cannabisnews.com: Authorities Not Going Along With MMJ Dispensary Authorities Not Going Along With MMJ Dispensary Posted by CN Staff on June 13, 2003 at 08:22:18 PT By Michelle MacEachern - Staff Writer Source: Chico Enterprise-Record Joel Castle called Chico Police Chief Bruce Hagerty Thursday morning to invite him to a meeting - about Chico's new marijuana cooperative and how it would work. Castle said the chief responded by saying what Castle was doing was illegal - and it was the chief's job to put him in jail. Castle didn't seem to take the response personally. "He's just a hired gun," he said. But the man in the office behind a Fifth Street clothing store is in the same pickle as thousands of area medical marijuana patients. In order to get what the law says is their legal medicine, they do an underground drug deal or become marijuana farmers. And many of them don't want to do that, Castle said. After the Thursday front page Enterprise-Record article on the Castle's operation, people haven't had a lot of trouble finding the place. And neither would the police. Ron Mulkey, 44, of Chico, was at their door Thursday morning. He said he's tired of hitching to Brownsville or getting ripped off in underground drug deals to get what he was prescribed by a doctor in Cool for prostate cancer and headaches."It's a bad scene," he said of his attempts to buy pot just steps away in City Plaza. "There's people selling crank and coke. I understand why the police are cracking down there - it's bad." He came to the office with the word "marijuana" on the door because he read the article and wanted "to do everything right." He said he was given a form to fill out and told to return with his "215 card," a form of identification that refers to the California proposition that made marijuana legal medicine under certain specific circumstances."It's a good thing, what he's doing," Mulkey said of Castle. "There's not enough people that care for others ... It's about time Chico had something to help people out."Castle said the police chief should be helping him - even donating seized pot to run what he hopes will become a local marijuana cooperative - because it would make thousands of potential illegal drug deals disappear. "Don't tell me Chico doesn't smoke pot," he said. He said he's aware that running the small office, where he's also living while waiting for an apartment to be ready, could get him years in prison. But he and others in his situation have few choices but to break the law. What does he expect to happen?"I expect this most intelligent and progressive community to respond positively," he said. At present, supply is not a problem. Most of what he plans to give away is currently growing, he said. But he also expects donations from locals who have "too much."In fact, he expects a deluge of support from what's also a political group with a Web site -- http://www.americanvotes.com/He can also apparently expect arrest.Capt. John Viegas said he talked to the police chief on how they plan to deal with Castle. Proposition 215 made marijuana legal under very restrictive circumstances, Viegas explained, but giving it away and having more than allowed is still illegal. The local police follow District Attorney Mike Ramsey's guidelines, which set out specifically how many plants are allowed for an individual prescription and how much loose marijuana each patient can have. "Unfortunately, the laws are such to keep people in check so we don't have chaos out there," he said. "Prop. 215 changed the way the law was, but it's very restrictive. You have to cultivate it for yourself."He believed having seeds under the district attorney's limit for those with a doctor's recommendation would be allowable locally.How exactly the department would respond to what Castle's doing, he didn't know. "If he does distribute it, give it away, that's illegal," he said. And nothing stops the federal government from coming in and arresting him on a federal charge. That means local law enforcement agencies like the Chico Police Department could call the feds in or ask BINTF (the Butte Interagency Narcotics Task Force) to arrest him. "There are no plans to do that at this point," he said. But if Castle wants to change the law, he should lobby the Legislature. What happens next depends on what's going on at Castle's office."If he is going to be furnishing or giving it away, we'd start a case against him or call BINTF to start a case," he said. "We'd take the same posture as the DA's office: The law prohibits such activity ... We're not going to overlook it."Vic Lacey, BINTF task force commander, said bluntly there's no way Castle can even possess more than the limit for an individual or their caregiver with a doctor's recommendation. "You can't just open