cannabisnews.com: Pot Raid Ruled Illegal





Pot Raid Ruled Illegal
Posted by CN Staff on December 20, 2006 at 06:59:41 PT
By Glenda Anderson, Staff Writer
Source: Press Democrat
California -- A 32,500-plant medical marijuana garden grown in plain sight along a Lake County highway in 2004 cannot be used as evidence in a federal case against high-profile marijuana activist Charles "Eddy" Lepp, a federal judge has ruled."The biggest bust in the history of the DEA (U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration) just did go up in smoke," Lepp said.
U.S. District Judge Marilyn Hall Patel has ruled that evidence seized in 2004 must be disallowed because the warrant used in the police raid failed to identify the evidence to be seized, said U.S. Attorney's Office spokesman Luke Macaulay.But the charges against Lepp - which were combined with a 2005 case - have not been dropped, and the U.S. Attorney's Office could appeal the ruling on the 2004 warrant, he said."It's a small victory," Lepp conceded.The related case against Lepp involving more than 6,000 plants seized from his Lake County property in 2005 remains intact.Charges against Lepp include marijuana cultivation, conspiracy to cultivate marijuana and maintaining drug-involved premises."It's still very serious. I'm still looking at two life sentences and $8.5 million in fines," Lepp said.He's hoping a judge will suppress the search warrant for the 2005 case at an evidentiary hearing next month.The garden, raided in 2004, just east of Upper Lake along Highway 20, was the largest single crop of medical pot to be seized by authorities in the United States, according to Lepp and High Times magazine, a publication about marijuana production and laws.Federal authorities estimated the crop, had it been allowed to mature, would have been worth more than $80 million. Lepp said he was growing the plants for shareholders who were legitimate medical marijuana patients.Lepp has a penchant for pushing the legal boundaries of medical marijuana laws. He has lobbied Lake County supervisors to set medical marijuana standards, and he smoked pot openly outside the Federal Building in Santa Rosa during a 2002 demonstration in support of medical marijuana.His legal battle over the 32,500-plant garden earned him High Times' 2004 Freedom Fighter of the Year Award.He had been raided for pot at least twice before the 2004 arrest, and he made no attempt to hide the large crop.The plants, ranging from knee-high to 8 feet tall, were growing in neatly tilled rows with drip irrigation in a field next to a strawberry farm.Lepp claims the government had no right to seize the plants.A minister of the Universal Life Church and founder of Eddy's Medicinal Gardens, Lepp said he has a right to grow marijuana under the Religious Freedoms Restoration Act as well as California's law allowing marijuana for medicinal use."I haven't broken any laws," he said.Source: Press Democrat, The (Santa Rosa, CA)Author: Glenda Anderson, Staff WriterPublished: Wednesday, December 20, 2006 Copyright: 2006 The Press DemocratContact: letters pressdemo.comWebsite: http://www.pressdemo.com/Related Articles & Web Site:Eddys Medicinal Gardenshttp://www.eddysmedicinalgardens.com/Marijuana Grower Could Face Life in Prisonhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread19368.shtmlLepp Arraigned in Federal Courthttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread19367.shtml$80 Million Pot Farm Busted http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread19363.shtml
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Comment #7 posted by Max Flowers on December 20, 2006 at 10:56:20 PT
50-foot-tall mutant hybrid cannabis!
It's the biggest load of crap I've ever heard of, but don't put it past the DEA to agree with them and pretend it's real since it serves their evil purposes.
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Comment #6 posted by konagold on December 20, 2006 at 10:06:41 PT:
Super-Pot
AlohaAs a commercial farmer with over 30 years experience [Mac nut & coffee] and non commercial experience with hundreds of plant species on my farm, this claim of Super-Pot – only Kryptonite will kill it- is abject BULLPUCKY [hint: it's at the other end of the bovine - an agricultural/barnyard term for cud ]I don’t believe that herbicides such as 'Round Up', with a plant species like Cannabis, are defeat able via genetic manipulation. They being super-phosphates which kill the plant by a form of rapid over fertilization 'Round Up' is one of the most environmentally benign herbicides and is commonly mixed with diesel and a coloring agent to poison Cannabis fields If they were able to claim that such resistant plants exist look out for the use of hydrocarbon based herbicides which really muck the land up for generations to come "I love the smell of Agent Orange in the morning"Look at the license the prohibitionist took with supposed high potency newer strains of Cannabis as the reason to keep prohibitionAlohaRev. Dennis Shields
http://thereligionofjesuschurch.org
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Comment #5 posted by Hope on December 20, 2006 at 09:39:07 PT
"Comes back to life"?
