Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009 at 10:50 am | By: Radical Russ
(Mission Local) The federal government will continue raids on medical marijuana operations in California despite guidelines issued by the Justice Department two weeks ago indicating the contrary.
“I think it’s unfortunate that people have for some reason picked up on this as a change in policy, because it’s really not a change at all,” said Joseph Russoniello, federal prosecutor for the northern district of California, who was appointed in 2007 by then-President George W. Bush.
Asked if federal officials will halt investigation and prosecution of medical marijuana operations in the state, Russoniello said simply, “The short answer is no.”
Russoniello said many dispensaries in San Francisco and around California aren’t really not-for-profit, and he will prosecute any distributor fraudulently operating as a commercial enterprise in violation of state laws.
“By that I mean people who are in it as if they were running a neighborhood candy store instead of running a commune, a collective or a group club that caters only to specific identified persons,” he said.
Asked if federal agents are currently preparing to raid dispensaries suspected of illegal activities, Russoniello declined to comment.
“I cannot affirm or deny the existence of ongoing criminal investigations,” he said.
You know, I was just thinking that President Obama’s approval ratings are still way too high. What he needs to do is have his administration issue a memo that seems to remove the threat of federal raids from lawful dispensaries, and then when people are comfortable about visiting those dispensaries, send in a few DEA agents in body armor to point assault weapons at people in wheelchairs. Think of it as Obama’s “Read my lips; no new taxes” moment a la George Bush Sr. in 1988. A few stunning visuals of jack-booted thugs taking down the neighborhood dispensary in a state where 56% of the voters want not just medical marijuana but outright legalization ought to drop that approval rating a few points, huh?
Wednesday, October 21st, 2009 at 12:55 pm | By: Radical Russ
(Law.com) If police departments want to line their budgets with drug money, they’d better do it right, according to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
In a ruling Tuesday, Judge Richard Clifton ordered the feds to return nearly $200,000 to a Los Angeles medical cannabis collective. Local police raided the place in 2005, and the seized funds became subject to asset forfeiture proceedings. Clifton found that under the Fourth Amendment, a faulty warrant means the police can’t keep the money.
What happened on Wilshire Boulevard in Tuesday’s case wasn’t by plan. A Los Angeles cop responded to complaints of pot smoking on the street and quickly traced it to the United Medical Caregivers Clinic, according to the opinion. Even though the dispensary operators brandished paperwork authorizing them to operate under state medical marijuana laws, the police secured a search warrant and busted the place.
The money was turned over to the feds for a forfeiture action, with the city in line to receive 80 percent of the loot, according to the opinion. However, the state judge who signed the search warrant hadn’t been told the club operated as a medical dispensary. Given that, Clifton applied a relatively straightforward analysis to conclude that declarations submitted by one club operator in the state proceeding could not then be used in the federal forefeiture action, thus dooming the seizure.
“We are particularly concerned by the possibility that the LAPD might stand to profit from unlawful activity,” Clifton wrote.
Some things in America should not be for-profit enterprises, like policing and prisons. In so many of these dispensary raids there are no charges filed against the operators, but the property is all destroyed and the cops seize and keep the cash. Learn more about the unfair and unjust nature of civil forfeiture by visiting Forfeiture Endangers American Rights at fear.org.
Thursday, June 11th, 2009 at 12:20 pm | By: Dudemaster
This is exactly the kind of news that prohibitionists use to convince law makers to keep funneling money to Law Enforcement so the perpetual war on American citizens can continue.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is looking into a fatal shooting that occurred last night in Columbus.
Shortly before 9 p.m. deputies with the Muscogee County Sheriff’s Office were executing search and arrest warrants at a home on Gettysburg Way when the owner of the residence opened fire on the officers, said Sheriff John Darr. One deputy was shot, the sheriff said. Another deputy returned fire, mortally wounding the suspect.
Muscogee County Coroner Bill Thrower confirmed that a man had been shot to death last night in Columbus. He said early this morning he could not release the identity of the victim because he was unsure if next of kin had been notified. He said he should be releasing that information some time today.
Darr said his deputies did arrest the man for whom they had an arrest warrant for sale of marijuana. He is in the Muscogee County Jail.
