cannabisnews.com: DEA Raids Lepp's Pot Farm





DEA Raids Lepp's Pot Farm
Posted by CN Staff on August 19, 2004 at 10:06:40 PT
By John Lindblom - Record-Bee Staff
Source: Lake County Record-Bee 
Upper Lake -- For Eddy Lepp, who claims to have the largest acreage of legally grown marijuana in the country, it was a bitter harvest Wednesday as Federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) officers, assisted by Lake County Sheriff's deputies, destroyed 40 acres of plants and arrested him.Richard Meyer, a special agent and public information officer for the DEA's San Francisco office, placed the value of marijuana removed from Lepp's property, conservatively, at $80 million.
Lepp will be formally charged probably for possession with intent to distribute before a U.S. Magistrate Court in San Francisco today."He will have to be here in San Francisco for an initial appearance," said Meyer. "The judge will read the charges and constitutional rights to Mr. Lepp." Although Lepp's circumstances Wednesday prevented him from speaking to the media, the arrest is another chapter in a long-running feud he has had with the DEA, which he is attempting to sue out of existence.In an unpublished interview with the Record-Bee earlier this year, Lepp said he is seeking $67 million from the DEA for taking 1,700 kilos of ostensibly legal marijuana plants off his property two years ago.The DEA warrant used Wednesday to arrest Lepp and destroy a marijuana crop that is easily visible from Highway 20, Meyer asserted, supersedes California statutes which Lepp believes give him the right to legally grow medical marijuana.But Meyer said it is possible that several federal charges can be leveled against Lepp while none are filed by the state. And Chief Sheriff's Deputy Russ Perdock said that to the best of his knowledge there are no state charges against Lepp.No matter, said Meyer."According to the United Constitution there is a supremacy clause, which says that in case of conflict federal law precedes state law," he said and added, "According to federal law, there is no such thing as medical marijuana. Marijuana is a dangerous drug that the United States Congress has classified as a Schedule One substance. A Schedule One substance doesn't have any accepted medical use in the United States and a high potential for abuse."Virtually all of California's medical marijuana proponents object to this type of rhetoric by the DEA. "We've got mixed signals here," said William Dolphin, spokesperson for Americans for Safe Access, which is the largest national organization supporting medical marijuana. "The federal courts are saying that people who are allowed marijuana legally by the state of California should be left alone by the federal government, and yet the DEA continues to insist that there is no such thing as medical marijuana." ... Even when federal courts have said otherwise," Dolphin added, citing two U.S. appeals court rulings in support of medical marijuana the most recent the appeals court's reversal of a 10-year trafficking sentence for Brian Epis of Chico. Meyer said 12 other people were arrested on Wednesday for marijuana-related offenses who will be tried in state courts, but did not elaborate. "We don't have names or places, but they will be charged by state authority, whereas Mr. Lepp is being charged by federal authority," Meyer said.The DEA formula for determining the weight of marijuana is one pound per plant and $4,000 per pound."We'll tally up the plants seized (on Lepp's property). Right now the tally is 20,000 plants," Meyer said.A man who does not shrink from battles with law enforcement officials and doggedly defends his rights and those of others on marijuana issues, Lepp's arrest was certain to send reverberations through the local and medical marijuana communities.Lepp has claimed that he and his wife Linda have "been personally responsible for helping 4,000 people" who used marijuana for numerous medical reasons.More recently, Lepp began working closely with Dr. Milan Hopkins, who dispenses medical marijuana from his office in Upper Lake.Lepp maintains he has never sold marijuana. In the interview earlier this year, he described how, for a $500 contribution to his ministry, he will grow up to six plants for a patient who is disabled and has a valid doctor's recommendation for marijuana."The donation covers the cost of labor, fertilizer, water and security, which is intense at the end of the growing season," he told a Record-Bee reporter. "There is never a charge for the plant or the product. We do not sell marijuana. We never have, we never will."The nature of his business being what it is, Lepp has been at odds with the law almost constantly. In addition to a suit he filed against the U.S. Attorney General and the DEA for the earlier bust, he has a case against Lake County, which he said was in appeal. He maintains an up-to-date knowledge of state and federal laws governing marijuana and in the interview with the Record-Bee, said:"What we're doing is demanding that (the DEA) bring forth legislative jurisdiction in other words the authority under which they enforced federal law inside the sovereign republic of California."They can't do that, they do not have that power. The federal government does not have the authority to enforce federal law inside any of the sovereign states."Lepp also claimed that in their earlier seizure of marijuana on his property the DEA acted on laws that either didn't exist or hadn't been acted on."The immediate closure of the DEA that's what we ask for," Lepp said in the earlier interview. "They are an illegal operation and are operating under laws that do not exist."Source: Lake County Record-Bee (CA)Author: John Lindblom - Record-Bee StaffPublished: Thursday, August 19, 2004 Copyright: 2004 Record-BeeContact: editorial record-bee.comWebsite: http://www.record-bee.com/ Eddys Medicinal Gardenshttp://www.eddysmedicinalgardens.com/CannabisNews Medical Marijuana Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/medical.shtml
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Comment #14 posted by schmeff on August 20, 2004 at 06:58:47 PT
McGruff says: Take A Bite Out of Crime
(Meyer the Liar...I like it almost as much as EJ's bologna song)Meyer and the other criminals at the DEA care nothing about laws, federal or otherwise. When the Ninth Circuit Court (a federal court) issued an injunction against these raids in CA, they were making federal law.Here we have the DEA Dictating Everyone's Agenda by presuming to be a law unto themselves. By violating the ruling of the Ninth Circuit, they violate federal law, all the while making noises about how federal law is supreme.The Ninth Circuit should issue arrest warrants for all DEA agents involved (including criminal kingpin Karen Tandy) and put them behind bars until such time as they make financial restitution to their victims. 80 million dollars or so should do the trick, and it should be so stipulated that the $80M IS NOT paid for by the US taxpayer.Make the criminal DEA Cartel pay their fine by liquidating their assets: cars, homes, pensions, college funds, Swiss bank accounts, etc.
