Change: DEA Raids Medical Marijuana dispensaries in California

[nimue77]

For Immediate Release: February 4th, 2009
Medical Marijuana Activists to Protest DEA Raids in Los Angeles
Rally on Thursday at 12pm seeks policy change from President Obama

Los Angeles, CA -- A spirited mass protest at the Los Angeles federal building tomorrow at noon will call on President Barack Obama and his newly seated Attorney General Eric Holder to end federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) raids on medical marijuana patients and providers. Several DEA raids have occurred since President Obama took office, the latest of which occurred yesterday in Los Angeles. Whether or not the raids are being led by Bush Administration officials, medical marijuana activists are urging an immediate end to such policies. Also, a recent poll by Zogby International indicated that 72% of U.S. citizens want President Obama to end medical marijuana raids by the DEA.

What: Spirited protests urging President Obama to keep his campaign promise to end federal medical marijuana raids
When: Thursday, February 5 at Noon
Where: Los Angeles federal building at 255 E. Temple Street
​

Despite public statements to end federal raids in California and other medical marijuana states by then-Senator Obama during his campaign for president, outdated Bush Administration policy continues to be enforced. On January 22, federal agents raided a medical marijuana dispensary in South Lake Tahoe, followed by multiple DEA raids yesterday in Los Angeles. The raids in Los Angeles occurred even as the City Council there is deliberating an ordinance regulating medical marijuana facilities. "It is long past time for the federal government to stop interfering in the implementation of California's medical marijuana law," said Don Duncan, California Campaign Director with Americans for Safe Access, the advocacy organization calling for the protests. "President Obama should quickly end these harmful enforcement tactics and live up to his campaign promises."

Los Angeles City Council member Dennis Zine previously stated in a letter to the DEA that, "Voters in California and in Los Angeles support the medical use of cannabis and want safe, well-regulated access. Medical cannabis facilities are a community based response to the need for safe access and represent the State of California's effort to fully implement California’s medical cannabis law." Council member Zine, a Republican and former LAPD officer, has been leading the effort to establish local laws, in accordance with recent guidelines issued by California Attorney General Jerry Brown, which recognize the legality of medical marijuana dispensaries under state law.

Over the past two years, the DEA has disproportionately targeted medical marijuana dispensaries in Los Angeles, raiding dozens of the facilities in an attempt to undermine their effectiveness. In the summer of 2007, the DEA went further and began threatening landlords with federal prosecution if they continued leasing to dispensary operators. These federal actions against state-sanctioned medical marijuana distribution are not only harmful to patients that rely on these facilities, but also impact the state's flagging budget. Advocates estimate that in 2007, sales tax revenue collected from approximately 400 dispensaries across California totaled at least $100 million.

DEA raides medical marijuana dispensary in Lake Tahoe

topic posted Thu, January 22, 2009 - 9:23 PM by

IK

Obama wiped out Bush's 'midnight laws' as soon as he took office, but the DEA has apparently not gotten the email. The federal Drug Enforcement Agency made a 'day after' raid today, hopefully one last attack on medical marijuana patients in California by a crazed federal agency.

The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) raided a medical marijuana dispensary today in South Lake Tahoe, California, in the first days of the new Obama Administration. Even though President Barack Obama had made repeated promises during his election campaign to end federal raids in medical marijuana states, many high-ranking Bush Administration officials have yet to leave office. For example, still at the helm of the DEA is acting Administrator Michele Leonhart, who has been responsible for numerous federal raids in California, following in the footsteps of her predecessor Karen Tandy. Neither Eric Holder, President Obama's pick for U.S. Attorney General, nor a new DEA Administrator, have taken office yet.

"Whether or not this unconscionable raid on a medical marijuana provider is the fault of federal officials from the previous administration, President Obama has an opportunity to change this harmful and outdated policy," said Caren Woodson, Director of Government Affairs for Americans for Safe Access (ASA). "We are hopeful that these are the last remnants of the Bush regime and that President Obama will quickly develop a more compassionate policy toward our most vulnerable citizens."

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Where's the outrage from Obama?
Don't believe for a second they did these raids behind Obama's back.
They are taking shots at the dispensaries and blaming it on the DEA while they still can.

 

[quantumleap]

I fully support marijuana for medical use. Hell, doctors have been using cocaine as a numbing agent for decades yet there is no outrage over that.

Federal law trumps state law and the Feds will continue to clamp down on medical marijuana shops regardless of who is in the White House. It's federal law, not the opinion of the President.

 

[SayHeyKid]

Like i told you before the election, nothing will change. The change is Barack Obama physically. He is another George Bush. He is a frontman/puppet being run by the same people and his actions are validating that.


It's flat out disgusting how psychopathic and ruthless our criminal government has become.

 

[nhoj]

Im pretty sure all them pot smokng peace loving hippies all vote for Obama too and now they are not going to seee any change time for the shrooms.

 

[Kiln]

Like i told you before the election, nothing will change....

