From: "Dale
Gieringer" canorml@igc.org
Cal NORML Release, Sept 19, 2002
Feds Tell San Diego Medical Marijuana Patient
Steve McWilliams to Destroy His Caregiver Garden
San Diego, Sept. 19:The US Attorney has warned
medical marijuana activist Steve McWilliams of the Shelter from
the Storm patients' collective to destroy his home marijuana garden
or face criminal prosecution.
The threat came two days after Mc Williams,
a prominent Prop. 215 advocate and member of the city's medical
marijuana task force, led
a public handout of medical cannabis to patients at city hall.
With his partner, nurse Barbara MacKenzie, McWilliams cultivates
a modest 30-plant garden in his side yard, from which they grow
medicine for themselves and a half dozen other patients for whom
they are legal Prop. 215 "caregivers". Among them are
a 73-year-old woman with leukemia, a 70-year-old with prostate
cancer, and a terminal transplant patient. McWilliams' group has
been officially recognized by the city of San Diego as a legal
patients' collective in compliance with the city's Prop. 215 guidelines.
McWilliams says that a federal undercover
agent followed him while he was out shopping and presented him
with a letter from U.S. Attorney Carol C. Lam warning him to desist
from his activities. "Federal law enforcement agencies have
received information that you are cultivating possessing and distributing
marijuana," the letter reads, "Failure to immediately
terminate your marijuana growing and distributing activities and
to destroy any marijuana plants in your possession... will subject
you to federal criminal prosecution, regardless of the provisions
of Proposition 215."
McWilliams and MacKenzie vow to resist the
federal threat. "We're not going away," says MacKenzie,
"We have a right to legally grow."
Shelter from the Storm is the latest in a
series of well-regarded patients' groups to be attacked by federal
authorities. Earlier this month, the DEA raided the Wo/Men's Alliance
for Medical marijuana in Santa Cruz, a collective of 250 seriously
ill patients that shared medicine amongst themselves. A number
of smaller, personal use patient gardens have also been attacked,
despite previous avowals by DEA Commissioner Asa Hutchinson that
the government is only interested in major traffickers.
Prop 215 supporters charge that the raids
are politically targeted against patient activists who dare to
exercise their First Amendment rights to speak publicly about
their activities. "Recent federal actions make a mockery
of DEA Commissioner Asa Hutchinson's claims that they are targeting
major trafficking," says California NORML coordinator Dale
Gieringer, "If the DEA were truly concerned about narco-terrorism,
it would be targeting large-scale smuggling rings that supply
the recreational market, not small-scale, responsible, medical
cannabis caregivers who follow Prop. 215."
California NORML estimates that there are
presently some 30,000 medical marijuana patients in the state,
about 1% of the state's total marijuana using population. Nevertheless,
medical marijuana now accounts for 50% of all federal marijuana
busts in San Francisco, suggesting that medical marijuana has
become a major enforcement priority.
Word from US attorneys is that a crackdown
has been ordered by
Attorney General Ashcroft, an ardent opponent of freedom of choice
in
medicine.
"The Bush administration's assault on
Prop. 215 make a mockery of its supposed devotion to state's rights
and federalism," says Gieringer. "There isn't a word
in the Constitution giving the federal government the power to
dictate what kinds of medicine patients may use to alleviate pain
and suffering."
Patients' groups plan to challenge the federal
government in court, arguing among other things that the recent
raids violate rights reserved to individuals and the states under
the 5th, 9th and 10th amendments, and exceed the federal government's
authority under
the interstate commerce clause.
"The Department of Justice is biting
off more than it can chew," says Gieringer, "The federal
government has no business persecuting legal medical marijuana
patients in California."
Contacts: Dale Gieringer, 415-563-5858
Steve McWilliams/Shelter from the Storm 619- 521-0337
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Dale Gieringer (415) 563-5858 // canorml@igc.org
2215-R Market St. #278, San Francisco CA 94114
