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Drug Raids Add Up To Federal Intimidation
8-7-07|Clovi News Journal|Freedom Newspapers

The federal Drug Enforcement Administration has started playing hardball with medical marijuana dispensaries in Los Angeles, but it’s unclear how far it will move beyond symbolic intimidation.

The DEA, which has discretion when it comes to setting priorities, would do well to abandon this effort to deprive seriously ill people of medicine to which they are entitled under state law. Such efforts are unworthy of it.

On July 6 the Los Angeles office of the DEA sent letters to a number of landlords — estimates in news stories range from 30 to 120 — who rent to medical marijuana, or cannabis, dispensaries notifying them that their tenants are violating federal law, and that as landlords they might be subject to a penalty of up to 20 years in prison and forfeiture (seizure, taking, stealing) of their property. Some dispensaries have already announced they will be closing their doors.

In an apparently unrelated action, the DEA also announced the indictments for violating federal marijuana laws of several operators of medical cannabis cooperatives in Central California, as well as one in Bakersfield, Calif., and another in Corona, Calif. All of these operations had been raided or put on notice previously, and none had received letters threatening forfeiture. All had paid sales taxes, an indication they were operating like normal businesses, at least in the eyes of the state.

Then the DEA raided 10 medical cannabis clinics in Los Angeles and arrested five people, reportedly none of them patients. That was the same day the L.A. City Council introduced an interim ordinance imposing a moratorium on new clinics until the city finds a better way to regulate them, and calling on the feds to end their crackdown.

To be sure, under federal law as currently interpreted — incorrectly in our view — all possession, use, production or sale of marijuana is strictly prohibited. California law permits medicinal use when recommended by a licensed physician. Federal law enforcement agencies are empowered to enforce federal law, while California law enforcement officials are required to enforce state law. So the DEA has authority to do what it did.

Whether it was a wise move is another question. It isn’t quite busting grandmothers in wheelchairs using cannabis to alleviate the effects of chemotherapy or multiple sclerosis. But it will make it more difficult for legitimate patients to acquire their medicine through relatively predictable, legitimate channels.

As Dale Gieringer, director of California National Association for Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) said, “This action will only serve to drive patients to the illegal market and aggravate marijuana crime.”

Last Wednesday’s raid also coincided with House of Representatives’ consideration of the Hinchey-Rohrabacher amendment to the Commerce-Justice-Science appropriations bill. The amendment would have denied funds to the DEA for any enforcement activities against patients or caregivers in the 12 states that have authorized the medicinal use of cannabis. It got more votes than it had in previous years, but still failed, by a 262-165 margin (150 Democrats, 15 Republicans).

You would think that with terrorism and hard drugs the DEA would have better things to do than to try to keep useful medicine from sick people and nullify the laws of 12 states. There’s obviously a lot of work to do before that happens.

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xxdr_zombiexx

Of course it's intimidation - If you can't stand on your own merits bullying is what's left.

In the end this is about protecting corporate profits, dismantling the 9th and 10th Amendments, and expanding the power of the federal government by smashing state's rights.

Cannabis prohibition has ALWAYS required an assault on the Constitution and since at least Nixon's time, reefer madness has been one of the Major Assaults.

It has been an incubator for the fascism we see unleashed in the Bush Administration and we have seen how this administration has redoubled and intensified efforts to maintain the illegality despite 40 years of activism nationwide aimed at eliminating this. With Team Bush, it's in your face - they don't even pretend to care what you think. The PATRIOT Act is set to finish off the assault on the constitution.

You sort of have to wonder if people would have been so quick to let Bush wiretap their toilets and underwear without them having been acclimated to such 4th amendment violations such as pee testing. (Of course, without a swath of spineless Democrats to give them the OK they couldn't progress as far. They roll over like trained puppies or fainting goats. Total wusses who we WILL be working to replace.)

In animal societies being forced to pee on command is a way to show or force submission to the dominant one/leader. Same with pee testing here. It's to seriously violate your rights, not just some sort of obscure technical violation of a written rule (like the 4th Amendment). It is intended to let you know you are powerless and to make sure you haven't smoked pot.

