a dangerous and illegal drug, and has challenged its use and distribution, shutting down medical co-ops and confiscating marijuana.

In June 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that medical marijuana users can be prosecuted by the federal government.

Contact Shanna McCord at smccord@santacruzsentinel.com.

You can find this story online at: http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/archive/2006/June/24/local/stories/02local.htm
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