[5] Valerie was left with "uncontrollable grand mal seizures, triggering confusion, loss of muscle control, convulsions, and fainting.
"[6] She began taking a regimen of antiepilepsy and pain medicine that left her in a drug-induced stupor, but the spasms and seizures continued.
For two years, Valerie was left in what she describes as a "pharmaceutical delirium",[7] where she developed an addiction to phenobarbital and diazepam which she was prescribed to mitigate her seizures.
Local law enforcement had questioned the Corrals about growing cannabis on their property, but had always accepted her reason for medical necessity.
[18] On September 5, 2002, the Corral's home, dispensary, and cannabis farm in Santa Cruz was raided by 30 agents of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) dressed in combat uniforms and equipped with automatic firearms.
Neither the Santa Cruz County sheriff's office, police chief, or local officials were notified of the raid by the DEA.
[β] Agents transported the Corrals to a federal prison in San Jose where they were put into small holding cells.
[20] A standoff ensued, with patients, many of whom were terminally ill and in wheelchairs, gathering to block the road to prevent the DEA from leaving.
Arnold Leff, a physician who worked with WAMM patients and who was a former associate director of the White House Office of Drug Abuse Prevention under President Richard Nixon, attended the event, calling the raid "an outrageous example of a government without compassion".
[22] DEA spokesperson Will Glaspy said they only focused on large growers involving farms with 100 or more plants, noting that they couldn't tell the difference between a club and a criminal operation.
[22] The Santa Cruz City Council deputized Valerie and Michael Corral as medical marijuana providers on December 10, 2002.
SB-34, The Dennis Peron and Brownie Mary Act, allowed WAMM and other groups like it to reenter the new legal cannabis arena with legitimate licenses of exemption.
They were in turn joined by Dale Gieringer of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), and Jeff Jones from the Oakland Cannabis Buyers Cooperative.
[30] In 2003, the Los Angeles Times described Valerie as "the face of Santa Cruz's wildly successful medical marijuana initiative" in the wake of harassment from the federal government.
[31] Writing for The New York Times Magazine, Michael Pollan called Valerie "the Florence Nightingale and Johnny Appleseed of medical marijuana rolled into one".