"Before we could cut the plant and destroy it, but this plant will come back to life unless it's taken out by the roots."They really want to be scary...don't they? "Comes back to life"? Is he talking about the part he cut off the plant? Sounds so mystical. The thing won't die till you take out the roots. Many plants come back from the roots. That's natural and normal...but the same plant doesn't mystically come back to life. The root sends out new shoots for a NEW plant.He just want's to scare people so he can have more money to do a "better" job. I can just see his alarm. "Help. We need more money. This plant won't die. We kill it and it comes back to life! Horrors! Horrors! Oh no! It's still alive! Help! Send money!"
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Comment #4 posted by Hope on December 20, 2006 at 09:31:15 PT
"cannot be killed with pesticides"
Lol! Of course not. It takes herbicides to kill plants. Pesticides are for killing bugs.
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Comment #3 posted by MikeEEEEE on December 20, 2006 at 08:30:47 PT
Drug war is getting harder
Mexico troops find hybrid marijuana plant By MARK STEVENSON, Associated Press Writer
Wed Dec 20Soldiers trying to seize control of one Mexico's top drug-producing regions found the countryside teeming with a new hybrid marijuana plant that can be cultivated year-round and cannot be killed with pesticides.Soldiers fanned out across some of the new fields Tuesday, pulling up plants by the root and burning them, as helicopter gunships clattered overhead to give them cover from a raging drug war in the western state of Michoacan. The plants' roots survive if they are doused with herbicide, said army Gen. Manuel Garcia."These plants have been genetically improved," he told a handful of journalists allowed to accompany soldiers on a daylong raid of some 70 marijuana fields. "Before we could cut the plant and destroy it, but this plant will come back to life unless it's taken out by the roots."The new plants, known as "Colombians," mature in about two months and can be planted at any time of year, meaning authorities will no longer be able to time raids to coincide with twice-yearly harvests.The hybrid first appeared in Mexico two years ago but has become the plant of choice for drug traffickers Michoacan, a remote mountainous region that lends to itself to drug production.Yields are so high that traffickers can now produce as much marijuana on a plot the size of a football field as they used to harvest in 10 to 12 acres. That makes for smaller, harder-to-detect fields, though some discovered Tuesday had sophisticated irrigation systems with sprinklers, pumps and thousands of yards of tubing."For each 100 (marijuana plots) that you spot from the air, there are 300 to 500 more that you discover once you get on the ground," Garcia said.The raids were part of President Felipe Calderon's new offensive to restore order in his home state of Michoacan and fight drug violence that has claimed more than 2,000 lives in Mexico this year.In Michoacan, officials say the Valencia and Gulf cartels have been battling over lucrative marijuana plantations and smuggling routes for cocaine and methamphetamine to the United States. In one incident, gunmen stormed into a bar and dumped five human heads on the dance floor.The president, who took office Dec. 1, sent 7,000 soldiers and federal officers to Michoacan last week.Officials have arrested 45 people, including several suspected leaders of the feuding cartels. They also seized three yachts, 2.2 pounds of gold, bulletproof vests, military equipment and shirts with federal and municipal police logos. More than 18,000 people have been searched, along with 8,000 vehicles and numerous foreign and national boats."We are determined to shut down delinquency and stop crime in Mexico because it is endangering the lives of all Mexicans, of our families," Calderon said, calling the operation a "success" so far.In the past week, soldiers and federal police have found 1,795 marijuana fields covering 585 acres in Michoacan, security officials said.Officials estimate the raids could cost the cartels up to $626 million, counting the value of plants that have been destroyed and drugs that could have been produced with seized opium poppies and marijuana seeds.On Sunday, federal authorities announced the capture of suspected drug lord Elias Valencia, the most significant arrest since the operation began.Calderon's predecessor, Vicente Fox, started out with enthusiastic U.S. applause for his own fight against drug trafficking. U.S. officials called the arrest of drug bosses early in his six-year term unprecedented, while Fox boasted that his administration had destroyed 43,900 acres of marijuana and poppy plantations in its first six months and more than tripled drug seizures.Yet drug violence has spiked across the country in recent years, with gangs fighting over control of routes following the arrest of drug lords, authorities say.Mexico has also continued to struggle with corruption among its law enforcement ranks. Garcia said authorities did not tell soldiers where they were being sent on raids and banned the use of cell phones and radios.
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Comment #2 posted by FoM on December 20, 2006 at 08:11:34 PT
duzt
First it's good to see you and I hope you are having a Happy Holiday Season. I did see the article because mamawillie posted it in a comment yesterday. What I don't understand about this article is I never heard of a hard to kill marijuana plant. It sounds like they want to use this article to allow more spraying to kill it more then the reality of a resistant plant. If a plant is cut down it will grow back if the lighting and weather is right so is that all it is?
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Comment #1 posted by duzt on December 20, 2006 at 07:51:04 PT
off topic...
I live near Eddy, hope he'll continue to do what he does so well. Fom I noticed this story and didn't see it here if you want it. As a breeder/medical I thought it was intertesting. 
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061219/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/mexico_drugs
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