BREAKING: Feds raiding two dispensaries in Los Angeles
Wednesday, August 12th, 2009 at 3:54 pm | By: Radical Russ
“What I’m not going to be doing is using Justice Department resources to try to circumvent state laws on this issue, simply because I want folks to be investigating violent crimes and potential terrorism; we’ve got a lot of things for our law enforcement officers to deal with,” said presidential candidate Barack Obama in a March 2008 interview.
“Given the limited resources that we have, our focus will be on people, organizations that are growing, cultivating substantial amounts of marijuana and doing so in a way that’s inconsistent with federal and state law,” said Attorney General Eric Holder in a March 2009 statement.
(Mercury News) LOS ANGELES—Federal and local agents are raiding at least two marijuana dispensaries in Los Angeles but authorities won’t say what they’re seeking. Officials say more than 20 people from various agencies served a state search warrant at around 11 a.m. Wednesday at the Organica Collective in Marina del Rey.
Los Angeles police, the FBI and DEA were still searching the distribution center three hours later.
DEA spokesman Jose Martinez says agents also served the warrant at the Overland Gardens Collective in West Los Angeles.
The Los Angeles County district attorney’s office says a residence also was named in the warrant.
Well, at least President Obama is fulfilling his other campaign promises, like getting us out of a protracted Middle Eastern war. Oh, right, Afghanistan.
But at least he’s bringing us health care reform. No, wait, better not use that one.
At least he’s holding the past administration accountable for… no, can’t go there.
Reducing the influence of lobbyists in Washington and refusing to have any lobbyists in his administration… uh, no.
Protecting the Constitution from the serious abuses of the previous administration, like warrantless wiretapping… no again.
Bringing Wall Street excesses to an end… ‘fraid not.
Ending the discriminatory “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy for the military… uh-uh.
Wait, I know! Cash for Clunkers! There we go!
At NORML, we are a non-partisan organization, and with these new DEA raids, it makes it so much easier for me to move from my personal support of the Democratic Party to political independence. I’ve had it. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss. At least with a President McCain, I would have known straight up that he hates medical marijuana and would allow DEA raids to continue instead of being sold a bill of goods about not “circumventing state laws” and then circumventing them anyway.
Topics: Barack Obama, California, DEA, DEA Raids, Democrat, Eric Holder, justice department, Los Angeles, Marina del Rey, Organica Collective, Overland Gardens Collective, President Obama
what do we do to get them to stop?
The true story of Organica: the building on Washington that it occupies was sitting vacant for several years it was an ex boat repair place and was filled with trash and bums living in the place a developer was trying to buy the buiding but the deal was going sour so Organica rented the place and cleaned it up made it look nice… this was Aug 2006 after we rented the building with a lease that stated the building was in Marina del Rey. We found out that the front 50 feet of the building was in Culver City so we had to find out how to open the collective in the LA part of the building so in the meantime we put on art and music events as well as local westside promoters used the space called cre8tivity which was a freedom art space but it got too popular the parties were out of control with too much freedom that we afforded people to express themselves and be who they wanted to be with no judgement there is a huge need for this look at the success of burning man ( if people don’t have a way to blow off steam they will go crazy ) … so one year later Aug 2007 we Opened Organica 4 months before the ico (intermediate control ordance) we were in compliance with the law we turned our paper work into the city including getting our resale tax permit to pay sales taxes we followed protocol for dispensaries as well as applying Attorney General Jerry Browns guidelines we filled taxes every quarter.We are a collective all of our members are from california all of our medicine comes from california and from our collective members. we distribute organic medicine at all different ranges from very low priced out door to top grade lab approved and grown medicine the proof is in our member base we have the largest member base on the west side for a reason we were doing it right.
