cannabisnews.com: DEA Chief Faces Protests After Agents Bust 





DEA Chief Faces Protests After Agents Bust 
Posted by FoM on February 13, 2002 at 11:28:29 PT
By Margie Mason, Associated Press Writer
Source: Associated Press
The smell of burning marijuana wafted through the air as city leaders protested outside a speech by the head of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency hours after federal agents raided a medical marijuana club and arrested four people.DEA Administrator Asa Hutchinson also faced a tough crowd inside the Commonwealth Club of California, where people shouted "Liar!" during his speech, in which he said that "science has told us so far there is no medical benefit for smoking marijuana."
"We will protest until this kind of nonsense from Washington, D.C. stops," promised Chris Daly, one of four city supervisors who appeared before the cheering crowd.Board of Supervisors President Tom Ammiano went one step further, calling the DEA an "obnoxious, grandstanding" agency. "I don't want somebody in my house that's not invited!" Ammiano shouted as demonstrators blew kazoos and chanted "Go away D-E-A."Tuesday's raid intensifies a tug of war between local and federal officials over the sale of pot for medicinal purposes. District Attorney Terence Hallinan has been outspoken in his support of the clubs, and Police Chief Fred Lau has said his officers wouldn't take part in any raids. City leaders declared San Francisco a sanctuary for medical cannabis use last year."This is a decision to be made by the voters of California and the people of the city and county of San Francisco," Hallinan said through a bullhorn outside the Commonwealth Club. Drug Enforcement Administration agents seized more than 600 pot plants from the Harm Reduction Center and arrested the group's executive director, Richard Watts, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.Kenneth Hayes of Petaluma was arrested in Canada and Edward Rosenthal of Oakland was also arrested. They face charges of cultivating more than 100 pot plants and maintaining a place to grow them, according to federal documents. Each faces up to 40 years in prison if convicted. Hayes also operates the club, and Rosenthal supplies him with marijuana, the documents said.A fourth man, James Halloran, of Oakland, was arrested in a separate case, and charged with growing more than 1,000 marijuana plants and keeping a place to grow them. He faces life in prison if convicted.Hutchinson later criticized the legalization of marijuana for medicinal uses. Voters in California, Arizona, Alaska, Colorado, Maine, Nevada, Oregon and Washington approved ballot initiatives allowing medical marijuana. In Hawaii, the Legislature passed a similar law and the governor signed it in 2000.However, the U.S. Supreme Court, deferring to Congress, said last year that it is illegal to distribute marijuana for medical purposes."We have to enforce the law," Hutchinson said. He pointed out that opium was once legal but got out of control in Chinatown in the 1880s, prompting the city to pass the first anti-drug law in the United States."Enforcement of drug laws started here in San Francisco, they should not end here," he said.DEA spokesman Richard Meyer said the Customs Service and Internal Revenue Service had joined its investigation, targeting marijuana trafficking and smuggling."They all are connected with marijuana smuggling," Meyer said. "We've said all along the cultivation and distribution of marijuana is illegal regardless of state or local law."Workers at the pot club raided Tuesday said they were questioned by DEA agents about their relationship with Hallinan."They asked us if he was receiving monies from us or drugs," said David Witty, the marijuana club's chief of security. "This is insane. What kind of city do you think we're operating here, to think that we're smugglers or involved in some other criminal activity?"The center serves about 200 patients a day, all with doctors' recommendations to get the drug. Many suffer chronic pain from AIDS and cancer, Witty said.Tuesday's raid is just one in a series of recent federal crackdowns in California. Agents shut down a West Hollywood cannabis club in October. Other federal actions include raiding a Ventura County garden operated by patients, and seizure of medical records from a Northern California doctor who is a prominent medical marijuana proponent.Tuesday's raid coincided with President Bush's announcement of a stepped-up war on drugs, with a goal of cutting drug abuse by 25 percent in five years, in part through improved law enforcement.The White House also launched an anti-drug advertising campaign, broadcast first during the Super Bowl, with the message that money used to buy drugs may benefit terrorists. Complete Title: DEA Chief Faces Protests After Agents Bust Medical Marijuana ClubSource: Associated PressAuthor: Margie Mason, Associated Press WriterPublished: Wednesday, February 13, 2002 Copyright: 2002 Associated Press Related Articles & Web Site:DEA Raids Medical Marijuana Clubhttp://freedomtoexhale.com/raid.htmDEA Chief Faces Protests After Agents Raidhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread11998.shtmlMedical Pot Club Raided as DEA Leader Visits S.F. http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread11995.shtmlFour Arrested in Connection with Pot Cultivation http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread11994.shtml
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Comment #10 posted by freedomtoker on February 14, 2002 at 11:37:56 PT
Sheriffs can kick the feds out of the county!!!
