More than 250 members of the Wo/Men’s Alliance for Medical Marijuana (WAMM) are again permitted to grow and use medical marijuana free of federal interference or threat, a judge ruled April 21. After reconsidering his earlier decision in the high profile Santa Cruz v. Ashcroft case, federal judge Jeremy Fogel granted WAMM members a preliminary injunction and denied the government’s motion to dismiss the WAMM members’ complaint. Judge Fogel’s decision protects the seriously ill WAMM members while their lawsuit is pending, and allows the collective to resume cultivation.

“We applaud the Court’s decision and we are profoundly pleased as we prepare to replant our garden,” said Valerie Corral, co-founder of WAMM. “But we also steady ourselves for a tug of war with the present administration’s unwillingness to honor the democratic process.”

The WAMM case had been reopened in light of the recent landmark Ninth Circuit Court decision in Raich v. Ashcroft at the request of the Drug Policy Alliance and our co-counsel for the WAMM plaintiffs, including noted Santa Clara University Law professor Gerald Uelmen and the prestigious firm of Bingham McCutchen.

“In the face of overzealous federal law enforcement, for the first time a court has applied the law in a way that protects the right of a group of sick people to grow and share their medicine without fear,” said Judy Appel, Director of Legal Affairs for the Alliance.