“Serving warrants you always know there’s that danger,” Darr said. “That’s from a search warrant to an arrest order to a pick-up order. It just goes to show you never know what’s going to happen in this line of work.”
The injured deputy was taken to a local hospital where he was treated and released.
In a society where Cannabis is legal, I believe these two people would still be alive. In this fictitious society, there would not be drug cartels; our economy would be in pretty good shape because our farmers would have something to grow to supply our country with sustainable bio fuel, medicine, green housing, textiles, food, green-plastics, and thousands of other products. Our country could (FINALLY) be manufacturing something again.
Instead, we live in a very different world. We live in a world where soldiers from the state and federal government armed with tactical weapons in paramilitary gear kick in doors and shoot people, pets, and destroy lives, and get themselves killed doing it. In the United States, we’ve gone from about 3000 tactical swat raids in 1980 to more than 50,000 every year since 2006.
It’s truly a shame that anyone had to die in this incident, and my thoughts and prayers go to the officer and the victim.
Let’s work together and see if we can’t change these statistics, our lives depend on it. [Check out Americans for Swat Reform at www.swatreform.org for more information. -- "R"R]
Tuesday, March 31st, 2009 at 10:30 am | By: MrSpof
A South Buffalo family wants answers after police shot and killed two of their dogs during a raid Saturday, leaving blood puddled on a living-room carpet and speckled on the wall.
Her father pleaded with police not to shoot the dogs, but they wouldn’t allow him to grab the dogs and put them in another room, Patterson said.
One of the officers started firing a shotgun at the two dogs, one a pit bull and the other a pit bull-boxer mix.
One of the dogs was shot three times: once in the throat, once in the back and the last time in the leg while trying to run away, Rita Patterson said.
The other dog was cowering behind a table. Neither was a threat to the police, the residents said.
Police, who were looking for a drug suspect and narcotics, left the Indian Church Road home without finding any evidence or arresting anyone, according to residents of the house.
via – The Buffalo News “Police shoot, kill two dogs during raid”
What the hell is the problem with police and killing pets? A police spokesman in this case said that officers never know what they’ll find behind a door. In this case, they found nothing and decided to murder the family’s pets. Isn’t this funny, President Obama?
[Well, you get all that training, all that adrenaline pumping to go bust the evil drug kingpins, and why have shotguns if you're not going to use them? This no accident, folks, these drug war stormtroopers are taught to kill the dogs as part of the "shock and awe" aspect of the raid. "I can kill your dog and there's nothing you can do about it." It's about dominance, not protection - I mean, really, they're going in with Kevlar body armor, thick uniforms, helments, and goggles, and they're worried about a couple of dogs?
The police should be held to the same standard of shooting a pet as they do a human. Self defense is perfectly valid, but unless those dogs are charging and attacking, there is no justifiable reason to kill them. -- "R"R]
Wednesday, March 18th, 2009 at 5:38 pm | By: Radical Russ
GRAND RAPIDS — Police found only “tablespoons” of marijuana in Grand Valley State University student Derek Copp’s off-campus apartment the night he was shot by police during a drug raid, his lawyer said this afternoon.
“To my knowledge, the raid resulted in the seizure of a few tablespoonfuls of marijuana, and nothing more,” attorney Fred Dilley said in a statement.
He said his concern is the manner of the search carried about by the West Michigan Enforcement Team, or WEMET, on Wednesday night. Copp was shot in the chest, and is recovering after suffered injuries to his ribs, lung and liver.
Dilley is also concerned about “the apparent lack of justification whatsoever for the use of force much less deadly force in executing a search warrant. The campus and Allendale communities are asking why? Why burst into a college student’s apartment with a gun drawn for a few tablespoonfuls of pot.”
Why? Because it is standard operating procedure, that’s why! But usually the suspects aren’t shot. Usually their lives are ruined, their kids traumatized, their pets killed, and their property destroyed, and you never hear another word about it.
Friday, February 6th, 2009 at 6:20 pm | By: Radical Russ
Thanks to MrSpof for the tip!
Many stoners are far too complacent because they think “it can’t happen to me.” Most non-stoners don’t care much about the issue because they don’t smoke pot.
This interactive map from the CATO Institute should give both groups more reason to become involved in marijuana law reform. The scourge that is the war on marijuana has shredded our civil liberties and affected more innocent victims — many who do not use cannabis at all — than most people realize.