Here is an article discussing when and where this already happened!!!From: Dave Champion 
Subject: Sheriff controls federal actions
Date: Tue, 16 Mar 1999 09:07:25 -0800Don't we all wish we had a sheriff with this much integrity working for us!Dave
___________________________________________________________________________________________Sheriff Dave Mattis of Big Horn County, Wyoming, said this week that as a
result of Case #96-CV099-J, U.S. District Court, District of Wyoming, he now
has a written policy that forbids federal officials from entering his county
and exercising authority over county residents unless he is notified first
of their intentions.After explaining their mission, Mattis said he grants them permission to
proceed if he is convinced that they are operating within the legal
parameters and authority limitations set forth in the U.S. Constitution.The sheriff grants permission on a case-by-case basis only. When asked what,
if any, repercussions he had gotten from the Feds, he quickly and
confidently replied, "None whatsoever." He explained by saying, "They know
they do not have jurisdiction in my county unless I grant it to them."Mattis clarified his position by saying the federal court had ruled that the
state of Wyoming is a sovereign state and the state constitution plainly
states that a county sheriff is the top law enforcement official in the
county.Additionally, Sheriff Mattis contends that the U.S. Constitution, Article 1,
Section 8, clearly defines the geographic territories where the federal
government has jurisdiction. Amendment X, he said, states that "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."Therefore, Mattis thoroughly believes the Feds have very limited powers in
any state unless the local high-sheriff allows them to exercise power beyond
that which the Constitution provides."Put another way," Mattis said, "If the sheriff doesn't want the Feds in his
county, he has the constitutional power and right to keep them out or ask
them to leave."Accompanied with other legal interpretations Mattis stands on the definition
of the world "sovereign," which is defined by Webster's as "paramount,
supreme. Having supreme rank or power. Independent: a sovereign State."Mattis said he grew weary of the Feds coming into his county and running
rough-shod over county residents: i.e., illegally searching, seizing
property, confiscating bank accounts, restricting the free use of private
lands and other abuses, without a valid warrant and without first following
due process of law as guaranteed by the Constitution to every citizen.As long as Mattis remains sheriff he says he will continue to see to it that
the citizens of his county get their day in court.Mattis went on to say that, to his knowledge, even the IRS has not attempted
to seize any citizen's real property, bank account or any other
private-owned possessions since he ran the Feds out of his county.Sheriff Mattis emphasized that he is not a radical man. He said he is only
dedicated to protecting the constitutional rights of the citizens of his
county.He added that ordinary citizens are not the only ones bound by and expected
to obey laws. Elected officials and government employees at all levels of
government are also bound by and should be expected to obey certain laws.As long as Sheriff Mattis is the high-sheriff of Big Horn County, he seems
determined to make sure private citizens and government officials alike act
within the law and their designated powers.Sheriff Mattis came across as a soft-spoken, polite man whose only interest
is protecting the citizens he was elected to serve. That being the case, he
might be the sheriff for as long as he wants to be.Sheriff Mattis is hopeful that other sheriffs will assume the same stance.
