cannabisnews.com: Pot Club Raid Signals New Push





Pot Club Raid Signals New Push
Posted by CN Staff on September 07, 2002 at 23:26:24 PT
By Howard Mintz, Mercury News
Source: San Jose Mercury News
By raiding a nationally known medicinal marijuana farm in Santa Cruz this week, federal law enforcement officials served notice that they are escalating their legal assault in the Bay Area, the cradle of California's medical pot movement.While the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has launched similar raids throughout the state during the past year, including one in San Francisco in February, the Santa Cruz operation marked the most aggressive crackdown on a major Bay Area medical marijuana outfit to date.
The raid appeared to cement a policy change for the region's federal law enforcement officials, who for the most part have relied on civil court orders to weed out medical pot distributors since California enacted Proposition 215 six years ago.Medicinal pot advocates reacted angrily Friday to the raid on the cooperative owned by Valerie and Michael Corral, both of whom were involved in drafting the state initiative that legalized supplying marijuana to the sick and dying. The Corrals had been operating with the support of local law enforcement officials and political leaders.California Attorney General Bill Lockyer, a strong backer of Proposition 215, fired off a letter Friday to U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft, asking for a meeting and criticizing ``punitive expeditions'' against ``locally authorized medical marijuana operations.''The raid also sparked protests Friday against the DEA in San Jose, San Francisco and Oakland.``Where are the federal government's priorities?'' said Jeff Jones, executive director of the Oakland Cannabis Buyers Cooperative, which has been locked in a federal court battle with the Justice Department for four years. ``At the anniversary of 9/11, you would think the federal government and its agencies would have more important things to do than raid someone who has not caused harm.''Federal prosecutors said Friday that they are still mulling over whether to file criminal charges against the Corrals, who were arrested and released Wednesday. Agents seized more than 100 marijuana plants, a shotgun and three rifles in the raid.``No final decision has been made,'' said Charles Ben Burch, chief of the criminal division for the Northern California U.S. Attorney's Office. ``We're still considering the case.''Richard Meyer, DEA spokesman in San Francisco, defended the raid, saying the Corrals have been flouting the law.The raid on the Corrals' farm, in the hills near Davenport, is the latest example of the seemingly irreconcilable tension between Proposition 215 and federal drug laws. The U.S. Supreme Court this year dealt a major blow to California and the six other states that permit medicinal marijuana when it ruled that there is no medical exception to federal drug laws.The ruling ensured that medicinal pot distributors, even with the support of local and state officials, could survive only if the federal government chose to leave them alone -- and that is not happening.The Supreme Court ruling came in a case brought in 1998 by the U.S. Justice Department against six Bay Area cannabis clubs, including Oakland's. At that time, the government took a different approach to medicinal pot suppliers in the Bay Area, suing in federal court to obtain court orders to shut the clubs down instead of raiding them and making arrests.The Bush administration, however, has taken a different tack than the Clinton administration, using DEA raids, criminal charges and even forfeiture laws to shutter the leading medicinal marijuana suppliers in California. Burch would not comment on whether San Francisco's new U.S. attorney, Kevin Ryan, has adopted any new policies on medicinal marijuana outfits.But statewide, there is growing evidence of a more aggressive approach. Last October, agents raided a West Hollywood cooperative and prosecutors have sued to seize the property. In that case, which involved the biggest medical marijuana operation in Southern California, no criminal charges have been brought.Scott Immler, the head of the club, said Friday that the raids and the attempt to seize the property, if successful, are ``equivalent to an organizational death penalty for us.''Santa Clara University law professor Gerald Uelmen, who represents the Oakland pot club and is assisting in the Corrals' case, said the government could be vulnerable to a lawsuit on behalf of patients being denied medicinal pot as a result of the Santa Cruz raid.``What they are using is hit and run. It's what they did in L.A. Clean it out and don't prosecute,'' Uelmen said.Meanwhile, Valerie Corral and other leading medicinal marijuana activists vowed at Friday's rallies to keep fighting the government.``They can't know how many peoples' lives they are causing suffering in,'' Corral said.Note: Federal Officials Step Up Assault on Medicinal Marijuana.Mercury News Staff Writer Sandra Gonzales contributed to this report. Source: San Jose Mercury News (CA)Author: Howard Mintz, Mercury NewsPublished: September 7, 2002Copyright: 2002 San Jose Mercury NewsContact: letters sjmercury.comWebsite: http://www.sjmercury.com/ Related Articles & Web Sites:WAMMhttp://www.wamm.org/OCBChttp://www.rxcbc.org/LACRChttp://www.lacbc.org/Americans For Safe Access http://www.safeaccessnow.org/Agents Seize Couple, Plantshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14037.shtmlThe DEA in Chains: Bound by a Patient in a Chairhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14036.shtmlDEA Raid Sparks Medical Marijuana Protests http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14023.shtml
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Comment #6 posted by john wayne on September 08, 2002 at 14:42:52 PT
DEAr DEAth DEAlers,
So. You guys are probly sittin' around watchin' the ball game today, havin' a cold one in front of the tube, feeling mighty proud of your own heroic asses.Heros you are! After all, you proved that large numbers of young hard-asses, fully armed, with dogs and all kindsa hardware can easily overpower those terminally-ill, near-death terrorist grandmothers.  Wow.  I'm expecting a hollywood movie showing how cool and tough you guys are!  How much "god" is on your side. How evil those terminally-ill terrorist grandmothers are. You guys rawk!Now, back to the beer and ballgame.
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Comment #5 posted by monvor on September 08, 2002 at 13:30:33 PT
Osama bin
Ashcroft
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Comment #4 posted by VitaminT on September 08, 2002 at 12:31:49 PT
Chomsky will be in Houston
on October 18th. Perhaps I'll have an opportunity to pose those questions to him.
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Comment #3 posted by JR Bob Dobbs on September 08, 2002 at 09:43:26 PT
DEAf dumb & blind
I saw part of a January '02 speech by Noam Chomsky on Cspan 2 yesterday, and he was talking about an international agreement on the definition of terrorism, and how it only applies when "they" do it to "us" and not when "we" do it to "them". I wish I could ask him what he thought about a case like this, where "we" are doing it to "ourselves". I know we don't like to think of the DEA as part of us, but they are - we pay for them, after all! The people they harass are the people that pay their salary. And I ask again - what's going to happen when state officials are the ones running the grow op? Either in San Francisco or Nevada, odds are it'll happen soon, and then what? Will the feds raid the state cops? Will the state cops see the feds as violators of their state laws? Will it go to court, or spark a war?
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Comment #2 posted by VitaminT on September 08, 2002 at 07:43:50 PT
I'd call it . . . 
a TERRORIST raid.afterall it was conducted in the name of prohibition and as we all know Prohibition funds terrorists.The U.N. should declare the DEA an international Terrorist organization! Armies should hunt Ashcroft and his leiutenants in the office buildings of the capitol.I'm sure a "daisy cutter" would find him.
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Comment #1 posted by goneposthole on September 08, 2002 at 06:39:53 PT
Raid is the correct word
The DEA chose to embarass itself by flaunting their cowardly ways.Medicinal marijuana cooperatives are raided, in the true sense of the word, by agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration. Very brave effort here.The DEA chooses the easy pickings, and leaves the booby trapped marijuana gardens out in the woods for another day. Too chicken to face the reality, even. Too chicken to draw the conclusion that they cannot win; that cannabis will prevail.A simple plant will undo them before they undo themselves.
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