cannabisnews.com: Court Case Challenges Privacy Boundaries





Court Case Challenges Privacy Boundaries
Posted by FoM on October 05, 2001 at 17:33:12 PT
Government Trying To Bypass Medical Marijuana Laws
Source: KCRA-TV
A major showdown took place in Sacramento's federal court Thursday afternoon with a prominent lawyer and doctor on one side and federal agents on the other. The agents seized thousands of personal, confidentially protected files belonging to ordinary Californians. The question is, did the agents overstep the bounds of the law? Both sides squared-off to see how far the federal government can reach into citizens' confidential and protected documents in search of possible criminal activity. 
Because agents have yet to arrest anyone or provide any hard evidence of a crime, attorneys worry that if this seizure of documents is allowed, the precedent will be set for them to seize and search anyone's files for any reason in a criminal investigation. That is why they say, what is happening here could ultimately affect every Californian. One 45-year-old man, who only went by the name Rick, is one of those whose personal, medical and legal files are now in the hands of federal drug agents -- agents who, if allowed by the court, could learn whatever they want about Rick's private conversations with his doctor or lawyer. "Here it is, the federal government, taking records and saying we're going to find what we want about you. There's something wrong with that," Rick said. Last week, D.E.A. agents raided a Cool, Calif. attorney's office and house. They seized over 6,000 confidential documents. They believe that Dale Schafer was distributing medicinal marijuana to some of his clients. "I can't tell you how concerning this is," Shafer said. But Schafer said that it's a clear violation of attorney-client privilege to seize all of his client's files to see which ones may be involved in medicinal marijuana use. Schafer's attorney, J. David Nick, agrees. "I think if you went to federal prosecutors and ask for last time they issued a search to seize all files, they'd come up with no date. This is unprecedented," Nick said. In court Thursday, prosecutor's contended that there is no attorney-client privilege guarantee when both parties have committed an illegal act. But Nick said that Schafer was only advising his clients on the legality of California's medicinal marijuana laws. "The pure advice by attorney has never been recognized as aiding and abetting in federal offense. That's what an attorney does, provides advice," Nick said. Defense attorneys believe that this is a case of the federal government trying to use a loophole to severely dampen medicinal marijuana use in California. Attorney: Government Trying To Bypass Medicinal Marijuana LawsSource: KCRA-TV (CA)Published: October 4, 2001Copyright: 2001 by TheKCRAChannelWebsite: http://www.thekcrachannel.comContact: newscomments thekcrachannel.comRelated Articles & Web Site:Medicinal Cannabis Research Linkshttp://freedomtoexhale.com/research.htmFederal Magistrate Sets Oct. 22 Hearing in Casehttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread11035.shtmlDEA Seize Files on Medical Marijuana Patients http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread11023.shtml 
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Comment #7 posted by dddd on October 08, 2001 at 05:26:09 PT
it's way bigger than just us
....and all that happenned,when we swatted the camels nose,was that the beast became quite angry,,,,and the he got really pissed when we maced him,and he blindly stomped the shit out of everyone in the tent!...dddd
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Comment #6 posted by kaptinemo on October 08, 2001 at 05:04:36 PT:
This is bigger than just us
As has been pointed out before, the very idea of the Fry Incident taking place in the midst of national questions (posed mainly by corporately paid pundits and grandstanding bureaucrats) as to whether Americans have 'too much freedom' is no accident. It's quite deliberate. Just as the DEA, with unseemly haste, began making the 'drug user=terrorist' associations, we now have assaults upon the most sacred of privileged relationships for purely specious and political reasons. Because to drive a wedge in there is to practically destroy all others dependent upon the same cultural norms. and leave the door wide open for totally unrestricted governmental meddling in every aspect of your life from now on. Truly, this is a case of a camel who should not only have it's nose swatted for trying to enter the tent, but should have a dose of Mace forcibly injected up it's nostrils for such arrogance. 
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Comment #5 posted by dddd on October 05, 2001 at 22:47:56 PT
These para-natzis
at the DEA, realize that they have a unique opportunity to play fast and loose,in these times of public confusion concerning law enforcement,and intrusions on the citizens of California.....Doc Zombie is right,,,, they are going to re-intensify their efforts.The publics attention has been diverted into the "war on terror" sham...Batten down the hatches!.....dddd
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Comment #4 posted by Duzt on October 05, 2001 at 22:24:39 PT
there's more
I'm one of Dr. Fry's patients and was at the office today. It looks like they more files from their storage shed. They are seizing files that have nothing to do with anything. They also seized T-shirts, posters and magazines. This is really sad and scary what they are trying to do. My doctor was arrested and the co-op I used was raided and shut down (they had all my info in their files seized too). Gee, I wonder if I'm on a list now, hmmm, oh well.