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Comment #9 posted by DdC on February 14, 2002 at 03:58:50 PT
History is a Lie, Agreed Upon Asa's a Liar Agreed?
Assa wants to terrorize people who are already terrorized by their illness. What kind of sickness would compell someone to do that? People must ask what makes this such a high priority? When it isn't. Why does someone care if cannabis releaves sufering? Why does the government lie? Why do corporations elect their own CEO's to legislate and regulate their own companies, legally? Why will Bushit block campaign financing, and after a while its damn obvious why. Any living soul saying it doesn't have medicinal or industrial or recreational benefits is totally mechanical or profiting on prohibition. Spending tax money, 19.2 billion more this year to eradicate 99% non-psychoactive cannabis and another murder of 15,000 junkies forced to die of overdose or bad drugs and a few more thousand more new AIDs and Hep C cases to treat at high profits from sharing dirty needles Walters says is Gods wrath, needle exchanges breed junkies! More funding kamikazi "terrorist or wingut drug warlords, FARC secret assassins or government sanctioned assassins and more Fundamentalist Christian abortions called misscarrages from crude oil pesticides, herbicides and fertilizer runoff not used on the 99% wild ditchweed cananbis eradications. All stopping overnight by legalizing cannabis and medicalizing the rest of it.Every single lie about cananbis has a D.E.A.th Korpse backing it.735,000 cannabis arrest and Bushit wants to increase it 10% to 25% depending on what group he's lying too. More food to sell with his prison food service, less competition for his Pharmaceuticals, Cattle, Frankenfood and Crude Oil Business.What is crude oil used for? Every over packaged item encased in plastic, every puter casing and the baggies holding oz's but thats just the beginning of our use that could be from biomass or not used on cotton and flax. Any crop using crude chemicals to ward off bugs and weeds can plant cannabis inbetween the rows and do it organically, removing profits and illness and dependency on OPEC/Cheney\Enron..Booze and Tobacco and Meat and Dairy could benefit if they gave a shit, these same Farben cohorts hiding in the shadows at the Congressional hearings on tobacco, lying again, blaming it on the tobacco never mentioning the additional chemicals sold by the same damn companies sponsoring the kids getting DARE brainwashed. Laundered by the pisstesting for profit chemist Philanthrapist Drugczar. Bush don't care if we know or not, who ya gonna call?Ok for what its worth, whatever ones personal thoughts I don't care, but sometimes I find an urge to do something like nudge from spirit. So this morning I turned on the tube, something I seldom do, and surfed passed the 700 Club with the rightest wingnut around, Pat Robertson. But what brought me back was the delayed reaction of my brain comprehending what he said. So I back it up and listened. He had an expert agreeing with him about something he normally wouldn't have been. Ranting and raving like the froths about liberals only today he was losing it on Aspartame, Nutrisweet. He said low and behold the Searl Company told the F.D.A. it was safe, even tested it 100 times and each one proved a miracle for those stopping sugar. Released and many bucks later through Independant testing of another 100 or so with 87% recommending removal and the others all finding something wrong with it, including death as one of the 92 symptoms and side effects. Pushed to kids no less, are they or the 100,000 killed on Over the counter drugs ever considered by these D.E.A.th thugs? Now what really started to blow me away, wasn't when his parrot kid agreed, but what he let out of the bag, squirming a bit and swallowing. He said all of the regulation and testing by vested interest was done while Donald Rumsfeld was Searls C.E.O. Now I seriously doubt, if he can carry that thought to why cannabis is illegal and many synthetics sold are not safe and by process of elimination are guilty or doing greater harm than natural substances. Then he turned back and bitched about McCain turning on him by wanting campaign financing. He mentioned he was part of the Keating 5 and accepted 37 grand in corporate financing, but neglected to mention Bush son Neil was one of the 5 along with Horowitz of Pacific Lumber clearcutting old growth redwoods to sell to the Japanese for particleboard that could be