cannabisnews.com: 'Police' Are Still Seizing Medical Records
'Police' Are Still Seizing Medical Records
Posted by FoM on October 21, 2001 at 19:52:57 PT
By Vin Suprynowicz
Source: Las Vegas Review-Journal
Last week, we examined the seizure of the records of more than 5,000 medical marijuana patients as drug police raided the home and office of Dr. Mollie Fry, a physician, in El Dorado County, Calif. But it appears the Fry raid may be the tip of the iceberg. In a firsthand account of a similar raid on the office of Dr. William Eidelman in Santa Monica on Oct. 10, a medical marijuana patient writes:
"I arrived at Dr. Eidelman's office in Santa Monica at approximately 3 p.m. The doctor was seeing another 'patient' so I waited in the lobby. A few minutes later that supposed 'patient' came out into the lobby and stopped. He smiled really big, looked down at the letter he had just received from the doctor, and said to me, 'I'm sure glad this guy is around, good luck,' and then he left," writes the witness, who is on probation and asks that his name not be used. "I then went into Dr. Eidelman's office and had a discussion with him. About 10 or 15 minutes later there was a knock at the front door of the office. When the doctor answered I could hear from down the hall the man introduce himself as a narcotics detective with the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department, and he said he had a warrant to search the premises and seize some property. The doctor called for me to come out of the office and into the lobby. ... "The cops said they were there to seize all his medical records, and the laptop computer the records were stored on, and to search for controlled substances. Dr. Eidelman argued with them for a few minutes about the the lack of probable cause for the search and the illegality of seizing all his confidential patient records. ... "All of the officers appeared to be with the San Bernardino County Sheriff's department. There were approximately a dozen officers, all fully armed, outfitted, geared up, weapons showing/being carried, some wearing helmets and goggles, etc. I did not see any DEA or feds. ... "The man who appeared to be the lead detective was the same man who had posed as a 'patient' and seen the doctor right before I did. ... "An officer asked me for ID and I gave it to him. He then walked out into the hall and handed it to another cop and told him to `run this guy, and try and find something so we can take him in; I'm sure you'll find something.' "A few minutes later they sent me out into the hallway to be `interviewed' by the cop who ran my ID. I was then face-to-face with the same guy who had been posing as a patient when I arrived. His attitude, questions and treatment of me was despicable. He asked why I was there and I told him I was meeting with my doctor. He then tried to force me to give my medical history and tell him what I had been discussing with the doctor. "He kept asking what my medical conditions were and what treatment I was seeking from the doctor. I told them it was none of their business. He then told me I had better cooperate and stop lying to him `or else you'll be in a lot more trouble.' He kept saying, `You're here to buy a pot note, aren't you?' I told him I was not there to `buy a pot note.' That went back and forth for a while ... . "After more of their harassment I said I had to be somewhere and asked how much longer I had to stay. The detective gave me back my belongings and said, `If you really have a medical condition, I recommend you go see a real doctor who will treat you with real medicine, and stop running around trying to get "a fix." ' ... "The detective gave me his card and then I left. The detective's info on his business card is: Michael Wirz, Sheriff's Detective Narcotics Division, 655 East Third St., San Bernardino, CA 92415. ... "They did not arrest Dr. Eidelman, but are investigating him for supposed felonies." • A preliminary hearing on the seizure of Dr. Eidelman's computer records has been scheduled for San Bernardino County Superior Court. "Basically they don't like the law and they don't believe in the legitimacy of medical marijuana," Dr. Eidelman told me last Friday. "In spite of the fact the law was passed by the people of the state of California they would like to ignore the law and contravene it." I pointed out to Dr. Eidelman that the ideal test case would be some white-haired general practitioner recommending marijuana for a life-long patient who now has to deal with glaucoma, that police on the other hand will doubtless try to characterize him as some kind of "marijuana mill," with marijuana recommendations constituting the bulk of his practice. "Well, this is a major part of my practice these days, because the white-haired old GP is scared to write the letters ... . The patients come to me and say, `My doctor sent me to you because he says I need this but you're the only one who's willing to write the recommendations,' so by the laws of supply and demand I've become the specialist in medical marijuana in Southern California. ... " We were all taught in our high-school Civics classes that if you want to change the law, all you have to do is get a majority of voters to agree with you -- which is exactly what backers of California's humane Proposition 215 did. But these California prosecutors and so-called "police" now reveal they don't believe in -- or honor -- that system at all. In the