DEA Continues to Dismantle Democracy: Drugwar.com

DEA Continues to Dismantle Democracy

by Meme Sous Rature

reprinted at DrugWar with permission Sept. 10, 2002

Originally published at Cannabisnews.com-
http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14013.shtml

Drug Enforcement Administration agents raided the Wo/Men's Alliance for Medical Marijuana in Santa Cruz earlier this morning. WAMM Director Valerie Corral and Mike Corral have been handcuffed, and the DEA is obliterating the marijuana crop they have grown for use by Californian medical marijuana patients. In June of this year, WAMM requested that the DEA cease and desist from persecuting their organization and clients, noting that the federal enforcement was adding dangerous levels of stress to persons already living with painful and life-threatening illnesses.

American democracy is dying rapidly. Although Californians voted in the majority for medical marijuana in their state in 1996's Proposition 215, the federal government refuses to recognize their will, and is using its DEA agents to counter the progressive wishes of Californians by repeatedly harassing and dismantling legitimate medical marijuana distribution organizations. The federal government has completely forgotten one of the most important and relevant events in its history: the Boston Tea Party.
In December 1773, a group of Bostonians angry at British oppression ("taxation without representation") and instigated by the American patriot Samuel Adams decided to take action. Many of them disguised themselves as Native Americans, and boarded British ships and dumped their cargos of tea into Boston Harbor. This event acted as a key catalyst in the move towards American Independence. Independence was desirable and necessary because a despotic government was imposing its will on its subjects, and ignoring their wishes.

We now witness the federal government ignoring the will of the population of an entire state. The decision by Californians to permit medical use of marijuana within California does not affect other states, and therefore should not be considered problematic by the federal government. However, because the government is not interested in the resolve of Californians, it continues to ignore them, imposing and enforcing laws upon them that are clearly against their will.

Not only is this an affront to all Californians, but it is yet another example of the federal government denying Americans their freedom and personal autonomy. Without cognitive liberty -- freedom of thought -- the First Amendment right to freedom of speech and religion are meaningless. The federal government is more interested in policing the brain chemistry and minds of its subjects than protecting democracy.

Complicit in all of this anti-American activity is Bill Lockyer, California's Attorney General. According to the California Constitution, Article V, Section 13, Lockyer was elected statewide to serve as the chief law officer of California, and "it is the duty of the Attorney General to see that the laws of the state are uniformly and adequately enforced." By standing back and allowing the federal DEA agents to terrorize Californian citizens, he is failing to see the uniform and adequate enforcement of the laws he is employed to ensure. In the Tea Party analogy, the federal government plays the imperial British oppressors, the DEA is their armed forces, Californians are the patriotic citizens yearning for democracy, and Lockyer is the chief law enforcer of the colony, supposedly working in the interests of the citizens, but tuning a blind eye to their needs.

Given that Lockyer is failing to fulfill his duties, Californians ought to be outraged. The WAMM raid is not the first DEA offensive carried out against medical marijuana organizations in California. Numerous raids were carried out earlier this year and 2001, effectively shutting down organizations desperately needed by sufferers of chronic pain.

Federal raids infringe upon the sovereignty of California and its citizens, who should rally to defend their own laws. State laws are meaningless if they are not protected by the state. If Californians, and those elected to protect them, fail to assert their democratic rights, the spirit of American democracy has gasped its final breath, given up hope, and died.

Meme Sous Rature is the 2002 Summer Fellow for the California-based Center for Cognitive Liberty & Ethics.

Note: Federal Agents Bust Santa Cruz Medical Marijuana Group, Violating Californians' Rights.

Source: Center for Cognitive Liberty & Ethics (CA)
Author: Meme Sous Rature
Published: September 5, 2002
Copyright Center for Cognitive Liberty & Ethics 2000-2002
Contact: info@cognitiveliberty.org
Website: http://www.alchemind.org/