"In a direct affront to the federal government, the Santa Cruz City Council voted unanimously this week to deputize Mike and Valerie Corral, co-founders of the Wo/Men's Alliance for Medical Marijuana, and authorized them under city law to cultivate, distribute and possess marijuana for medicinal purposes."

"We're just trying to give them a little bit more support and legitimacy," Vice Mayor Scott Kennedy said Thursday. "We don't support drug trafficking. We don't support marijuana. But we do support what they're doing for the terminally ill and terribly suffering."

"Kennedy said the Corrals stand apart from other medical marijuana providers in Santa Cruz because their program has taken greater pains to cater only to the very ill who come bearing recommendations from doctors."

"They're very conscientious, very impressive in terms of their integrity," he said. "They enjoy a high level of confidence, both in the medical and law enforcement community, which can't be said about any of the other medical marijuana distributors."

"But city officials worry most about the patients, Kennedy said, and the possibility that they would be stripped of needed medicinal relief if the dispensary were shut down."

For more about the raid on the Corral's dispensary, go here, here and here.