courtroom where Chief Magistrate Gregory Hollows set the Oct. 22 hearing in the case of Dr. Mollie Fry, wheelchair-bound Dee Blanc of Placerville told The AP she had dropped to 81 lbs. before she began using marijuana to gain weight. ''I'm a chronic pain patient,'' she said. Kimberly Craft of Placerville said, ''We have a state law that protects us. I'm afraid they're going to put us on a list and decide who's next." Vin Suprynowicz, the Review-Journal's assistant editorial page editor, is author of "Send in the Waco Killers." His column appears Sunday.Source: Las Vegas Review-Journal (NV)Author: Vin SuprynowiczPublished: Sunday, October 21, 2001Copyright: 2001 Las Vegas Review-JournalContact: letters lvrj.comWebsite: http://www.lvrj.com/Related Articles & Web Site:Medicinal Cannabis Research Linkshttp://freedomtoexhale.com/research.htmYes, We're At War ... Against Sick Americans http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread11085.shtmlDEA Raids in California http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread11079.shtml
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Comment #18 posted by FoM on October 24, 2001 at 09:25:19 PT
Excerpts from Sacramento Bee Article
Seized Files' Return Denied
Source: Sacramento Bee
Author: Wayne Wilson, Bee Staff Writer
Published: Oct. 24, 2001
Attorney-physician couple lose their bid to regain data taken by federal agents in a medical pot probe.Thousands of files seized by federal drug agents from an attorney-physician couple who advocate the medical use of marijuana need not be returned, a judge ruled Tuesday.U.S. Magistrate Gregory G. Hollows rejected the attorney-client privilege asserted by the operators of California Medical Research Center in the El Dorado County town of Cool, but set up rigid rules by which the still-sealed records may be reviewed.Neither attorney Dale C. Schafer nor his wife, Dr. Marion "Molly" P. Fry, would discuss Hollows' findings, saying they had not yet seen the 28-page order.Their lawyer, J. David Nick of San Francisco, could not be reached for comment, but after Monday's hearing in U.S. District Court in Sacramento, he characterized the government's campaign against the pair as an "unsavory attempt" to instill fear in seriously ill Californians.The offices of Schafer and Fry, along with their nearby Greenwood residence and a storage unit in Cool, were raided Sept. 28-29.A U-Haul truck transported the seized computerized and paper files to Sacramento, where they have been placed in a locked room on the 16th floor of the federal courthouse.Schafer and Fry have yet to be formally charged with a crime, but drug agents alleged in the affidavit for a search warrant that the lawyer and doctor were engaged in a scheme to unlawfully prescribe, cultivate and sell marijuana.The government called it a marijuana prescription "tag team" with the doctor recommending pot therapy and the attorney advising patients how to avoid conviction.At Monday's hearing on the Schafer-Fry motion to return their files, attorney Nick argued that the government is on a "fishing expedition," looking for evidence that would implicate thousands of sick people who use marijuana medicinally.Nick said the Compassionate Use Act, a 1996 state ballot measure, permits Californians to employ pot therapy when it is recommended by a doctor.But Assistant U.S. Attorney Anne Pings said that possession or distribution of marijuana is a federal crime, regardless of one's claimed medical needs.And, she said, the actions of Schafer and Fry went beyond the mere recommendation of marijuana therapy."Attorney Schafer did more than advise clients about the ins and outs of medical marijuana, including how to avoid prosecution or how to act after an arrest," Hollows noted in his findings."He coupled that advice with sales of marijuana, distribution of marijuana clones, as well as the organization of a business with his doctor-wife for the mass distribution of marijuana through allegedly unlawful recommendations."At this point, there is probable cause to believe that attorney Schafer not only advised his customers to possess marijuana in violation of federal law, he took steps to ensure that possession," Hollows declared.Schafer advertised on the Internet and in local papers, offering marijuana recommendations from his business, Hollows stated.But "he affirmatively told his purported clients from the inception of their meeting that he was not their attorney," Hollows said, quoting a question-answer sheet "apparently given to ... Schafer's customers":Complete Article: http://www.sacbee.com/news/news/local04_20011024.html
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Comment #17 posted by Silent_Observer on October 22, 2001 at 16:49:10 PT
silentone..
I'd be interested to know exactly how you propose to convey your demands to the powers that be.
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Comment #16 posted by silentone on October 22, 2001 at 13:21:59 PT:
HMM
You are right. Honestly, the very last period in time when the state had no respect for medical privacy--and actually experimented on humans without consent--was performed during the ruling Stasi, or Gestapo. Think about it.What is the most sacred of all sacred things? Our bodies--mind, spirit, and physical self. We demand freedom of self. It truly disgusts me. I am born to serve no one, brought up by parents-not state, and have the right to pursue freedom, happiness and expression.