made with hemp. Keating the eldorado inside trader, I think is kin to the governor of Okieland jailing cannabis med users 90 years while selling crude oil. So for what its worth I'll write him though he's in way too deep. I'm sure with his hundreds of media outlets, TV stations, newspapers, TV networkds, college, Law School teaching exclusively how to scare Miami voters and overturn Roe v Wade and other protections to the puritanical impurities. Who knows?That if these korpses only see bottom lines and the citizen becomes an employee giving up their rights and the lawyers and Korpses officers elected or appointed to regulate themselves its not too far a leap of faith to figure why the asthma rates climbed in Texas while Vushit raped and pillaged. And why his hatchet Norton & Whitless conserve the environment like Bushit does compassion for the sick and dying or the kids who will get raped in juvi lock up or the adults taken from their kids turned into Korpses slave labor to supply Wallmarts overpackaged plastic on shelves not meant for hemp or ganja. Till the people call themselves and wake up from this long nightmare. Assa is an Arkansas lawyer politicop. No greater assa kisser ever walked the earth. Walters Philanthrapy Roundtable/Partnership to bilk gullibles or Jim Bakkker's laboratories to test cannabis like Daddy did with Dupont and Ely Lilly as CEO under danny quayles daddy. Cheney and Oil legislating out of paying restitution for aspestos. One big happy fascist,,,be it ever so humble, there's no place like skull and bones.
Peace, Love and Liberty
DdCCalifornia NORML
http://canorml.org
Costs of Marijuana ProhibitionCalifornia's Flood of Pot Prisoners 
http://canorml.org/background/mjpris2001.htmlThe Story of California's Failed War on Pot 
http://canorml.org/background/mjenforcecal.htmlEconomic Benefits of Marijuana Legalization 
http://canorml.org/background/mjeconomics.htmlThe Forgotten History of Cannabis Prohibition in California 
http://canorml.org/background/ca1913.htmlPotency study shows clubs' medical cannabis superior to the government's. 
http://canorml.org/healthfacts/potencystudy.htmlMarijuana Health Facts and Myths 
http://canorml.org/healthfacts/healthmyths.htmlCalifornia's Marijuana Laws
http://canorml.org/laws/calmjlaws.htmlMyth: Pot Kills Brain Cells Government experts now admit that pot doesn't kill brain cells. This myth came from a handful of animal experiments in which structural changes (not actual cell death, as is often alleged) were observed in brain cells of animals exposed to high doses of pot. Many critics still cite the notorious monkey studies of Dr. Robert G. Heath, which purported to find brain damage in three monkeys that had been heavily dosed with cannabis. This work was never replicated and has since been discredited by a pair of better controlled, much larger monkey studies, one by Dr. William Slikker of the National Center for Toxicological Research, and the other by Charles Rebert and Gordon Pryor of SRI International. Neither found any evidence of physical alteration in the brains of monkeys exposed to daily doses of pot for up to a year. Human studies of heavy users in Jamaica and Costa Rica found no evidence of abnormalities in brain physiology. A 15-year study of 1,318 chronic marijuana users by Johns Hopkins University found no evidence of long-term decline in mental function. Even though pot does not appear to cause permanent brain damage, users should be aware that persistent deficits in short-term memory have been noted in chronic, heavy marijuana smokers after 6 to 12 weeks of abstinence. It is worth noting that other drugs, including alcohol, are known to cause brain damage.
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Comment #8 posted by DdC on February 14, 2002 at 02:29:31 PT
Sadamnsomabushladen's U.S.Al Qaeda
D.E.A.th Deceptions
http://www.angelfire.com/ca7/ddc/DEAth.htmlSadamnsomabushladen's U.S.Al Qaeda
http://www.cannabinoid.com/boards/politics/media/39/39670.gif
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Comment #7 posted by releafer on February 13, 2002 at 16:01:33 PT
Doesn't even Understand the Supremes
His Statement of why its illegal; in the recent US Supreme Court only the right to use medical marijuana as a defense
is illegal!!The Supremes never said there was no medical value except that the government law wasn't based on Med Marijuana.The Feds argue there is no Medical Value...thats why they have had and supplied marijuana for years to a few (very few) people!
