Dear Friends,

Today, at noon at The White House, I was the moderator of a protest of
DEA's raids on the California Medical Marijuana Dispensaries.

Two of my friends, Charles Thomas of Unitarian Universalists for Drug
Policy Reform, and Doug McVay of Common Sense for Drug Policy, handcuffed
themselves to the fence surrounding the White House along Pennsylvania
Avenue. Chuck and Doug are two of the most thoughtful folks I work
with. We were joined by about 30 other protestors, by my count, and 3 or 4
television news cameras, several still photographers, and print journalists
including Reuters and The Washington Post.

We were there in solidarity with the thousands of persons who are rallying
in Sacramento, CA at the State Capitol in a similar protest. The occasion
was the scheduled sentencing of Bryan Epis who was convicted by a Federal
jury of conspiring to grow more than 1000 marijuana plants. Such a
conviction carries a mandatory minimum penalty of 10 years in Federal
prison. The judge cannot depart from this.

Epis, who is now about 37 or 38 was severely injured when a junior in high
school when the VW beetle he was riding in crashed into a telephone
poll. Epis's neck and back were broken. He was in a coma for two days and
barely survived. Ever since he has endured enormous pain. The principal
opiate pain medications leave him sedated, woozy and unable to
function. In 1983, yes, 1983, his orthopedic surgeon suggested that
marijuana might relieve the pain. Using marijuana and following a strict
regimen of exercises learned in physical therapy, Epis, has been able to
keep the pain in the range of 1 on a scale of 10, rather than in the range
of 6 to 9 on the scale without marijuana. Not being sedated has meant that
Epis could obtain a B.S. in a rigorous Electrical Engineering program, and
complete law school.

Epis, finding it both expensive and inconvenient to buy illegal marijuana
began growing it. In 1997, after the 1996 law was passed in California, he
consulted with attorney's to help establish a medical marijuana dispensary
in Chico, CA that complied with the ruling of California Superior Court
Judge David Garcia on how a medical marijuana dispensary should be
run. For two months he was growing for the dispensary until it was raided
by the police, who referred the case to DEA and the U.S. Attorney. Five
years after the raid, they tried Epis in Federal Court. The court forbid
the jury to hear that Epis still suffered the pain of his car wreck. the
couldn't hear about the California law or the judicial opinion that he had
relied upon in setting up the Chico dispensary. They couldn't hear from
Epis' physicians. Epis could not testify about how marijuana reduced his
pain. No evidence could be introduced about why he was growing the
marijuana. No evidence from the Federal government about the medical
benefits of marijuana were admissible. The taxpayers spent $800,000 on a
study by the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of
Sciences. That was not admissible. He was convicted.

So we had a large banner at The White House today, calling on President
Bush to Pardon Bryan Epis.

DEA's raids in California are unconstitutional. Congress has the power to
regulate "commerce among the states." (Article I, Section 8). When
Californians grow marijuana for other Californians under California law,
this is not commerce among the states. When it is grown and given away, as
was the case in Santa Cruz, it is not even commerce -- it is not economic
activity. The Tenth Amendment to the Constitution reserves to the States
and to the people the powers not delegated by the Constitution to the U.S.
government. If California decides to allow medical patients who have their
physicians recommendation to use marijuana, that ought to protected under
the 10th Amendment. Some people think that constitutional protections that
don't apply directly to them are trivial and are unimportant. But they are.

In a democracy, doesn't the legitimacy of the law depend upon the will of
the people. Doesn't the majority have the right to write the law? When
the Federal government disregards the laws passed by the voters, they flout
the right of the majority to write the laws. The Federal government, in
these cases, is ignoring the compact between the citizens and the republic.

Even though we were protesting without a permit, the police let us protest
for about 20 minutes in front of the White House before they warned us that
if we didn't stop we would be arrested. Most of us moved outside the
police line. But Chuck and Doug were still there for another 30 minutes or
so before they were finally removed from the White House fence and carried
to a waiting police car. They were quite brave as the uncertainty about
what the police would do as more and more officers and vehicles
arrived. There was no violence.
I had no idea I would have to speak for so long.

Doug and Chuck were released about 2 hours after they were arrested and
their processing by the police was completed.

Yours,
Eric