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Comment #15 posted by bruce42 on October 22, 2001 at 12:10:59 PT
Shameful
"The detective gave me back my belongings and said, `If you really have a medical condition, I recommend you go see a real doctor who will treat you with real medicine, and stop running around trying to get "a fix."A real doctor, huh? Real medicine huh? The last time I knew, they don't give out degrees at K-Mart. So what defines a real doctor? A doctor who has the guts to prescribe a medicine that although illegal, relieves the suffering of its users with NO harmful side effects. Apparantly a real doctor is a compasionless twit who would rather destroy somebody's already deteriorating health with dangerous prescription drugs.I hope this detective gets a pain inducing degenerative disease that resists all "real" midical treatment. I hate to be cold-hearted bastard, but apparently this is one of too many sheeple in this country that refuse reason and fact. This is the same attitude that allowed that "No Hope With Dope" article to exist http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread11120.shtml.
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Comment #14 posted by bruce42 on October 22, 2001 at 11:53:01 PT
p4me
http://www.erowid.org/plants/cannabis/cannabis_law.shtmlHere's some more regarding cannabis in particular.
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Comment #13 posted by Cannabis Dave on October 22, 2001 at 10:24:35 PT
They are part of the reason for terrorist attacks.
They are part of the reason for terrorist attacks on America, because they represent the immoral, greedy, evil element of our government which makes other people hate us. I don't believe the everybody in our government is immoral, greedy, and evil, but there are far too many who are. Those "authorities" who participate in malicious attacks on innocent victims in the name of their "war on drugs" are the ones who should be put in prison where they belong, because they are the real criminals here. Against the will of the people they continue their terrorist attacks against innocent civilians. It's time to take them out.
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Comment #12 posted by bruce42 on October 22, 2001 at 10:15:51 PT
here ya go p4me
I had no idea anabolic steroids were schedule III.Opium, methamphetamine, coca leaves, and heroin are schedule II."Schedule II - Sec. 1308.12A: Schedule II shall consist of the drugs and other substances, by whatever official name, common or usual name, chemical name, or brand name designated, listed in this section. Each drug or substance has been assigned the Controlled Substances Code Number set forth opposite it.B: Substances, vegetable origin or chemical synthesis. Unless specifically excepted or unless listed in another schedule, any of the following substances whether produced directly or indirectly by extraction from substances of vegetable origin, or independently by means of chemical synthesis, or by a combination of extraction and chemical synthesis:"so... how does MJ fall into schedule 1 anyway? Note that they list marihuana as a schedule 1 hallucinogenic substance.http://www.erowid.org/psychoactives/law/law_fed_sched1.shtml
http://www.erowid.org/psychoactives/law/law_fed_sched2.shtml
http://www.erowid.org/psychoactives/law/law_fed_sched3.shtml
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Comment #11 posted by p4me on October 22, 2001 at 09:30:02 PT:
post #10 post script
Lokk at all the pills people have been buying since 10-11. They can buy nerve pills, antibiotic pills, and they can even buy Citro even when the experts say not to take it before you have contracted Anthrax. Maybe it is that flood of money to the pill industry that has embolded them to try to crush the medical marijuana movement. All I know is that Citro sells for $7 a pill here in the US and sells for 68 cents in Mexico. I guess we owe that to our leaderlessship in Congress also.I was going to comment on the Dutch Experience, the first coffeeshop in the UK. On opening day they arrested 5 Dutch people that were involved in the coffeeshop. The plans of a coffeeshop is to sell MJ at one price to most people in an effort to sell half price (or less) to medical marijuana patients. They arrested Colin who also has a coffeeshop in Holland one more time a week later and there have been no further arrest and they have begun their sixth week now. Anyway, today at http://dutchexperience.org in the forum section at the top they announced that two more coffeshops will be opening. These people are not in it for the money. They are trying to right the wrongs of the past with a special emphasis on helping people with pain and medical problems. Colin himself is a medical MJ user as he has a problem with his spine. Britain is going the right way and we are being sold out by our leaders that brought you $7 a pill Citro. I wish I had some homegrown medicine now. How else can you calm yourself without supporting the pill bastards that causes these feelings in the first place?
