cannabisnews.com: DEA Raid a Step in The Wrong Direction
function share_this(num) {
 tit=encodeURIComponent('DEA Raid a Step in The Wrong Direction');
 url=encodeURIComponent('http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/25/thread25415.shtml');
 site = new Array(5);
 site[0]='http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u='+url+'&title='+tit;
 site[1]='http://www.stumbleupon.com/submit.php?url='+url+'&title='+tit;
 site[2]='http://digg.com/submit?topic=political_opinion&media=video&url='+url+'&title='+tit;
 site[3]='http://reddit.com/submit?url='+url+'&title='+tit;
 site[4]='http://del.icio.us/post?v=4&noui&jump=close&url='+url+'&title='+tit;
 window.open(site[num],'sharer','toolbar=0,status=0,width=620,height=500');
 return false;
}






DEA Raid a Step in The Wrong Direction
Posted by CN Staff on February 15, 2010 at 05:58:54 PT
Aurora Sentinel Editorial
Source: Aurora Sentinel
Colorado -- It doesn’t matter whether you think the United States is way overdue to legalize the use of marijuana or if the drug is public enemy No. 1 these days, a stunt this week by local Drug Enforcement Agency officials bodes ill for all citizens.A top DEA official based in Denver says that local medical marijuana dispensaries are illegal, and his office forced the arrest of one local “provider” that’s taken his views on the matter to the media.
The Denver Post and other media agencies reported that DEA agents raided the home of Highlands Ranch resident Chris Bartkowicz on Friday. Bartkowicz had been bragging to local reporters that he has a wildly successful crop of marijuana growing in his basement and is making a big profit from it by supplying it to so-called medical marijuana dispensaries.After the arrest, DEA agent Jeffrey Sweetin told the Post that medical marijuana is illegal in Colorado. The statement flies in the face of Colorado’s constitutional amendment allowing for it.Even more egregious is that the Obama administration recently said that the federal government would “look the other way” on this matter in states that have legalized medical marijuana and are finding their way through a process of regulation.Sweetin’s comments raise serious questions about just who’s in charge of this federal agency, and how inappropriate it is for this agency to usurp state’s rights in contradiction to the will of the president.The Obama administration needs to immediately step in to the matter and clarify whether Colorado will be able to pursue its constitutional mandate to permit the medical use of marijuana.As to Sweetin’s remarks about the medicinal properties of marijuana, he’s clearly out of his league as a law enforcer to be taking on the role of a medical research scientist.All of his comments should be worrisome to state residents, no matter how they feel about the recent medical marijuana controversy.Of course all of this points to the fact that instead of pouring hundreds of billions of dollars into a useless war against marijuana and sending hundreds of billions of consumer dollars into the hands of murderous Mexican drug criminals, Colorado and the rest of the United States could be taxing and regulating a huge industry that will never go away.And even numbers created by government officials who’ve come down closer to Earth on the matter make it clear that, just like alcohol, prohibition only serves to enrich criminals, while regulation and legalization could be made to serve us all.Until common sense prevails, however, reasonable federal law and chain of command will have to suffice.Source: Aurora Sentinel (CO)Published: Sunday, February 14, 2010Copyright: 2010 Aurora SentinelContact: editor aurorasentinel.comWebsite: http://www.aurorasentinel.com/URL: http://drugsense.org/url/PpamSkbpCannabisNews Medical Marijuana Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/medical.shtml 
Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help 
     
     
     
     




Comment #12 posted by The GCW on February 22, 2010 at 06:35:26 PT
US CO: PUB LTE: Stop demonizing cannabis...
US CO: PUB LTE: Stop demonizing cannabis in Colorado 
 