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Comment #3 posted by fivepounder on October 05, 2001 at 19:13:04 PT
Harvest in California 
	I think you are right zombie. The poop is approaching the fan. They have the cover of their latest war to try just about anything they want. No attention on mmj patients, too busy with war. Here in California there is an eerie quiet at harvest. Things have taken a dramatic change over the last year.  
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Comment #2 posted by xxdr_zombiexx on October 05, 2001 at 18:03:29 PT
War on weed is Reintensifying
This is the major sh*t right here. Its SOOOO brazen.Attorney-client and Doctor-Client priveledged communication is the bedrock of the professional reltionship. Violation of these codes of conduct is nothing less than profound. The impact could barely be understated.Imagine some Federal beuareaucrat - that will mean most anybody, once this gets into practice - can look at any of your most personal details. THAT's what this is about.The DRUUUG war is SOOOO big, it's actually surrealistic. Things are not what they seem.Cops turn out to be criminals...(but not all the sinners saints...) Good ideas turn out to be terrible (D.A>R.E.)
And the wad on "druugs" is really a war on weed.And the war on Weed is a "trojan horse" into total dismantaling of the American Constitution and the bill of rights.They want to seal off freedom of speech, eliminate as much expectation to privacy as possible. Basically the Soviet Union with better technology, flashier cars, and better illegal drugs.And with Ashcroft's belligerent demands for sweeping power (despite his earnest assurances to the contrary (liar))and DICK cheney hiding out somewhere plotting god-knows-what, this is going to be the paperwork equilant of Blitzkrieg. A paper coup, I call it. It's very scary to think Lawyers and these few people could take over the government.The war is on and I believe we are about to be I could be wrong.. I could be overstating the case. But as a professional mental health practitioner I have keen understanding of the cofidentiality of professional relationships. The thought that the promise of secrecy is essentially worthless is nauseating.Is this NOT an abuse of the system?Or am I just an idealist?
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Comment #1 posted by ekim on October 05, 2001 at 17:50:11 PT:
more than 130 million were "ditchweed
October 4, 2001 www.norml.org/Feds' Pot Eradication Program Seizes Nothing But Ditchweed
Hemp, Not Marijuana Focus of DEA Effort, Report Shows
  Washington, DC: Nearly 98 percent of the marijuana seized under the DEA's "Domestic Cannabis Eradication/Suppression Program" is feral hemp - a non-psychoactive variety of marijuana, according to figures published in latest edition of the US Bureau of Justice Statistics Sourcebook.
  "The government is literally spending tens of millions of dollars to pull up weeds," said Allen St. Pierre, Executive Director of The NORML Foundation. "From a health and safety standpoint, they'd be better off plucking dandelions."
  Of the 133.6 million pot plants seized under the program in 1999 - the last year for which data is available - more than 130 million were "ditchweed," defined as "wild, scattered marijuana plants [with] no evidence of planting, fertilizing or tending." Feral hemp, which contains only minute traces of THC, grows plentifully throughout the southern and midwestern United States. Many of the plants are remnants from government-subsidized plots grown during World War II.
  Six states - Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Missouri, North Dakota, and South Dakota - eliminated more than a million hemp plants each. Of these, Missouri seized the largest volume of hemp, a whopping 73.3 million plants. North and South Dakota anti-drug task forces eradicated virtually nothing but hemp. DEA figures show that DCE/SP efforts netted roughly 37.6 million hemp plants in South Dakota, compared to only 255 cultivated marijuana plants. In North Dakota, 4.2 million wild hemp plants were seized by law enforcement, compared to only 721 marijuana plants. Ironically, a 1999 North Dakota law recognizes industrial hemp as commercial fiber crop and licenses farmers to grow it. However, the state statute offers no protection from federal law prohibiting hemp cultivation.
  St. Pierre said the DEA's hemp eradication program was not only wasteful, but also economically counterproductive. "While the DEA is needlessly destroying domestic American hemp, US retailers and manufacturers are annually importing 1.9 million pounds of hemp fiber, 450,000 pounds of hemp seeds and 331 pounds of hempseed oil from Canada and dozens of other nations that license and regulate hemp farming," he said.
  The federal "Domestic Cannabis Eradication/Suppression Program" provides funding, training, equipment, investigative, and aircraft resources to participating states' marijuana eradication efforts.
  For more information, please contact either Allen St. Pierre or Paul Armentano of The NORML Foundation at (202) 483-8751.
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