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Plainsman1963

Agents raid medical marijuana advocacy office
Plants, computers and cash seized in Everett
01-18-07 | SeattlePI.nwsource.com | Casey McNerthney and Claudia Rowe

Drug enforcement agents raided the Everett headquarters of an advocacy group for medical marijuana patients, confiscating what police documents say was more than 1,000 plants and computers that the owners say contain personal information of about 200 men and women authorized to use the drug for medicinal purposes.

So far, no one has been arrested or charged with a crime.

Fearful of potential repercussions and unsure of the officers' ultimate aim, patients in the CannaCare network of marijuana users have been "laying low," said one, terrified that they may be prosecuted for using a substance authorized by their physicians.

"Who knows what they're doing with our information?" said Steve Newman, who has multiple sclerosis and has been associated with CannaCare for two years. "It makes me concerned -- really, really concerned. But we're pretty helpless. Nobody can say much about it."

A detective assigned to the federally funded West Sound Narcotics Enforcement Team, which launched Friday's raid, scoffed at the notion that CannaCare -- run out of the home of medical marijuana advocate Steve Sarich -- was anything other than a drug-dealing enterprise.

Detective Roy Alloway said it was "absurd" to think that the number of plants Sarich was tending would be covered by his medical authorization.

"It's clear that Sarich is a guy that's selling drugs," said Alloway, who noted that state law allows no more than a 60-day supply of marijuana for medical use.

The amount found in Sarich's home, he said, was "not even close."

Long a thorn in the side of law enforcement for his vocal, thumb-in-the-eye advocacy style, Sarich, 56, insists that the government is merely harassing patients -- himself included -- who have a legitimate right to use the drug for managing pain due to multiple sclerosis, cancer and a host of other illnesses.

Washington voters approved the use of marijuana for certain medical conditions through a citizens initiative in 1998.

"Since they don't like medical marijuana, this is an attack on the people that support it," said Sarich, who insists he's no drug dealer. The nominal sums CannaCare collects go into supporting medical marijuana users, he said.

Only a few ounces of pot were found in the raid, and Sarich said the bulk of the seized crop was unrooted cuttings and starter plants. He also said the $1,020 drug agents seized in the raid was for his $1,103.56 Snohomish County PUD bill.

The raid's ultimate end remains unclear. Alloway said he referred the information to federal authorities because of the pot-growing operation's size.

Jeff Eig, spokesman for the Seattle division of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, declined to comment.

Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Times reported on its Web site that the DEA said federal agents had raided 11 medical marijuana outlets in Los Angeles on Wednesday and seized several thousand pounds of marijuana, along with weapons and money.

Washington law allows possession of marijuana in doctor-approved cases but makes no provision for obtaining it, forcing patients who cannot grow enough to buy from others -- sometimes resorting to patronizing street-corner dealers.

Sarich, however, has flouted the statute by announcing that CannaCare will provide pot plants to patients. He and an associate, John Worthington, whose Renton home was also raided last week, said the police action was politically motivated retaliation.

Sarich also believes that because the state has no list of registered medical marijuana patients, CannaCare was targeted because it has contact information for more than 1,200 users.

That incursion into patient privacy worries advocates at the American Civil Liberties Union at least as much as the bust itself.

Alison Chin Holcomb, director of the Washington ACLU's Marijuana Education Project, said Sarich might have forced the government into it.

"He certainly wasn't afraid of getting the attention of law enforcement," she said. "He put himself out there on the radar."

Worthington recently sent documents alleging drug-enforcement excesses by Alloway to the state House and Senate judiciary and health care committees. He sent another letter to the State Patrol, accusing the detective of tampering with evidence.

"They went after me because I'm an activist, and I've been terrorized out of growing," said Worthington, whose home contained six marijuana plants, according to a Kitsap County Sheriff's Office document. "I can't have my kids frisked like they're criminals. That was disgusting. I'm not Al Capone -- I'm a dad."

Alloway, who works for the Bremerton Police Department, denied the allegations of wrongdoing on Wednesday.

 

Buzzby

If they aren't already doing so, it would be advisable for all dispensary operations to encrypt all computerized files containing information about their members/clients and business transactions. High quality encryption software is available for free to non-profits and is very inexpensive for anyone else.

What I'm not clear about is whether or not the owner of encrypted files can be legally coerced into revealing the passphrase that would provide access to them (contempt-of-court, or something like that). If someone with some legal expertise would care to comment about that, I'd appreciate it.

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SirSmokaALot

I wish i knew exactly what you were talking about because i am quite puzzled i hate my brain for failing me sometimes.

Buzzby

encryption noun

The process of encoding a message so that it can be read only by the sender and the intended recipient. Encryption systems often use two keys, a public key, available to anyone, and a private key that allows only the recipient to decode the message.


passphrase noun

A string of text characters (key) that enable the conversion from encrypted text back to its original plain text.


coerce transitive verb

to compel by force, intimidation, or authority, esp. without regard for individual desire or volition: They coerced him into signing the document.


The rest of the statement contains only words in basic English. I hope that clears things up for you.

SirSmokaALot

Ah that definitely cleared it all up. Thanks Buzz =D

 

Abomonog

If you all would let me speak about "non-related" issues, I would have alerted you two years back to a new federal law that make encrypting such documents against law enforcement a worse charge than the drug charge. Then you would be clear on the matter. It's a 5 year recommended federal sentence for encrypting files to prevent law enforcement from seeing them. Refusing to unlock said encryption even if no lawyer is present, will guarantee you prison time.

But hey, since the article was about terrorism and not marijuana, and knowing how often you folks fail to connect the dots in unrelated matters (like 100% of the time), I decided then that such a post alerting you all to this new law would mean nothing and just get locked (or deleted outright).

As of two years ago for any encryption larger than 256 bit a key MUST be provided to the FBI and all law enforcement reserves the right to demand ANY privately owned encryption key. Said key must be provided apon demand.

Actually this law may be even older than two years, but it blew right under the radar here.

The below link leads to an older 1999 law allowing the encryption up to 1024 bits only after the key has been reviewed by the government and only allowing 56 bit non-reviewed encryption(because it can be cracked in seconds). If you read the exceptions you'll notice that they actually further restrict publicly allowed encryption by requiring more keys to be reviewed by our government.

Crypto Law Survey

Sorry to sound so rough but mj isn't the only topic that affects mj users and sellers (especially where feds and local laws disagree).

Their docs weren't encrypted because doing so would have added more legal troubles and all the cops would have had to do was call the software publishers and get the backdoor key.

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It's all fun and games until the flying monkeys attack!

Buzzby

Can you document that? I just checked out the current offering of free encryption software from PGP and it allows me to use at least a 2048 bit key. I doubt they'd be doing that if it were illegal to use a key larger than 256 bits.

What's with all the belligerence and lack of respect for fellow members?

Plainsman1963

Gee, guess he doesn't have an answer for ya, Buzzby.

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"America is at that awkward stage. It's too late to work within the system, but too early to shoot the bastards." - Claire Wolfe

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