DEA Flouts Medical Marijuana Ordinance By Raiding First Applicant
NEWS JUNKIE POST
Jul 10, 2010 at 4:09 pm
The federal Drug Enforcement Administration has flouted Mendocino County, California’s newly enacted medical marijuana ordinance by raiding the first collective that had applied to the sheriff’s cultivation permit program.
A multi-agency federal task force descended on the property of Joy Greenfield, 689, the first Mendo patient to pay the $1,050 application fee under the ordinance, which allows collectives to grow up to 99 plants provided they comply with certain regulations.
Greenfield had applied in the name of her collective, “Light The Way,” which opened in San Diego earlier this year. Her property had passed a preliminary inspection by the Mendo sheriff’s deputies shortly before the raid, and she had bought the sheriff’s “zip-ties” intended to designate her cannabis plants as legal.
In the days before the raid, Greenfield had seen a helicopter hovering over her property; she inquired with the sheriff, who told her the copter belonged to the DEA and wasn’t under his control.
The agents invaded her property with guns drawn, tore out the collective’s 99 plants and took Greenfield’s computer and cash.
Joy was not at home during the raid, but spoke on the phone to the DEA agent in charge. When she told he she was a legal grower under the sheriff’s program, the agent replied, “I don’t care what the sheriff says.”
When she returned to her house she found it in disarray with soda cans strewn on the floor. “It was just a mess,” she said. “No one should be able to tear your house apart like that.”
Greenfield called the raid a “slap in the face of Mendocino’s government.”
The DEA has been tight-lipped about the raid, but claims it was part of a larger investigation involving other suspects.
“Here Mendo is trying to step out in front by passing this ordinance, and what do the Feds do but raid the first applicant,” said Greenfield’s attorney, Bob Boyd of Ukiah.
“The DEA is stepping all over local authorities trying to tax and regulate,” Boyd said.
Neither Boyd nor other locals believe that the sheriff tipped off the DEA or gave them any information about permit applicants.
Mendocino County Sheriff Tom Allman confirmed Friday that the property owner had the proper paperwork and the marijuana was legal in the eyes of the county.
“This was a federal operation and had nothing to do with local law enforcement,” Allman said. “The federal government made a decision to go ahead and eradicate it.”
Mendocino County Sheriff Tom Allman has been supportive of medical marijuana cultivators who go by the rules.
Sheriff Allman has been highly supportive of efforts to bring local growers into the permit program. Nonetheless, observers fear the raid will have a chilling effect on medical cultivators, possibly causing supply problems for local patients.
“This raid is clear evidence that the DEA is out of control,” said California NORML director Dale Gieringer. “A change in federal law is long overdue.”
“In the meantime, the DEA needs a new director who will enforce Attorney General Holder’s pledge not to interfere in state medical marijuana laws,” Gierigner said.
The DEA is currently directed by Michele Leonhart, a Bush Administration holdover who has presided over numerous medical marijuana raids, and has obstructed research efforts to develop marijuana for medicine.
President Obama has renominated Leonhart to head the agency — a move strongly opposed by drug reformers, who are calling on the administration to honor its pledge of change.
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Here are the reasons why Proposition 19 is good for California. A YES vote on Prop 19 will have the following effects. To read the studies demonstrating these outcomes, please visit yes19.org
Reduce violence and crime
Reduce racially biased arrests
Generate $1.2B to $1.4B in taxes
Create 60,000 to 110,000 jobs
Reduce police corruption
Increase respect for police and the law
Free police to focus on property and violent crimes
Reduce prison costs and prison overcrowding
Expand California economy by $16 to $23 billion
Reduce drug cartels’ revenue
Reduce environmental damage from illegal grows
Allow adults to choose a safer alternative to alcohol
and reduce terroism.
US v. Steele Smith is the first Federal Marijuana case allowing prop 215 (medical) testimony. This could change Federal Cannabis law. COME TO THE RALLY JULY 27, 2010 at the Ronald Reagan Federal Courthouse in Santa Ana, CA.
Theresa and Steele Smith were offrered “time served,” instead they will face 10 years in prison in a fight to change Federal Cannabis laws
Please click “Like” on the US v. Steele Smith page:
http://www.facebook.com/SteelesCase
B-B-But I went to see all the pretty fireworks just last week….I thought people in THIS country were free?
Who owns YOUR body? To counter those who think THEY do check out jurors rights at FIJA.ORG you will be gald you did.
FIJA.ORG FIJA.ORG FIJA.ORG
METH IS DEATH POT IS NOT.
The law is wrong not the bong, smack is wack, coke is a joke, this is why we toke, booze and a pill will kill.
Make It Legal Make It Green/WHEN 10,000 PEOPLE MAIL $4.20 TO THE IOWA BOARD OF PHARMACY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjH61Gw_AcI
Doesn’t anyone understand what is REALLY going on here?
This is nothing more than playing the “fear card” to get people to vote for what is obviously BAD LEGISLATION.
People THINK that by voting Pro-19, that suddenly this is all going to magically go away? IT WON’T!!!
Read the bill for youself, and understand what it REALLY says before you buy into the fear tactics being used against the people.
http://70.32.87.43/documents/initiative.pdf
READ IT!
I’m in favor of eliminating marijuana from California so I hope Holder reverses the policy and starts going after growers. Our state would be a lot better off without this weed growing everywhere and polluting our public lands and people’s minds. Prop. 19 would be a disaster for the state and cost far more than any tax revenues. It is impossible to enforce, contradictory, and against federal law, so these raids will continue.
Yeah, I remember before 1996, and “legal” medical marijuana, when you could never buy a bag of weed in LA, the cops didn’t need helicopters because nobody grew it in the forests, and kids would just go to the malt shop and dance to the jukebox.
On the other hand, just put it underground, untaxed, like it has been, and let kids buy it from narco-gangs to help support their war against California. What’s the harm in that
The stigma attached to marijuana scares many people who use medical marijuana. The main problem inhibiting legalization is that people who smoke a glass pipe are discriminated against and are not considered serious or mature. The public needs to make its choices known and make sure our voices are heard. With the economy in shambles trouble and democrats in office it is the best chance to change the laws. Send a letter, send an email make a phone call, one hand written Letter is considered to be the voice of thousands of people who did not take the time.
Sunflowerpipes.com
again swat teams over stepping their authority!!!!!!!!!!!!!
of course i don’t remember if california is part of the 10th amendment group of states that demanded the government to back down. it probably is long past time to answer the governments bluff call and secede already.
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