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Comment #13 posted by siege on August 19, 2004 at 21:21:26 PT
ministry, 
Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993
Enrolled Bill (Sent to the President)H.R.1308One Hundred Third Congress of the United States of America AT THE FIRST SESSION Begun and held at the City of Washington on Tuesday, the fifth day of January, one thousand nine hundred and ninety-three An ActTITLE: To protect the free exercise of religion.   Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.   This Act may be cited as the 'Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993'.
http://www.cannabis-assembly-mcr.tk/
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Comment #12 posted by Virgil on August 19, 2004 at 17:45:49 PT
Max
Of course the federal government has usurped power to the point of hedgemony. The reason we have tyranny is because we are rled by treason. Of course there is still the trampling of even unalienable rights. It is like what do you call the permafrost now that it has melted. What do you call an unalianable right that has been usurped by treason and defended with the Cannabis Tranny Laws or CTL as we say at LB&O.sux and other tyranny and treason laws.The War on Terror is about crushing dissent as the US is bent on unleashing a military that outspends the world. There is no war on terror, as the USG is the terrorist with all kinds of weapons and a political machine that will by anything that will kill.We really are ruled by treason. I would not say it if I did not regard it as true.
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Comment #11 posted by Max Flowers on August 19, 2004 at 13:22:03 PT
The weak point which can be attacked
Here, I believe, is the Achille's Heel of the Supremacy Clause: The phrase "This Constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States, shall be Supreme Law of the land;" appears at first glance to say that "the laws of the United States" (federal law, in our case the federal laws criminalizing cannabis) are the supreme law of the land, but if you read carefully it says the laws of the United States WHICH SHALL BE MADE IN PURSUANCE OF THE CONSTITUTION. That is *qualifying language* intended to protect against future federal laws being made which are not in pursuance of the Constitution---in other words, LAWS WHICH VIOLATE THE LAW OR SPIRIT OF THE CONSTITUTION. I think it can easily be argued that federal laws prohibiting cannabis violate the spirit of the Constitution, especially when A) at one time in this nation, laws were made to require people to grow cannabis (as hemp) B) The Constitution clearly has language intended to prohibit soldiers of the federal government (DEA goons) from invading the private home of a State Citizen C) The Constitution was clearly never intended to give federal government power over private aspects of the lives of State Citizens such as what medicine they may take, and indeed was framed specifically in order to protect people from such intrusion (again, it goes all the way down to the SPIRIT and INTENT of the Constitution)D) if one uses cannabis as part of his or her religion, there is a very clear boundary there which is not allowed to be violated, and Congress, in creating federal laws prohibiting people wholesale from using cannabis, VIOLATED that boundary by criminalizing all those religious users of cannabisE) the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments prohibit the federal government and any state from depriving a person of "life, liberty, or property, without due process." Federal raids on sick people who are citizens of sovereign states wherein they maliciously rob people of medicine, property and liberty and then don't even file federal charges afterward violate the intent and spirit of those amendments. 
 
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Comment #10 posted by dongenero on August 19, 2004 at 12:54:57 PT
Right on Max!
The sanctity of our home, garden and the robbing of citizens assets and freedom. That hits home...how can it be denied by anyone rational.
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Comment #9 posted by Max Flowers on August 19, 2004 at 12:41:54 PT
Let's sue the feds for illegal prosecution
...and willful misrepresentation (and any other relevant causes of action) witha massive class-action suit.Since Meyer the Liar keeps relying on his stupid pat answer about the Supremacy Clause to justify these illegal raids in our sovereign state, I guess we need a lawsuit against the feds which specifically attacks this misrepresentation and will clear up the matter at the highest level (I'm sure it will go all the way to the Supreme Court).Any judge not corrupt, with a good heart, good intentions and decent intelligence will agree that obviously, the framers of the constitution did not intend with the Supremacy Clause to give the federal government the right to invade, AT FRICKIN' GUNPOINT, the very sanctity of a citizen's home in order to steal the plants he grows in his garden, enforce Draconian laws about what medicines the citizen is allowed to use, and rob him of his assets and freedom! There is just no way that this is supposed to be happening based on the Constitution to which Liar Meyer is so fond of referring in order to justify the illegal actions of his armed thugs!!
