Santa Cruz, CA: Local politicians will oversee the distribution of medicinal marijuana from City Hall next Tuesday in response to last week’s federal raid of the city’s longstanding medical pot cooperative by drug enforcement agents.
Santa Cruz Vice Mayor Emily Reilly and several members of the City Council will be on hand during the medical pot giveaway, which will take place at 3 p.m. in the City Hall courtyard. Valerie and Michael Corral – co-founders of the Wo/Mens Alliance for Medical Marijuana (WAMM) cooperative, which was raided by federal agents last Thursday – will dispense marijuana to club members. Prior to last week’s raid, WAMM had operated openly and in conjunction with the Santa Cruz sheriff’s office since 1993.
Earlier this week, the Santa Cruz City Council voted unanimously for a resolution supporting WAMM and denouncing the government’s actions. “It’s just absolutely loathsome to me that federal money, energy and staff time would be used to harass people like this,” Reilly told the Associated Press.
Federal officials confiscated an estimated 160 medicinal marijuana plants during the WAMM raid. The Corrals were arrested and later released pending possible criminal indictment.
A spokesman for the DEA’s San Francisco office said he was “shocked” by the City Council’s decision, but failed to speculate whether the Feds will take action against it.
For more information, please contact either Allen St. Pierre, Executive Director of The NORML Foundation, at (202) 483-8751 or Dale Gieringer, Coordinator of California NORML, at (415) 563-5858. California residents are urged to send a pre-written letter to their California Senators and Representative calling on Congress to denounce the DEA’s recent actions in California by clicking here.