The map allows you to drill down to see “death of an innocent”, “death or injury of a police officer”, “death of a nonviolent offender”, “raid on an innocent suspect”, “other examples of paramilitary police excess”, and “unnecessary raids on doctors and sick people”. You can zoom in to populous areas to see more of the offenses and you can click on any tag to get the story and the source about the raid… like this one in my birthplace of Nampa, Idaho:
John Simpson
Police in Nampa, Idaho serving a drug warrant toss a flashbang grenade into the home of Vietnam veteran John Simpson.
The frightened Simpson first takes cover, and attempts to protect his wife. He then composes himself, assumes he’s being attacked by intruders, and immediately ventures out with the only weapon he can find, the hose from a vacuum cleaner.
The police had targeted the wrong side of Simpson’s duplex. “I guess we’re going to have to seek psychological help, I hate to say that,” Simpson would later tell theAssociated Press. “I’m not nuts or anything, but I’m still shaking. Put a shotgun next to your ear and pull the trigger to get an idea of the noise.”
Police later pick up Simpson’s neighbor with four ounces of marijuana.
Source: ”Cops Raid Wrong Duplex With Noise Device,” Associated Press, June 17, 2005.
Thursday, January 22nd, 2009 at 3:49 pm | By: Radical Russ
Oakland, CA — The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) raided a medical marijuana dispensary today in South Lake Tahoe, California, in the first days of the new Obama Administration. Even though President Barack Obama had made repeated promises during his election campaign to end federal raids in medical marijuana states, many high-ranking Bush Administration officials have yet to leave office. For example, still at the helm of the DEA is acting Administrator Michele Leonhart, who has been responsible for numerous federal raids in California, following in the footsteps of her predecessor Karen Tandy. Neither Eric Holder, President Obama’s pick for U.S. Attorney General, nor a new DEA Administrator, have taken office yet.
“Whether or not this unconscionable raid on a medical marijuana provider is the fault of federal officials from the previous administration, President Obama has an opportunity to change this harmful and outdated policy,” said Caren Woodson, Director of Government Affairs for Americans for Safe Access (ASA). “We are hopeful that these are the last remnants of the Bush regime and that President Obama will quickly develop a more compassionate policy toward our most vulnerable citizens.”
Medical marijuana and an unknown amount of cash was seized during the raid today from Holistic Solutions, but no arrests were made. This first DEA raid under the new Obama Administration is another example of more than 100 raids on medical marijuana providers that have occurred in California over the past two years. While the greatest federal enforcement has occurred in California, the DEA has been active in other states as well. Federal agents raided the Washington State offices of a medical marijuana advocacy group that was supplying starter plants to hundreds of authorized patients. In Oregon, a federal grand jury was used by the DEA to obtain the medical records of several patients, an effort that was later rejected by a federal court. The DEA also went as far as to threaten New Mexico officials for planning to implement that states medical marijuana distribution program.
“I would not have the Justice Department prosecuting and raiding medical marijuana users,” Senator Obama said in an August 2007 statement. “It’s not a good use of our resources,” he continued. This statement was followed up by Obama in other public events in the run up to the election. “President Obama must rise to the occasion by quickly correcting this problem and by keeping the promise he made to the voters of this country,” said Woodson. ASA has been working with the new Administration on changing federal law around medical marijuana, which has included providing a comprehensive set of policy recommendations.
Another smash and grab robbery by the DEA. ”No arrests were made.” Apparently a heinous crime has been committed, because the federal government just seized a citizen’s money and property and ruined his business, and yet nobody is arrested. This is thuggery made legal. If there is a crime, then there is a criminal to arrest. If there is no criminal, there is no crime!
Monday, January 19th, 2009 at 11:59 am | By: Radical Russ
“You express a great deal of anxiety over our willingness to break laws. This is certainly a legitimate concern. Since we so diligently urge people to obey the Supreme Court’s decision of 1954 outlawing segregation in the public schools, at first glance it may seem rather paradoxical for us consciously to break laws. One may well ask: “How can you advocate breaking some laws and obeying others?” The answer lies in the fact that there are two types of laws: just and unjust. I would be the first to advocate obeying just laws. One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws. I would agree with St. Augustine that “an unjust law is no law at all.”