now why we were raided when Obama said there are no more raids is the question. the funny thing about this is you have to be inviolation of fed and state law yet there is no one that can even interpret what the legal way to operate is so it is all a grey area as the state accepts the sales taxes…so is the state guilty too? why is this happening? this collective was not in violation of state law… there is no charges that it was the irs involvment is typical yet there is no tax issues so…
why has this most complex plant that provideds medicine
as well as pulp for paper fiber and seed for protien rich food been crucified as well as it’s supporters while corporate america can put out products that are killing millions of people every year like pharmacueticals tobbaco grown with radio active fertalizers and alcohol?
why would such hipocracy be tolerated?becauseof all mighty $ the powers that be have no way to regulate and control the plant or movement so it is a war on anyone who does support it. the best way to solve this is to let the industry be and taxes it through a madatory card system in which anyone that wants to have cannabis gets a card that ids them as a patient and to have some sort of credit system to tax medicine as it is bought and sold. please have some compassion learn the truth be part of the solution.
Went to the car dealer yesterday to see if we could trade-in my Mom’s 20 yr-old car on cash for clunkers. . . Nope. Doesn’t qualify. Not sure about that program either.
Let’s wait for the facts. It is not such an easy task for a dispensary to be in state compliance, and being in compliance was part of the “deal” AG Holder made with MMJ patients.
Folk in LA are really dumb if they don’t realize that there are probably ongoing investigations of all the shops. I have been shocked at some of the practices of the dispensaries I have been to. The feds gave some people just enough rope to hang themselves, and given how this city has turned into a kind of a pot free for all, it’s does not surprise me at all that there is LE blow back.
If either of those groups operated for profit, they are not in state compliance. If they operate as “caregivers” & have patients sign a statement to that fact, they are not in state compliance unless they are providing substantially for the safety, welfare, or housing of a patient. If they trade or purchase medicine from outside of a closed circle of patients & patient/cultivators, they are not in state compliance. No business license or tax resale #? Not in compliance.
Seeing how hard it is to be in compliance, I think this is probably the first of more to come.
I do not support the raids, I think there is a better way to educate sincere collectives about how to follow CA law. Never forget this is a big legal & cultural experiment. It is silly to blame Obama when so many LA area MMJ outlets ignored the moratorium – however –
these two places were NOT in the city of LA proper. One in Marina Del Rey, which is LA county, and the other in Culver City, which is also separate from the city of LA.
Thank you for your reasoned reply. I get so incensed at the dog murder and the thought of peaceful cannabis consumers in fear of body armored thugs with automatic weapons that my first instinct is to lash out.
However, given the history of DEA raids simply for the purpose of terrorism, intimidation, and “smash & grab” tactics, it would behoove the Obama Administration to have public explanations for these raids at the ready the minute they commence.
[...] BREAKING: Feds raiding two dispensaries in Los Angeles and Dog shot by officers in raid [...]
look we need to wait and get ALL the details!!! i doubt any state laws where broken but WE DONT KNOW! but if this is an unjustified raid then hang the bastards!!!
“…it makes it so much easier for me to move from my personal support of the Democratic Party to political independence. I’ve had it.”
I’m with you. I was a Republican for over 20 years until recently. Both political parties have corruption at the highest levels. I have lost almost all respect for Bush.
If I had to choose a new party affiliation, it would be Libertarian. I want government out of the lives of US citizens.
I believe that the only way we (Americans) are able to reign in the over powerful government is for all of us to come together. As a Republican I was encouraged to hate everything Democrat. And vice-versa for Democrats. Enough!
President Obama said he’d end the federal medical marijuana raids.
President Obama, a former marijuana smoker, is:
President Obama speaks with a forked tongue. He lies as easily as he breathes.
He is not a friend.
He is an enemy.
He must be defeated.
Is it truly ALL the feds here, and what is the explanation of the STATE WARRANT. I think more info is needed before stones are thrown. Granted, stones will be thrown, we just need to know who to aim them at. Obviously the Pres Admin is a hard target to pin down and clobber, but if the State is wrong here, id rather see us go after them.
JDR