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Comment #8 posted by runruff on August 19, 2004 at 12:25:06 PT:
The thugs next door.
Being the history buff that I am I've noticed that there has always been a certin percentage of people willing to perpatrate war and misery on their fellow countrymen for profit. These are human beings of society who are deficit in charater and moral composition. Tyranical goverments have relied upon these types of individuals to carry out their nefarous deeds since the beginning of times. People like this can be found under any rock. Real change must come at the top.Namaste
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Comment #7 posted by Max Flowers on August 19, 2004 at 12:06:10 PT
Meyer The Liar
Meyer The Liar is lying again. The Supremacy Clause does NOT give federal government supremacy over state laws. DEA's position is a blatant misrepresentation of the intent and spirit of the Constitution.Here is the text of the Supremacy Clause:Article VI, Clause 2: "This Constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States, shall be Supreme Law of the land; and the Judges in every state shall be bound thereby, any thing in the Constitution or Laws of any state to the contrary notwithstanding."It is obviously saying that the Constitution is the supreme law of the land. It is NOT saying that federal law trumps state law. It's saying that Constitutional law reigns, and the Constitution says that all powers not specified as federal powers in the Constitution are reserved to the states. In other words, if the Constitution doesn't specifically say the feds can do it, they can't do it---they have no authority or jurisdiction.Let's review the 10th Amendment:- 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. - In that sentence, "United States" refers to the federal government, and "States" refers to each of the 50 individual states and their respective governments. So it means that if the Constitution doesn't specify a certain heirarchy of power in a certain area making the United States (the feds) dominant, that power does not exist in the United States (feds) and automatically reverts to the state('s) jurisdiction.It's all about jurisdiction, friends, everything in our government is delineated that way, and the federal government has been WAY outside of its jurisdiction in many areas for many, many years and it has to STOP.
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Comment #6 posted by mamawillie on August 19, 2004 at 11:59:10 PT
Sam Adams
I second everything Sam Adams said.
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Comment #5 posted by FoM on August 19, 2004 at 11:54:53 PT
I Just Heard
I was out of the room and I'm watching Fox News because MSNBC has the olympics on and I only heard when I walked in the room that alaska and marijuana are an issue and it puts the federal government in conflict. That's all I heard. If anyone heard more please post it.
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Comment #4 posted by Sam Adams on August 19, 2004 at 11:32:05 PT
Meyer
This is an OUTRAGE. When are these DEA criminal thugs going to be put in jail? The Orwellian state is here. Mainstream media thinks the only important thing is war in Iraq (the country halfway around the world whose military was less than 1/40th the size of ours), and a "campaign" between two candidates who are virtually identical.Kerry is criticizing Bush for moving 70,000 troops home, when he proposed the same thing less than a month ago. It's clear that Kerry has absolutely nothing useful to say or do other than snipe at every move Bush makes, whether it makes any sense or not. 95% of our overseas troops should have been moved home in 1989 when the Cold War ended. He'd step on his own mother if she was a medical MJ user. He claims to be an environmentalist, and this week he was quoted as saying SUV's are great, every American should drive one.In Iraq, Saddam was the only candidate, and 99% of votes were for him. In the US, Bush/Kerry is the only canididate, and 99% of the voter are for them. Is there any difference? Just a different flavor of tyranny, corporations and mind control instead of cutting people's hands off.Remember 2000, when Nader wasn't allowed to even enter the building of the presidential debate, even in the audience? They forcibly stopped him from entering.Freedom is diminishing here at an accelerated rate. I just spoke with a woman who has been trying for 5 weeks to get clearance from her town to put up a 4-foot fence around her yard. She's having to pay a lawyer thousands. Doesn't anyone in the media have a sick relative who needs medicine? Do they ignore the growing police/prison state on purpose as part of sinister plot by the corporate elite, or is it just apathy, or ignorance? It seems like our economic base is eroding, the middle class is disappearing, we're splitting into a tiny, extremely rich upper class and a great unwashed mass, similar to South American countries like Brazil. The middle class is what prevents revolution. Obviously big prisons & militarized law enforcement will be needed by the elite as we progress down that road. Is it a coincidence that we've been developing exactly that since the 70's? I don't think so.
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Comment #3 posted by FoM on August 19, 2004 at 11:00:31 PT
Thanks EJ
Your song is in my head everytime I see his name! LOL!
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Comment #2 posted by E_Johnson on August 19, 2004 at 10:57:35 PT
The $80 million baloney song
My baloney has a first nameIt's R-I-C-H-ardMy baloney has a last nameIt's M-E-Y-E-RThe public doubts him more each sayHis agency is doomed, they sayBecause every word from the DEAis B-O-L-O-G-N-A
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Comment #1 posted by FoM on August 19, 2004 at 10:07:23 PT
Check Out The Picture from The Article
http://www.record-bee.com/Stories/0,1413,255~26901~2344421,00.html
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