Angel needs our prayers

Angel Raich is one of the pioneers of the medical marijuana movement and now she needs our help.

On July 21st Angel had an MRI and was informed that her brain tumor is growing.  To be precise, she writes that the tumor is shrinking on the inside and growing on the outside, and there are new tumors growing around it.

Angel was launched to the forefront of the medical marijuana movement in October of 2002 when she and Diane Monson filed a lawsuit against the federal government claiming it had violated their civil rights by shutting down medical marijuana dispensaries in Oakland, Marin County, and Ukiah in June 2002.

The clubs had argued that barring marijuana distribution would violate their members' fundamental right to relief from pain and illness, and that the Controlled Substances Act had no authority to regulate activity that did not cross state boundaries.  The court ruled that the clubs had no legal standing to assert the rights of individuals obtaining marijuana from them and that the federal government had the constitutional right to regulate drug activity even if it occurs within a state's boundaries.

Angel's husband, Robert Raich, who was an attorney for the clubs in this action, brought suit again; this time with his wife Angle McClary Raich, Diane Monson, and two anonymous growers as plaintiffs.

Diane Monson was a Proposition 215 compliant medical marijuana patient with six plants growing in her yard.  The Butte County sheriffs said they wouldn't have bothered with her except federal agents insisted.

“If the [feds] weren’t there, we’d have left the plants,” said Sheriff’s Lt. Jerry Smith. “We’re not out to bother with small medicinal grows like that.”

Even so, and against the pleadings of Butte County District Attorney Mike Ramsey, the federal Drug Enforcement Agency agents ripped Monson’s plants out of the ground. The sheriff’s deputies, Monson said, gave her five minutes to harvest what she could of the plants before the DEA agents took them.

From all accounts, Monson came to the attention of the feds because a house she and her husband previously owned was found to be the site of a large sophisticated grow that spring.

Raich v. Ashcroft, was pre-emptive, seeking to enjoin federal action against medical marijuana patients and their providers for possession and cultivation in compliance with state law.  It contended the plaintiffs grew marijuana solely for their own medical use within the borders of California, thus removing any federal authority under interstate commerce laws. The suit also claimed constitutional protection under clauses guaranteeing state sovereignty and due process.  While it sought to enjoin the federal government from arrest and seizure of property (including marijuana) only for the four defendants, it was hoped it could be used as a template to protect other patients and providers nationwide.

On March 10, 2003, U.S. District Judge Martin Jenkins expressed sympathy for the two women, for whom "traditional medicine has utterly failed." But he said the federal ban on marijuana applied to everyone, including patients using drugs that never cross state lines.

They appealed to the Ninth Circuit and in October made their arguments.  In December of 2003 the Ninth Circuit directed the District Court to issue the preliminary injunction.  It read:

Defendants, and their agents and officers, and any person acting in consort with them, are hereby enjoined from arresting or prosecuting Plaintiffs Angel McClary Raich and Diane Monson, seizing their medical cannabis, forfeiting their property, or seeking civil or administrative sanctions against them with respect to the intrastate, noncommercial cultivation, possession, use, and obtaining without charge of cannabis for personal medical purposes on the advice of a physician and in accordance with state law, and which is not used for distribution, sale or exchange.

It was declared a landmark victory. The Bush administration appealed and this was heard with Breyer presiding on November 29, 2004.  Now the case was called Gonzales vs. Raich.  On June 6th, 2005, the Supreme Court ruled 6 to 3 that medical marijuana users could be prosecuted for violating federal law even if their marijuana is grown locally and its use is allowed under state law.  The injunction granted by the Ninth Circuit Court was overturned.

However, neither the 9th Circuit nor the Supreme Court ruled on "due process" and "medical necessity", but only that the 9th Circuit had incorrectly applied the Constitution's "commerce clause".  The case was remanded back to the lower courts.

 On March 14, 2007 the Ninth Circuit Court in San Francisco rejected Angel's last constitutional challenge to the use of federal drug laws against medical marijuana patients -- that it violates the fundamental right to preserve one's life and be free of severe pain.  However, in a separate portion of the ruling, the court said 2-1 that seriously ill patients like Angel Raich of Oakland could defend against a federal prosecution by showing they needed marijuana to save their lives or prevent intolerable pain, and that legal drugs were ineffective.

The court seemed to be saying that a seriously ill person who has been arrested, or whose medical marijuana has been confiscated, could claim a legal necessity for the drug.

In June of 2007 Angel's brain tumor was subjected to radiation treatment by Dr. John R. Adler at Stanford School of Medicine using the Cyberknife.  This treatment was not successful and Angel has been deteriorating for the past two years.  She has lost sensation in the left side of her body, to the point she cannot chew food.

This tumor was previously considered inoperable.  However, the risk from the operation is now considered less than the risk posed by the tumor.  Brain surgery is scheduled for 28 Oct 2009.  Angel needs money for the surgery, in-home care, and other expenses.  To contribute see:  Make a donation to help Angel with her brain tumor.