Sure, they are a few isolated instances where drug testing is appropriate but the nationwide systematic and regular testing is about enforcing marijuana laws because drug testing finds that easiest. This is what pre-employment and random testing is about. Heroin, meth, and crack addicts aren't a large part of the workforce. Pot smokers are. (Did you hear about 2 instances of astronauts flying the space shuttle drunk?? At least they weren't smoking pot, eh?)

The DEA and ONDCP are liars with a budget of about $5 billion and a green light from the GAO to lie to Jesus about marijuana. They don't have facts on their side, which really doesn't matter because they have intimidation, raids, guns, and the threat of totally fucking up people's lives if they don't submit to their will.

Beyond that they are just especially terrible human beings, little different from Nazi.s really. They'll be the first to say "We're just doing our jobs". That excuse was not valid in the 1940s and its not valid now.

The DEA should be defunded and merged into the TSA Air Marshall program (after a good bit of psychological re-testing to make sure they aren't dangerous.)

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Alien Space Signal

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

Fear became the ultimate tool of this government - V.

Victor_vicious

That sir is one well thought out post. Logic dictates all of the arguments against legalization are incorrect, if everything the said about MJ were correct, we would have a country full of folks addicted to meth, crack, and heroin. The fact is the biggest menace to our country, and the world, according to the Lansing State Journal March 1, 2007, Page 13a is prescription drugs. 70 years and we can't even get an honest discussion of the facts yet the congress has time to investigate and pass new laws to try and protect Big Pharma from 'counterfit drugs'. I have always wondered why no one talks about the pill happy doctors, that give out prescriptions by the hundreds if not thousands.
Turn on your TV and there will be three or four new drug ads. We have discussion about them. Lunesta and your asleep. Symptoms appear overnight and we 'ask your doctor if !@#$%^&*(() is right for you. Well, medical Marijuana Patients asked thier doctors and they said it was right for them.
I am working with the Michigan Coalition for Compassionate Care to put MMJ on the Michigan ballot and I think I have heard about all of the bullshit excuses. The one that always gets to me is "I'm not allowed to sign things like that because of my job". I think they are trying to get me to understand thier problem. My response of, "They can't take away your constitutional rights unless you let them" usually results in thier walking away saying that I don't understand. They think thier employer will find out they signed a petition and they could lose thier job and I don't understand??
The DEA in an article published in this forum lamented about the dangers of Marijuana. Its seems ...oh yea some one discussed that, the choir already read it. We need to point out how bad it is. This 'erosion' of our rights has got to stop. Big brother doesn't have to watch anymore. Most folks are to scared of them to join the discussion, let alone act. VV

Buzzby

The federal law is quite explicit: all possession, use, production or sale of marijuana is strictly prohibited. It's not a question if it's being interpreted correctly. It's whether or not the DEA is going to bother to enforce it in light of limited resources, extenuating circumstances, and much more critical problems with truly dangerous drugs. The DEA is allowed to enforce the federal marijuana law despite state laws (Gonzales v. Raich, 2006), but it isn't required to do so.

Why not do what they're doing in the Netherlands with recreational marijuana? It's still illegal but the law isn't enforced unless people step over some line. I've never been fond of the "illegal but tolerated" situation - it's too arbitrary - but it would certainly beat what we've got now.

Wouldn't that be CNARML? Actually it's the California National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (CANORML).

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xxdr_zombiexx

is that its WRONG.

The Federal Government is WRONG.

Reefer madness IS WRONG.

That's the ENTIRE point behind relegalization.

I don't give a fuck if they are "within the law". The law is WRONG. Purposefully so.

Everything done by the Nazi's during their time was "legal" because they passed the laws. We don't sit around and complain that the concentration camps were technically legal.

And yes, we ARE heading down THAT road to THAT destination.

The Black Sites:The federal government (which imported Nazis into the CIA in the late 1940s and who gave us all the wonderful torture procedures we are learning about today) is wrong and indefensibly so.

The DEA fits in with them. They were wrong from the moment DICK Nixon created them.

They will never tolerate the Dutch model and have been trying to get the Dutch to crack down.

Fuck them. They should be defunded and dispersed.

 

Jdezle21

I feel like the saddest part is that I highly doubt it will stop no matter how many oppose this facist hypocritical "Agency". It seems as if they won't quit until they spend all of OUR money on THEIR futile cause.