a dispensary or cannabis club for people who do (have a recommendation). If the city of Chico even remotely considered" letting Castle operate, the "entire city would look like City Plaza did a month ago. You'd watch people smoke and sell and buy dope," he said. The idea that marijuana was a good thing was just "a scam on the public."In limited circumstances, like the advanced stages of cancer, marijuana "has some soothing effects." But they "need to get the research community to work on it more."At this point, pot use under 215 is a problem. "Everyone is able to get it. Kids have it," Lacey said. And he's known people whose lives have become worthless because of it. The public is sending the wrong message with a permissive attitude toward marijuana. It fuels the lowering of community standards and leads to more unproductive lives."We're telling them it's not that bad, but it is that bad. We're losing the battle because of all these things," he said. "I'm just thankful we have a police chief whose willing to take a stand on what the law says."He wouldn't say if he planned to arrest Castle. "But we will investigate him because of reports. If we substantiate he is giving away, distributing or selling, he'll be investigated and charged appropriately," Lacey said. Complete Title: Authorities Not Going Along With Marijuana Dispensary Plan Source: Chico Enterprise-Record (CA)Author: Michelle MacEachern - Staff WriterPublished: Friday, June 13, 2003Copyright: 2003 The Media News GroupContact: letters chicoer.comWebsite: http://www.chicoer.com/Related Article & Web Site:American Voteshttp://www.americanvotes.com/Marijuana Advocate Pursuing Chico Dispensary http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread16600.shtmlCannabisNews Medical Marijuana Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/medical.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #3 posted by Prime on June 13, 2003 at 12:26:30 PT I agree kapt... At this point, all it will take is one jury nullification in a federal trial and the wheels will fall off. It appears that a few of us have decided to challenge the system. Its going to be a very interesting summer. [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by kaptinemo on June 13, 2003 at 11:06:16 PT: The irresistable force is about to meet the immovable object.Contrary to the wishes of the Judicial and LE institutions, the Rosenthal decision is about to begin haunting them. The next to the last crack in the dike has begun to spread and merge with other cracks. The wall of the dike is weakening, bulging slowly, ever so slowly, giving no hint of the tremendous, pent-up violence of the water behind. The deluge, awaited for so long, is about to burst loose. Water is pooling around the feet of the Fed Little Dutch Boys, leaking out from the cracks in the wall, wetting their nice shiny jackboots. The smarter ones know that they are a few months away from full-on flooding, which threatens to wash a significant portion of their precious gravy-train into History's gutter. Push is finally coming to shove, in a State which is vital in any national election. A politician which does not supply the right word to the electorate this time around, with all the public awareness of the Rosenthal trial fresh in people's minds, had better forget even stumping in California. Because he or she will be confronted with the issue at every turn. It isn't 'tee-hee, look at the cute stoners wanting to get high; I can ignore them' anymore.The last 5 Summers have been political scorchers; I don't expect this one to be any less incendiary... [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by FoM on June 13, 2003 at 09:32:31 PT News Article from Snipped Source Medical Marijuana Defendants Vow Fight By Joe Vargo June 13, 2003TEMECULA - Two medical marijuana advocates charged with cultivating 21 pounds of pot in their Temecula home will not agree to anything less than complete dismissal of charges, their attorneys say. The Riverside County district attorney's office said it is moving forward with plans to try Martin and La Vonne Victor on charges that could land them in state prison for up to 32 months. "We have done nothing, nothing, nothing wrong," said Martin Victor, 50, who said he suffers from cluster headaches, the result of damaged optic nerves. The Victors say they are only adhering to the wishes of a majority of voters who approved Prop. 215, which allows for the "compassionate use" of marijuana for medicinal purposes. Law enforcement officers and medical marijuana advocates agree that Prop. 215 needs changes to prevent truly ill people from being hauled into court. Snipped:Complete Article: http://www.pe.com/localnews/southwest/stories/PE_NEWS_nspot13.102cc.html [ Post Comment ] Post Comment