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Comment #10 posted by p4me on October 22, 2001 at 09:00:23 PT
misguided bought off currupt leadership
Everyone knows that someone has got to push from the top to make something happen at the bottom. So who is pushing for this. It has to be the pill industry. Who else has enough clout to even think of taking a doctor's medical records? Did they suspend the constitution after 10-11 or are they just practicing for when they do. All the old Congressmen have got to go. It is a conspiracy charge. They are the ones that let this happen. I still believe that the criminalization of marijuana is a violation of our civil liberties and it is the role of government to defend us and protect our liberties. Yes, I am going to keep my theme of "out with the old and in with the new." I like that John Edwards we have as Senator in North Carolina, but what is his position on this? He has not introduced legislation to stop the wasted public resources in something that should be protected as a right under the constitution. So John you can count on a vote against you from me even though I like you. You just have not protected what I think are our rights. You also are taking freedom from people over marijuana and their property, while wasting public money. You have got to go John. You and all your conspirators. If I am upset to this degree, it is not the MJ, it is the disregard of the public vote, the people's rights, the submission to big business to do their will. Wait until the blockbuster movie or the best seller comes along and wakes the entire public. I have been awake for some time now and realize this is not a bad dream. It is the government out of control.I have been trying to find out the guidelines for Schedule 1 narcotics. I do not know if this was in the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention Act of 1970 or if there are no guidelines and they just make it Schedule 1 by legislation. They probably do not have guidelines or principles to go by. In Colorado they tried to get a medical MJ initiative on the ballot last year. They submitted enough signatures and the government official said they did not have enough signatures. When she died of a heart attack they found the missing signatures in her desk. In Washington DC they wanted an iniative and because Congress has its fingers in that pie too, someone introduced legislation not allowing funding for any iniative that would
support the use of MJ. I am speaking broadly as I did not write down the details. Anyway it was a political effort by Congess to deny the public the right to have its say.I will quit for now. I will have an opportunity to say about the same thing several times in the next couple of weeks without doubt.
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Comment #9 posted by Silent_Observer on October 22, 2001 at 08:49:48 PT
What truly depresses me...
is how few people see this coming.Some really good friends of mine are actuallt FOR the wire-tapping laws. They say they have nothing to hide.This is the level of absurdity we have reached. This absolute lack of suspicion, this cloying patriotism (fueled abundantly by the media) and the stealthy co-opting of every liberty that we stand for...is really scary.
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Comment #8 posted by i420 on October 22, 2001 at 05:47:14 PT
Not again...
This really pisses me off too. What will it take to make these people stop this treason. The people of California won fair and square with prop 215 and prop 36 but you see our big brother don't play that way. Well is it time for us to stoop to their level??? Sooner or later they are gonna push the wrong person/s button and all hell is gonna break loose. I thank god i am not the one.
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Comment #7 posted by kaptinemo on October 22, 2001 at 04:58:11 PT:
Some advice for clinicians
Video and audio monitoring of their own facilities. With the VCR in a safe somewhere.As much as I hate to say this, but these swine are hoping to use the doctor/patient confidentiality against those doctors brave enough to adhere to the law. Then, when Officer Jack Boot strikes, it's all a matter of ipse dixit before the judge...and who is the judge inclined to believe, without corroborating evidence on the part of the doctor? You guessed it.It will require equally devious measures on the part of the physicians to record their conversations with possible narks to verify that they are operating within the guidelines...which will effectively poison said doctor/patient relations. Sick; very sick. Because you can see where this is leading. In micrososm, it illustrates the mindset of LEO's in California and elsewhere; if you don't like the law, use every means within your power to subvert it...so long as you can get away with it. I sincerely hope that the ACLU looks up this eyewitness to this travesty and proceeds to swat ol' Officer Boot on his snout with an expensive lawsuit. This kind of harrassment will continue and grow worse until that happens.For it denotes a degree of arrogance that is inherently dangerous to civil liberties...the kind of danger which eventually leads to tar and feathers in its' most mildest form...and bloodstained, pock-marked walls in the extreme version.