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Comment #6 posted by Nicholas Thimmesch on February 13, 2002 at 13:06:26 PT:
Politics makes for strange bedfellows....
...but allies are allies when it comes to resisting the feds "war on everything": La Pierre may not be your cup of tea, but he gets his message out (the NRA has a massaive PR department) and like a broken clock, even he can be right twice a day. THIMMESCH
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Comment #5 posted by Jose Melendez on February 13, 2002 at 12:48:40 PT:
Arrest Prohibition
from:http://opinionjournal.com/medialog/
The latest to raise the alarm was Wayne LaPierre, executive vice president of the National Rifle Association, and a man normally preoccupied with the endless travails of gun owners. Two weeks ago, Mr. LaPierre took to the microphones to declare that the nation had "witnessed a fire sale of American liberties at bargain-basement prices" and that Americans must not allow themselves to be swayed into endorsing this fire sale by "a popular conservative president."
Arrest Prohibition 
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Comment #4 posted by FoM on February 13, 2002 at 12:43:41 PT
p4me
I went and looked at the LA Times and it was the same AP articles posted. They had an article I looked at fast about kids in some form of treatment and didn't read the rest but I will later on today and see if it's worth posting. Washington Post hasn't done anything yet. That surprises me.
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Comment #3 posted by Jose Melendez on February 13, 2002 at 12:29:15 PT:
Themes in Chemical Prohibition
"We have to enforce the law," Hutchinson said. He pointed out that opium was once legal but got out of control in Chinatown in the 1880s, prompting the city to pass the first anti-drug law in the United States.Funny he should mention that. Some today point to the percentage of minorities, who make up the majority of those incarcerated for marijuana. For any interested in the truth, here is some relevant and documented history on this issue:
http://www.mapinc.org/propaganda/prohibprop/ticp/notes.htm#n1
[1.] The Drug is Associated With a Hated Subgroup of the Society or a
Foreign Enemy
The association of particular drugs with hated minority
groups and foreign enemies has a long and colorful history in
the United States. The association of opium with the Chinese, of
cocaine with Blacks, of, alcohol with urban Catholic immigrants,
of heroin with urban immigrants, of Latinos with marihuana, the
claim that a myriad of foreign enemies were using these drugs
against the U.S., and the image of drug crazed bohemians such as
Ludlow, Baudelaire, and DeQuincy all were integral to the
propaganda that generated the prohibitionist policies on each of
these drugs.San Francisco passed the first narcotics law in the United 
States in 1875 for the purpose of suppressing opium smoking. 
There is little doubt that this law was aimed specifically at 
the Chinese and reflected more an attempt to control the Chinese 
as an economic group than it did a concern about the drug opium. 
The "Chinese Question" dominated California politics 
in the 18701s. The period is marked by intense racial and class 
conflict. Racial riots occurred in numerous West Coast cities 
that resulted in the killing and lynching of Chinese and the 
burning of Chinese quarters. The California Workingman's Party 
was organized under the cry "The Chinese must go!" 
California representatives with the support of their southern 
counterparts pushed through Congress the Chinese Exclusion Act 
of 1882 which suspended immigration of Chinese workingmen into 
the U.S. for ten years. It is doubtful given this background 
that the 1875 ordinance, in San Francisco was aimed at 
protecting the health and welfare of the Chinese people.
 
References 
 Schlesinger, A.M. Political and Social 
History of the United States 1829-1925. New York, McMillan,
1927, pp. 338-339 Cheng-Tsu Wu. "Chink": A 
Documentary History of Anti-Chinese prejudice in America. New 
York, World Publishing, 1972 Saxon, A. The Indispensable Enemy: Labor 
and the Anti-Chinese Movement in California, Berkely, University
of California Press, 1971 Jacobs, P., S. Landau and E. Pell. 