Webpage: http://www.aurorasentinel.com/articles/2010/02/21/opinion/letters_to_the_editor/doc4b81c16192096586808386.txtPubdate: 22 Feb 2010Source: Aurora Sentinel (CO)As a Colorado Christian who voted to re-legalize medical use of cannabis for sick citizens, I believe The Aurora Sentinel got an arrow-splitting bull’s eye with the editorial, “DEA Raid a Step in The Wrong Direction.”Why is the relatively safe, God-given plant cannabis a Schedule I substance anyway? That dishonest federal status attempts to label cannabis as more dangerous than meth and cocaine. And the DEA believes it and gets paid to perpetuates that lie.Cannabis should be re-scheduled as a Schedule II or III substance. Doing so will help protect America’s youth and lower addiction rates because truth will be taught regarding the plant.How many citizens tried cannabis and realized it’s not nearly as harmful as the federal government says and then think other substances must not be so bad, either only to become addicted to very dangerous and honestly addictive drugs?Historically the DEA has not only failed America, it has increased drug usage, addiction rates, incarceration rates, crime and loss of freedom. The DEA is obsolete and is one area government can save money by abolishing the discredited department.
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #11 posted by ekim on February 16, 2010 at 09:00:18 PT
another History Lesson --dont allow it
http://criminaljustice.change.org/blog/view/double-standard_alert_cbs_denies_pot_ad
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #10 posted by charmed quark on February 15, 2010 at 10:51:29 PT
Giving us shivers in NJ
The NJ system will rely on large state-approved grows and dispensaries. Making them a huge Bulls eye for the DEA,If they do this here, not only will innocent people working at these dispensaries, who will be making low non-profit salaries, be hurt, but the only legal source of medical marijuana will be cut off.I sure hope this is resolved before the dispensaries open here.
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #9 posted by The GCW on February 15, 2010 at 09:50:06 PT
History lesson
US CO: When we really were a mile high
 Webpage: http://www.denverpost.com/search/ci_14385335Pubdate: 14 Feb 2010Source: Denver Post (CO)As Colorado governments ponder regulation of medicinal marijuana, a glance backward shows how we got to this point. Once upon a time all drugs were legal, there was no Drug Enforcement Agency and a million people were not behind bars on drug charges.Drug laws initially were, at least in part, an attempt to rebuke minorities. The Chinese, probably the hardest working people in 19th century Colorado, were the target of some of the first laws that took aim at opium.The Chinese quarters were centered on the alley between Market and Blake from around 17th to 21st streets. This place, known as Hop Alley, housed many of the city's opium dens where some would get "hopped up" on the poppy plant product. During the Anti-Chinese Riot of Halloween 1880, rioters and looters justified themselves by claiming that the Chinese, who did much of Denver's laundry, housekeeping and gardening, were "dirty" heathens who smoked opium. Psychoactive drugs were originally legal and common in Colorado, including opium derivatives such as morphine. Long before the aspirin age, physicians and their patients relied on such drugs to relieve pain, induce sleep, and cure everything from diarrhea to lost manhood. Patent medicines often contained liberal doses of opium.Smoking opium, as the Chinese did, however, was stigmatized. The day after Denver's Anti-Chinese riot, the Rocky Mountain News exulted: "Chinese Gone! Chinatown Now a Mass of Ruins! The Opium Dens razed to the Ground by an Enraged and Infuriated Populace."Cont.
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #8 posted by The GCW on February 15, 2010 at 09:44:08 PT
UPdate
US CO: Highlands Ranch man accused of growing pot says DEA is making an example of him
 Webpage: http://www.denverpost.com/search/ci_14398065Pubdate: 14 Feb 2010Source: Denver Post (CO)
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #7 posted by The GCW on February 15, 2010 at 08:38:05 PT
Talk about a bull's-eye!
The Aurora Sentinel hit it!
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #6 posted by ekim on February 15, 2010 at 08:21:57 PT
goes beyond 'I'm just a caregiver for sick people,
what good is a education if we leave out much of our history. the need for jobs and renewable energy and healthy foods has never been as great -- why does this arm of the Govt want to limit the income of its citizens.Michigan State University was founded in 1855 as the nation's first land-grant university and served as the prototype for 69 land-grant institutions later established
under the Morrill Act of 1862. It was the first institution of higher learning in the nation to teach scientific agriculture..Michigan was the first state to provide in its Constitution for the
establishment of public librariesMichigan was the first state to guarantee every child the right to tax-paid high school education.found at
http://www.michiganmedicalmarijuana.org/node/16125
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #5 posted by runruff on February 15, 2010 at 08:12:58 PT
DEA
I have seen the DEA and other federal officers lie when the truth would have served them better.Lying is a second language to cops.....literally
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #4 posted by FoM on February 15, 2010 at 07:51:49 PT
Off Topic: Another Snow Storm
We are suppose to get 10 inches of snow on top of what we have already. Hopefully this time we won't lose power. I am so tired of snow. 
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #3 posted by FoM on February 15, 2010 at 07:46:34 PT
Greed
I think that greed is causing a lot of these problems. 
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #2 posted by HempWorld on February 15, 2010 at 07:35:34 PT
"prohibition only serves to enrich criminals ...
and the DEA!
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #1 posted by FoM on February 15, 2010 at 07:13:09 PT
Med Pot Lawyer Files Complaint on Raid
February 15, 2010Denver -- Colorado's top federal drug agent is defending his decision to raid a suburban house where marijuana was being grown but said he has no plans to start cracking down on the hundreds of medical marijuana dispensaries that have popped up around the state. Jeffrey Sweetin, Denver's Drug Enforcement Administration special agent, said agents removed over 120 marijuana plants from the Highlands Ranch home of Chris Bartkowicz on Friday. Sweetin said agents learned about the operation after seeing a story on KUSA-TV's Web site about Bartkowicz and becoming suspicious, partly because he said he would like to earn around $400,000 a year from selling marijuana. "Four-hundred-thousand dollars a year goes beyond 'I'm just a caregiver for sick people,'" Sweetin said Sunday. URL: http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_14401314
[ Post Comment ]


Post Comment