Some things will change. Some things already have changed:
President Obama lifted the "international gag order" on support for family planning clinics overseas; signed an ex. order to end torture; signed another one to close Guantanamo and to stop military tribunals for at least six months; issued new orders to make it easier for Freedom of Information Act requests to be fulfilled; and he ordered a freeze to new regulations propsed by Bush but not yet implementd that would've weakened environemntal protections. All of this was in the first 100 hours. That doesn't seem too bad to me. The President, of course, has far fewer powers than most think and his institutional ability to actually get things done is rather limited. Nevertheless, he can change some things, clearly, and indeed already has.

 

[tiznow]

I fully support marijuana for medical use. Hell, doctors have been using cocaine as a numbing agent for decades yet there is no outrage over that.

Federal law trumps state law and the Feds will continue to clamp down on medical marijuana shops regardless of who is in the White House. It's federal law, not the opinion of the President.

Amendment 10 - Powers of the States and People. Ratified 12/15/1791. The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

the states can say fuck you if they really want to

granted cali isn't in any position to do that with their budget problems and needing federal help but...

 

[Fngorh]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Like i told you before the election, nothing will change. The change is Barack Obama physically. He is another George Bush. He is a frontman/puppet being run by the same people and his actions are validating that.
And Clinton before Bush.

 

[quantumleap]

Amendment 10 - Powers of the States and People. Ratified 12/15/1791. The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

the states can say fuck you if they really want to

granted cali isn't in any position to do that with their budget problems and needing federal help but...

http://www.safeaccessnow.org/article.php?id=2638

"As of this printing, the federal government claims that marijuana is not medicine and in Gonzales v. Raich (2005), the United States Supreme Court held that the federal government has the constitutional authority to prohibit marijuana for all purposes."

 

[eek.]

They're looking at downgrading Ecstasy in the UK

Ecstasy 'not worse than riding

 

[FredsAmeros]

 

[mamatried]

Amendment 10 - Powers of the States and People. Ratified 12/15/1791. The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

the states can say fuck you if they really want to

Actually, they can't. The far overreaching interpretation of the Commerce Clause of the Constitution pretty much gives the Federal Govt license to do whatever they feel like doing.

Like this BULLSHIT.

 

[D2bets]

Where's barman?

 

[barman]

Here I Is

I guess I'm partially numb to watching the pigs* at the DEA play pretend cops and use paramilitary raids to bust up state legal medical marijuana providers.

I of course hope that President Obama will call on his new USAG to order the DEA pigs to stand down.

Holder certainly has that authority being as the USDOJ must by it's very scope be very selective in which federal laws they will actively - and in this case aggressively - enforce.

------
DEA faux police are the only arm of law enforcement save for full time drug cops at state and local level who honestly merit the epithet of "pigs".

The laws they enforce do absolutely nothing to improve society.

But more important, it's clear that no matter how many medical marijuana providers and patients are busted by the DEA, it does absolutely nothing to reduce the production, the distribution and of course the active use of medical marijuana by millions of California residents.

In short, DEA are pigs wallowing in the government trough soaking up tax dollars to carry out an alleged mission that is utterly incapable of being met.

To that end, they are little different than many government agencies and employees. But in this case, they bring shame to reputable police who honestly protect and serve the public who pays their salaries.

 

[barman]

If I own a business and someone gives me a job assignment that is wholly beyond my capability to fulfill, I would be unethical and frankly criminal (fraud) if I took their money and pledged to fulfill the assignment.

The DEA rips off federal taxpayers by taking the mandate from Congress (reduce illicit drug manufacture, distribution and use) and utterly failing to deliver.

Not that they are particulary incompetent. But more simply, no police agency can deliver on such a mandate as long as tens of millions of Americans routinely defy them.

 

[mamatried]

If I own a business and someone gives me a job assignment that is wholly beyond my capability to fulfill, I would be unethical and frankly criminal (fraud) if I took their money and pledged to fulfill the assignment.

The DEA rips off federal taxpayers by taking the mandate from Congress (reduce illicit drug manufacture, distribution and use) and utterly failing to deliver.

Not that they are particulary incompetent. But more simply, no police agency can deliver on such a mandate as long as tens of millions of Americans routinely defy them.

Agree in principle, but I think you're giving some of these guys too much (or maybe too little) credit. Yea, I personally would live as a beggar on the streets before I'd prostitute myself (no pun intended) as a vice cop or a DEA agent. But in fairness to them, many - though probably not most - are ignorant sheep who believe all the BS they've been fed by teachers, MSM, and politicians about how harmful drugs are and how they're doing a real service to society.

 

[barman]

MT, I believe that perhaps in the first couple decades of the DEA and aggressive state/local narc cop work (1970-1995 range) a naive belief in the perceived mission drove a lot of those involved.


However, in the past decade+, with all the access to more accurate and honest information not only about drugs, but more important, how drug markets operate - those involved today are laughing their way to the bank knowing full well that what they do isn't worth a shit, but not caring as long as they can get paid to play PretendPoliceman/NighttimeNinjaRaider