Anti-Chinese Riots In: To Serve the Devil. New York, Vintage 
Books, 1971, Vol. 2 pp. 144-145
more...
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Comment #2 posted by p4me on February 13, 2002 at 11:53:42 PT
small mistake
In comment #1 I refer to Walters making a fool of himself in San Francisco. Of course Walters made a fool of himself at the White House and Hutchinson made a fool of himself in San Fran.What does the LA Times say about it all?VAAI. When in doubt, votem out.
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Comment #1 posted by p4me on February 13, 2002 at 11:41:58 PT
sickening isn't it
This is off the top of my head so beware. Does anyone remember the story of the Charge of the Light Brigade? It was at a time when the Russian Empire met the British Empire over territory in the Crimea around 1850 or so. It was something that the whole world watched because it would determine the Supreme power in Europe and it was a time when cavalry determined victory.What gave it such immediate importance and public awareness was that there was a bluff that overlooked a mountain that separated the Russian cavalry and the English cavalry and there were Englishmen on that bluff that got to see the battle develop even though the two cavalries could not see each other. It made for a sensational book called "The Reason Why."Today there is a great battle going on and with the Internet; it is possible to see the events from around the world. Yes, I am going to say that the best story going is how marijuana is fighting to be a legal substance again and if you say it is not interesting; it is because you have not followed it so far.Tuesday, the DEA raided another harm reduction center in San Francisco. Californian are infuriated. John Walters, drug bizarre, also gave a speech to about 100 people in San Francisco. About 20 were friendly and the other 80 not so friendly. When Walters said that there was no scientific evidence that marijuana had no medical value, people in the crowd yelled "liar." Some accounts said they all but felt sorry for Hutchinson having to make a speech on such an indefensible position. The National Institute of Health report concerning marijuana as medicine for AIDS patients was mentioned and Walters made an *ss of himself when he tried to comment.The AP actually covered this story and I am waiting to see how many national papers covered the story. Yesterday, there was a terrorist alert. Many comments at http://www.cannabisnews.com concerned that it was the government that were the terrorist and they certainly struck again.This is an election year and the issue of medical marijuana is surely going to be mentioned. The whole marijuana prohibition is ludicrous when you really study on it.And the point I was trying to make about Russia and England in the Crimean War is being replayed in the area of drugs. The most consumed drugs in the world are alcohol, tobacco, caffeine, and marijuana. The battle that is really going on is about the empire of these four drugs or you could say money.Busch talks about drug-abuse and does not mention alcohol or tobacco.  If you want to understand the war on marijuana, you have to understand that tobacco is the American product. The Jamestown colony was assured of survival because the tobacco addicts in England made it a cash crop. Big tobacco has a lot of money. One quarter of all convenience store profits are made from cigarettes. And the alcohol companies are terrified of marijuana. First because it the ideal recreational drug and if the government did not stop people from using it everyone would have plants in their garden and alcohol sales would plummet. And one of the medical uses of marijuana is to break alcohol dependency and we surely do not want that.So you have a world where the Prez does not even wear a stop smoking pin even though 400,000 people will die from tobacco this year. You would never see a child removed from a home for smoking even though there is a 50% chance of addiction from smoking just one pack. It is illegal for children to smoke and where incarceration may be helpful in breaking the addiction it is not used. Of course, we do not mind locking people up for MJ even when it is not addictive. It is enjoyable like sex, but it is not chemically addictive.And the fourth chemical caffeine is added to soft drinks. These empty calories are part of the reason for the fattening of America. Childhood diabetes is a present danger and death due to obesity is now the fourth largest killer in America. And not even a warning label.So not even a pin on Busch's jacket for tobacco. No warning labels on soft drinks with caffeine and no warning labels on beer, wine, or the hard stuff. No one dies from marijuana and marijuana is the ideal recreational drug and is also medicine. It is a very interesting war going on. The raids yesterday are a display of power. There is no display of compassion or reason and an embarrassing display by the DEA chief, Asa Hutchinson.
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