From: "Dale Gieringer" canorml@igc.org

- California NORML Press Release - Sept. 1, 2002 -

Feds Expand War on Medical Marijuana to Patients and Small-Scale Growers;
Recent Raids Contradict DEA Claims of Low Enforcement Priority;
More Arrests for Medical Marijuana than Terrorism in California

SAN FRANCISCO, Sept 1. The U.S. Justice Department has begun to escalate
its war on medical marijuana by pursuing small-scale providers and personal
use growers in California.

Recent raids contradict prior claims by DEA chief Asa Hutchinson that the
DEA is not interested in minor medical marijuana cases. Speaking at the
Commonwealth Club in San Francisco, Hutchinson claimed, "I don't know of
any instance in which there's been a federal targeting of any user; that's
not within the federal priority system. We have gone after traffickers. If
you have 500 marijuana plants, that is of concern "

In recent weeks, however the federal government has attacked patients with
much smaller, personal use gardens with no connection to trafficking.

o On Aug. 15th, DEA agents destroyed a 6-plant patient garden
belonging to Diane Monson of Oroville, openly defying a plea from
Butte County District Attorney Mike Ramsey to leave her plants alone.

o The same day, DEA agents in Santa Rosa ripped up the medical
garden of Alan MacFarlane, a cancer patient who was acquitted of
growing 100 plants for his personal medical use in a jury trial last
year. This time, the agents took 128 plants, which MacFarlane says
were being grown for 10 seriously ill patients in accordance with
Sonoma County guidelines.

o In Orange County, patient Michael Teague was arrested by the
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms after his Prop 215
cultivation case was dismissed in state court. Teague, who had a
legal handgun in his closet, was arrested on spurious charges of
being an "unlawful drug user in possession of a handgun."

o In Mendocino County, the federal government filed charges
against disabled patient David Arnett and his caregiver David Kephart
for growing just 27 plants on BLM land after their case was dismissed
by the D.A. under Prop.215.

Numerous prosecutions have been targeted at known medical marijuana
activists involved in high-profile cases. Among them are Lynn and Judy
Osburn, who were recently arrested by the DEA for growing a personal use
garden of 35 plants at their Ventura County ranch. The Osburns had been
raided last year for cultivating for the Los Angeles Cannabis Resource
Center, but no indictment was delivered in that case. However, the
government moved to forfeit their home, and they were put under DEA
surveillance.

Another well known medical marijuana grower, Charles "Eddy" Lepp, was raided
by the DEA in Lake County last week. Lepp who was acquitted for growing 132
plants in a high-profile trial in 1998, had been openly growing for himself
and other patients.

In Sonoma County, another former Prop. 215 defendant, Mike Foley, who was
acquitted for providing marijuana to a San Francisco patients' group last
year, was re-arrested by the FBI for growing a modest garden that was
within county guidelines for personal use.

Medical Marijuana A Growing Federal Priority, Contrary to DEA Claims

Recent actions belie prior DEA claims that medical marijuana is not a major
enforcement priority. A survey of current federal cases by California NORML
shows that there have been more arrests for medical marijuana than
terrorism in California since Sept. 11th. In Washington state, which also
has a medical marijuana law, U.S. attorneys in the western district have
announced that they will no longer adhere to Clinton guidelines of not
prosecuting cases of fewer than 100 plants. Seattle defense attorney
Jeffrey Steinborn says that prosecutors told him they are under orders from
Attorney General Ashcroft to target medical marijuana providers.

So far, over a half dozen medical marijuana growers have been sent to
federal prison this year for activities they had reason to believe were
legal under state law. The latest is Brian Epis, convicted for growing
marijuana for a Chico patients' group, who faces sentencing in Sacramento
on Sept. 23.

In California, medical marijuana accounts for 50% of all federal marijuana
cases filed in the U.S. district court in San Francisco this year. By way
of contrast, only about 1% of California's 3 million marijuana users are
medical patients, according to a recent survey by California NORML
<http://www.canorml.org/prop/cbcsurvey.html>.

Medical marijuana advocates say this shows federal drug enforcement
priorities are seriously distorted. "The feds are targeting honest
providers who openly supply medicine to sick people under state law rather
than large-scale criminal traffickers who clandestinely supply the
recreational market," comments California NORML coordinator Dale Gieringer.

For a complete listing of federal medical marijuana cases since Sept. 11 see
<http://www.canorml.org/news/fedmmjcases.html>. Included are 21 cases
involving some 37 defendants. Only one arrest for terrorism is known to have
been reported in California in this time. Half the medical marijuana cases
involve fewer than 300 plants; only two or three more than 1,000.

----
Dale Gieringer (415) 563-5858 // canorml@igc.org
2215-R Market St. #278, San Francisco CA 94114