41 years ago when Valerie Corral began using homegrown marijuana as a method of treating her frequent grand mal seizures she never could have imagined the impact she would soon have on the lives of countless others. Slowly but surely over the course of two and a half years Valerie went from experiencing up to 5 seizures a day to 0 and even eventually got to the point where she no longer needed to take any of her prescribed medications. It was then that Valerie and her then husband Mike Corral decided to give back and try to help others with marijuana the same way that it helped Valerie.

In 1993 Valerie and Mike founded the Wo/Men’s Alliance for Medical Marijuana in Santa Cruz, California to provide medical marijuana to seriously ill patients, who will benefit from the use of the drug like Valerie did, at little to no cost. Unlike traditional dispensaries WAMM’s 850 members receive the marijuana they need at little to no cost depending on their respective need and ability to donate. Patients who cannot afford to donate to the collective are encouraged to volunteer their time in exchange for access to the marijuana grown by WAMM. Volunteering for the collective could include anything from helping harvest the marijuana, to filling marijuana capsules, to organizing a yard sale to help raise money, to helping provide end-of-life care for the seriously ill. WAMM operates entirely off donations from both past and present members making their volunteers an integral part of the organization's success over the years.

“In California, WAMM is one of the only true collectives. People that partake in the medicine help grow the medicine. The whole process of cultivation is part of the healing and is part of the community,” added Amanda Reiman of theDrug Policy Alliance.

This business model however has presented WAMM with financial difficulties. And now confronted with the very real possibility of closing it’s doors forever WAMM is asking the community that it has served for over two decades for help.

Source: indiegogo.com

WAMM began with providing medical marijuana to terminally ill patients and then as demand grew so did the size of their client base and their influence in the industry, to the point where in 1996; Valerie helped co-author Proposition 215 which the possession and cultivation of medical marijuana making California the first state in the US to legalize the drug for medical purposes. While Valerie worked with patients and managed WAMM’s political advocacy Mike was in charge of the cultivation of the marijuana.

Now today Mike and Valerie have been separated since 2001 and their divorce became final last July and in April of 2013 Mike decided to leave his role with WAMM in order to open his own marijuana consulting shop. Mike remains supportive of WAMM, but he can no longer financially maintain ownership of half of the land WAMM utilizes for its operation and Valerie unfortunately lacks the financial resources to buy him out.

With the daunting prospect of closure on the horizon both Mike and Valerie have been working with WAMM’s board of directors in an attempt to find a way to keep WAMM on the land and providing marijuana to those in need. Unfortunately in the meantime, the property had to be listed for sale.

Source: huffingtonpost.com

“Mike has been incredibly generous since the very beginning of the collective, and especially over the last few years, and that's one of the reasons WAMM has been able to sustain our mission of service. But he can't afford to postpone sale of the land indefinitely, so now we need to seek that same generosity from people whose lives have been touched, directly or indirectly, by our work,” Valerie stated.

This led to Valerie launching an Indiegogo campaign back in May with an initial goal of raising $150,000. As of earlier today (July 7th) the campaign has raised $29,566. The campaign does not have a hard deadline, but the financial burden facing the Corrals to try and raise as much money as quickly as possible.

If WAMM is unable to meet its fundraising goals or find a financial partner they will be forced to close their doors for good. “WAMM really represents the heart of the medical marijuana movement. And as such, I think it’s really, really important for WAMM to be able to continue,” Mike added.

Supporters of medical marijuana from all over the country have offered their support for WAMM:

“WAMM has improved the quality of countless patients’ lives...Their courage and commitment to compassion in the face of adversity has been truly remarkable. They are caregivers in every sense of the word,” declared Mason Tvert of the Marijuana Policy Project.

“It's an amazing example of people participating in their own healing...Here are folks who the traditional health care system said, 'We're just going to leave them for dead.' Valerie saw these folks as people who were not at the end, but people who had a lot to contribute,” Reiman also passionately stated.

Ultimately it’s up to you, the medical marijuana community, to help save this trailblazing collective. Support the Indiegogo before it’s too late.