Now, what is the difference between the two? How does one determine whether a law is just or unjust? A just law is a man made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law. To put it in the terms of St. Thomas Aquinas: An unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal law and natural law. Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust.”
Today our nation honors what would’ve been this week the eightieth birthday of the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr., on the eve of the inauguration of Barack Hussein Obama as the 44th president of these United States. I was sixty-four days old when an assassin’s bullet cut down Dr. King in the prime of his life. Today I am six-hundred forty days older than Dr. King when he was killed. Tomorrow I will see something few people my age and older thought we’d ever see, yet something Dr. King had dreamed from the start.
There remains a grave injustice to be battled, the most unjust of laws to be disobeyed, a law that by its definition is not rooted in eternal law and natural law: the man made code that declares nature itself to be illegal, the prohibition on cannabis. Yet when I mention marijuana law reform in the context of the great civil rights struggles in America, so many are quick to dismiss me with snickers of derision. ”You just want pot legal so you can get high!” is a common refrain.
The federal operation came on the same day an appellate court in San Diego ruled that federal law does not preempt the state’s law allowing the use of medical marijuana — a ruling touted by supporters of California’s medical marijuana law as a significant win.
At the dispensary agents left behind trash, counters strewn with open and empty glass jars, piles of receipts thrown on the ground, upturned couch cushions, bits of marijuana on the edges of counters and an ATM with its doors torn open and emptied.
In the residents’ rooms a safe was cut open, dresser drawers pulled open, and rumpled clothes and knickknacks thrown on the ground. An outdoor vegetable garden had plants uprooted, along with marijuana plants removed by the agents.
Brian V. Birbiglia, 35, sat handcuffed next to DEA agents on a tattered couch outside the dispensary for more than four hours during the raid. Next to the couch sat a box marked “DEA evidence,” about a dozen black trash bags and two Trader Joe’s paper bags. Some agents wore protective chest gear, black sunglasses and guns in leg holsters.
After the raid was over and he was released, Birbiglia was visibly enraged. An employee and friend of the dispensary’s owner, Jeff Joseph, Birbiglia said he is a disabled former Marine who has a prescription to smoke marijuana for a foot injury.
“We follow the law,” he yelled, his face red and his eyes teary. “We might as well have just got robbed by a bunch of thugs downtown.”
Clyde Carey, 50, of Marina del Rey was at the store Friday visiting a friend when agents burst in through the locked front door, he said.
“We heard some noise outside, and then the door literally burst in, and the DEA came in in full combat gear, told everybody to get on the floor and put their hands behind their heads,” Carey said. “It was like, literally, an episode of “24,” when they bust in on a terrorist cell.”
Another smash-and-grab federal robbery. Another raid where there are no arrests. Another example of state-sponsored terrorism in action. No, the DEA doesn’t equal al Qaeda — they’re not killing anybody — but these raids do not stop dispensaries and they do not arrest so-called “criminals”, so their only purpose is to terrorize the proprietors and customers of the dispensaries.
Even if I take the prohibitionist’s view, however, I can’t see how this helps their cause. All you are doing is creating more dedicated activists and martyrs and making your side look arbitrary and capricious.
RevRayGreen: I'll post a pic of me and my son....gimme a minute
Missippi Hippy: Guess what... I'm gonna be a new... ummmmm well, my pet piggie Ganja is in labor and they ain't mine in the same sense. See what your wife [...]
RevRayGreen: days they didn't talk back..or act disrespectful..
RevRayGreen: feel so lucky my son is 18 going 19 and my daughter 16 going on 17..relish the days that can't talk back
Urb Age: Congrats Spof thats awesome. My little Clara is about to hit 20 months. Im not the activist I used to be, but its made me a better man.
Urb Age: Heck I was gonna go up there, but just not feeling well this weekend..Dang it, I hate it when that happens..
RevRayGreen: wishing I was hanging at NORML cafe...
JohnH: Just a quick comment about tokin' and sperm motility....been tokin since age 14 and have 8 kids ranging in age from 30 to 9...(what can I say, I found 2 [...]
slash5city: really ..oprah 35 yr or more in the closet toker ...outed ....o my god !!
SneakerPimp: that would be huge news just imagen the headline
RevRayGreen: maybe Oprah smokes and keeps it on the DL...
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