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Comment #6 posted by xxdr_zombiexx on October 22, 2001 at 04:43:20 PT
GUILTY until PROVEN INNOCENT
at your own cost.Thats what the DEA's re-escalation of their war against cannabis culture essentially means.The PISS test means "GUILTY until proven innocent in a half-asses lab". All the recodes seizures are based upon the same concept.Sure, there's a law, but we have to ARREST people and go to court to make sure they arent breaking the law. Is that how it's supposed to work in America?Suppose the IRS took the lead from the DEA? That would be interesting. All those Republicans - and whomever else - that like to doctor thier tax returns would have to shake in thier jackboots. The IRS would be OBLIGATED to arrest you, then audit you to PROVE you are a law-abiding citizome
(my word - means unit of the Body Politic..whether you want to be or not).This, of course, is absurd and outrageously unconstituitonal,as well as the DEFINTION of un-american. Imagine working for the US GOvernment and being completely against everything america stands for. Aren't some of these misused Federal Employess supposed to be guarding our planes and borders? Aren't they supposed to be tracking down vicious murderers? That's what I thought "Law Enforcemnet" was all about.Imagine a children playing a game called "DEA". They would get one person to be a peaceful american with a real illness and a note from their doctors indicating that caanabis has been proven to help them - plain and simple. The other kids then demonize, taunt, say mean things to the sick child before beating him or her up and taking his or her stuff. The kids I work with used to play a game caled Red Dog: The Red Dog Squad was Atlanta's "druuug task force". I think they are now defunct - havent heard from them for a long time. The game went just like I described for the DEA. The kids would see the red Dogs all the time busting poor black people in their squalid, poverty-stricken apartment complexes. Their game was a simple re-enactment of what they saw, coupled with a child's natural inkling to respect authority - it was cool to be the Red Dogs..not your own people.The DEA's re-escalation of the war will focus on Doctors and the more well-off to 1: futher spread terror among cannabis culture, 2: forfeiture has to be greater with Medical Doctors than with the poor. 3: They AREN'T Americans - They will get a high from dismantaling the Constitution and from believing they are above the law.The DEA are Terrorists.
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Comment #5 posted by mayan on October 22, 2001 at 04:08:29 PT
Recognize Proposition 215!
Looks like the San Bernardino Sheriff's Department is jumping on the DEA's bandwagon. The sad part is that the people who voted overwhelmingly for Prop.215 also have to pay these scumbag's salaries!If these fascists don't recognize the legal right of the people then the people will not recognize the laws of these fascists!
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Comment #4 posted by The GCW on October 22, 2001 at 04:08:04 PT
Bush
From America, Bush stole the election. He will steal every thing he can including Americas soul. He will enable the Americans to be reamed. It is like he is not, nor ever has been American. He has been let in.
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Comment #3 posted by qqqq on October 22, 2001 at 00:35:57 PT
Gong Show
Here's what I say..."There has been a white-collar takeover of the government."......I think that any of these wanna-be patriots,who
are waving the freekin flag,,,should be required to see the sordid details of what their uncle sam,is doing to them ,in his latest binge of
being drunk on money,and power!!!The flag is becoming a false symbol...America is becoming a name of a country,,,it is in danger of
becoming a place that has effectivly perverted the meaning of the freedom that it once represented.... The war on drugs is secondary now,,,,the war on drugs doesnt really matter anymore,,,the war on drugs has been made obsolete by
the War on Terror....It will make no difference if a drug is legal or illegal anymore.The War on Terror over-rules all previous laws,,if you
should become a target for law enforcement,,drugs wont matter.They will just get a terror warrant,and raid your home,,and
then,when,or if they find drugs,they will say that the drugs they found qualify you to be charged under the new terrorist/homeland
security laws,and you will end up behind bars,,,and since you were charged under the new terrorist laws,it's quite likely that you will
not have the right to appeal,,?jury trial???forfieture of all you have??...........If I told you that someone from the government is
planning to come and cut off your arms and legs with a chainsaw,,,you'd say I was crazy......I am not crazy,,,and the government will
not be using a chainsaw,,and they may not actually sever your arms and legs,,,but they are planning to pay you a visit. ...and the truth is,there's not a hell of alot anyone can do about it,,but a good first step,is to try and tell all Americans to WAKE
UP!!!!!....this is not a game,or some half-baked conspiracy theory,,this is stone-cold,brutal reality,,and there's alot of people out
there who refuse to believe the unimaginable truth of what is happening......
...there are no longer any remaining "checks and balances" within our demockracy....This shit is going to happen,and there will be
millions of Sheeple saying,"oh,,I didnt know that's what they were doing....I didnt hear about that in the news.."
.......gong...gong...gong..... ..."The governments coming..the governments coming!!!..Wake Up!!!"...qqqq Revere
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Comment #2 posted by lookinside on October 21, 2001 at 20:24:08 PT:
scumbags..
as i've said before...every phone pole in the U.S. should have a cop, lawyer, judge or politician dangling from it...one like this deserves to get a BRAND NEW HEMP FIBRE rope...and a long drop..
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Comment #1 posted by greenfox on October 21, 2001 at 20:21:47 PT
This sickens me...
I cannot stand reading about people getting abused. This sucks.
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