Lit_Match

Feds, back off
07-28-07|L.A. Daily News

That's what the Los Angeles City Council and medical marijuana advocates hope will happen by adopting a moratorium on new dispensaries and bringing current ones into compliance while stricter rules are written.

Of course, even operating within the new ordinance and with full legal right under California law won't necessarily keep the drug agents from raiding the medical marijuana dispensaries in L.A., which they did last week even as the City Council debated the new rules.

Medical marijuana was approved for use by sick people in California 11 years ago - but in direct conflict with federal drug law. In recent days, the DEA has cranked up its raids in a clear assault on the state's medical marijuana law.

Now, 11 years and many marijuana dispensaries later, the city is finally trying to wrestle with this beast by prohibiting any new dispensaries to open for a year or until strict rules are enacted. Meanwhile, existing dispensaries have 60 days to comply with all the rules, from business taxes to permits.

L.A. clearly bears a lot of responsibility for the lax regulation and supervision of medical marijuana dispensaries that have allowed unsavory elements to become involved.

But the feds should leave medical marijuana alone unless they have proof of genuine abuses. Surely, heroin, cocaine and meth pose a greater threat to society than legalized medical marijuana dispensaries.

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Donation links to NORML (The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws) | MPP (Marijuana Policy Project)

xxdr_zombiexx

so that people can use cannabis medicinally, while alcoholics and tobacco addicts can drink and smoke themselves into the grave without so much as a note from mommy.

And that is how fucked up and insanely moronic this all is.

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Torture Good, Healthcare Bad, Marijuana Evil.

There's no money for your issue so long as we're squandering $50 billion a year on the DrugWar. Ben Masel

Buzzby

Why would anyone make the assumption that the DEA gives a damn about what poses a threat to society? The DEA is a bureaucracy, and, like most bureaucracies, is more concerned about its continued survival and expansion than anything else. The DEA's budget, to a large extent, depends on its demonstrating that it is actually accomplishing its mission. At appropriations time, the DEA can point at the number of busts and raids it's made and the poundage of drugs it has "taken off the street" and ask for more money.

Raiding dispensaries is like those "hunting" parks where the operators release an animal so you can shoot it - no hunting involved. These raids require nothing but minimal planning and a few man-hours to do the deed. No investigation. No risk of resistance. Guaranteed heavy poundage and cash. And, because no arrests are made, dispensary raids don't tie up the courts or the DEA's time with trials. It's the law enforcement equivalent to a trip to Disneyland.

Asking the DEA to stop raiding dispensaries is like asking the fox to stop raiding the henhouse. It has nothing to gain and a lot to lose by doing so. Asking the Executive Branch to rein in its dogs is pointless as well. The Neo-con regime hates marijuana on "moral" grounds and wants to make the public believe that it is doing something to save them from "The Scourge of Marihuana". The Supreme Court has told us that if we want to have medical marijuana, we need to petition our representatives to change the federal marijuana laws.

That leaves getting Congress to force the DEA to back off. Congress holds the purse strings. The simplest way would be to pass the Hinchey-Rohrabacher Amendment, which would de-fund any attempts to interfere with state-approved medical marijuana patients and facilities. This vote comes up each year and is slowly gaining support. It still has a long way to go. It came up for a vote a few days ago (7/25) and failed 165 - 262.

If you want to see the DEA put in its place, write to your representatives and tell them so. Better still, join up with NORML, MPP, and/or DPA and become part of an organized campaign to get Congress to create a more equitable system of drug laws.

National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML)

Marijuana Policy Project (MPP)

Drug Policy Alliance (DPA)

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dedbr

To Buxxby's list please add Americans for Safe Access. They keep track of political prisoners being kept by american legal systems by unjust herb laws, too......


http://safeaccessnow.org/article.php?id=624


Some Whe In Ded Land.........

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Buzzby

I forget. Are those extra Xs hugs or kisses?

sterbo

Buooby. Those are kisses.
Mine are hugs
Not much better way to start your day
than the circle unbroken, eh?
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