Obama Administration and Dispensaries

[Cover&Duck]

Originally Posted by weednotcrack

thats what i said but,you made it long and boring.

Originally Posted by weednotcrack

wah wah wah,dont cry...

Why do you have to be an asshole? WildWill was only supporting his statement with factual evidence of his knowledge regarding this issue?

Regarding the issue, I support removing and shutting down "dispensaries" that don't abide by the rules and regulations of their local government. Organizations purely started with profit in mind should be completely shut down and re-evaluated for reopening. However, in the states that have not had the MMJ proposal passed (at least yet) I believe that pot dealers should not be ridiculed for trying to establish a source of income for themselves.

[WildWill]

Thank you for your support.

[TheHapiClam]

No DEA raids until the flowers are riper!

No, seriously, the DEA has been much quieter in the Sacramento clubs, nothing since the Tahoe raid last January anywhere near here.

The only grows I've heard of being taken down, were all by locals.

The sheriff got 32,000 plants on a hillside last week, right on the summer solstice.

They didn't find anyone to bust, but they had time to count every one of those plants. They just blame it on the ubiquitous, 'Mexican Nationals', that they blame everything on.

They announced the plants had a street value of millions of dollars, on the day of the summer solstice.

When every plant was vegging in perfectly hemp-like state.

Millions of dollars worth of hemp was lost.

32,000 pieces of rope!

The DEA would have waited until autumnal equinox.

[snapperkeeper]

Obama has gone back on EVERY promise he made on the campaign trail including the raids. Until a bill such as the two new bills sponsored by Barney Frank (that you should write to your representative and ask him or her to support) passes and reschedules the drug, dispensary operators are flirting with jail time. (The bills are HR 2835 The Marijuana Patient Protection Act and HR 2943 The Act to Remove Federal Penalties for the Personal Use of Marijuana by Responsible Adults.)

[meatpie]

with all due respect, wild will, almost every one of your comments on this thread has come off as VERY snarky with hints of being condescending.

[PurpleZebra]

Originally Posted by snapperkeeper

Obama has gone back on EVERY promise he made on the campaign trail including the raids. Until a bill such as the two new bills sponsored by Barney Frank (that you should write to your representative and ask him or her to support) passes and reschedules the drug, dispensary operators are flirting with jail time. (The bills are HR 2835 The Marijuana Patient Protection Act and HR 2943 The Act to Remove Federal Penalties for the Personal Use of Marijuana by Responsible Adults.)

BULLSHIT, simply this post is bullshit. This poster obviously has no clue what he/she is talking about because obama's DEA has not raided a single legal club since it said it wouldn't.

[PurpleZebra]

Originally Posted by meatpie

with all due respect, wild will, almost every one of your comments on this thread has come off as VERY snarky with hints of being condescending.

I don't blame him, with so many ******* people posting the shit they did to him. I mean just read that stuff, not only is all of it wrong but its down right rude to someone who takes the time to know the TRUE story. Rock on wildwill.

[snapperkeeper]

Here you go, PurpleZebra. I'll take my apologies when you're ready:

ASA : DEA Raids Dispensary, Exploits Transition as President Obama Takes Office

DEA Raids Dispensary, Exploits Transition as President Obama Takes Office
Advocates call on president Obama to quickly change harmful, outdated policy



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.

[snapperkeeper]

Here's some more:

DEA Calls Obama's Bluff With Multiple Medical Marijuana Dispensary Raids in Los Angeles - Salem-News.Com

DEA Calls Obama's Bluff With Multiple Medical Marijuana Dispensary Raids in Los Angeles
Salem-News.com

"They must think we’re just going to sit back and take it" - George Pappas: Americans for Safe Access
File photo



(LOS ANGELES) - The DEA simultaneously raided four medical cannabis dispensing collectives in Los Angeles Tuesday.

"This is the second time, in as many weeks, that the DEA has defied President Obama’s campaign pledges to not use federal resources to undermine state medical cannabis laws," George Pappas, Field Coordinator with Americans for Safe Access, said.

"Our community is in an uproar and we are not going to take this lying down! We need you to ACT!"

The L.A. Times even published an article suggesting that maybe DEA hadn’t gotten the memo that Bush is out?

The U.S. Senate just confirmed Attorney General Eric Holder to lead the Department of Justice under the Obama Administration.

"We expect this to be the FIRST and LAST of the DEA raids under Eric Holder’s leadership. President Obama said he would stop the raids, and we aim to hold him to his word," Pappas said.

Rush Limbaugh is using his followers to contact Washington and urge the rejection of President Obama's Stimulus Plan; Pappas says progressive people need to do the same thing and contact their elected representatives over the DEA raids.





"Enough is enough! Please make two short phone calls so that both the President and the Attorney General know that people are sick and tired of DEA interference and intimidation in medical cannabis states," Pappas said.

"Tell your federal government that you will not tolerate wasteful spending by having DEA harass innocent civilians with smash and grab tactics."

Pappas says President Obama's number is (202) 456-1111, and Attorney General Eric Holder's number is (202) 353-1555.

He suggests that people call during office hours, Monday – Friday, 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

He says people who are interested and want more information should visit: AmericansForSafeAccess.org/DEARaidObama.

Source: Americans for Safe Access

[PurpleZebra]

Both those raids were conducted in conjunction with local and state police for various tax related crimes (printed in various follow up stories since). In otherwards .... the DEA was CALLED IN to conduct those raids. I stand by my point that no LEGAL (keyword here is "legal") dispensary has been raided by the DEA since ..... I'm waiting for my apology. Oh and you missed one too, there was also a DEA raid in bakersfield for the same reasons. Curious why you didn't include that one, couldn't find an article that was published before everyone had their facts straight for that one like you did for the previous two?

[snapperkeeper]

Even if the topic of this thread was entitled "splitting hairs over when a raid is not a raid" and even if Obama's DEA was not fundamentally incapable of saying, "no thanks, it's a states' rights issue" and even if any of this mattered a good god damn to those operators now facing federal drug trafficking charges, the point remains intact that the DEA, under Obama/Holder, still poses a threat to dispensary operators. There will be those who insist on proceding to open their dispensaries and they will be running a real risk of being busted if or when the political winds blow in the wrong direction.

[PurpleZebra]

Originally Posted by snapperkeeper

Even if the topic of this thread was entitled "splitting hairs over when a raid is not a raid" and even if Obama's DEA was not fundamentally incapable of saying, "no thanks, it's a states' rights issue" and even if any of this mattered a good god damn to those operators now facing federal drug trafficking charges, the point remains intact that the DEA, under Obama/Holder, still poses a threat to dispensary operators. There will be those who insist on proceding to open their dispensaries and they will be running a real risk of being busted if or when the political winds blow in the wrong direction.

Well I for one am glad that the DEA still poses a "threat" to ILLEGAL dispensaries that shouldn't be operating in the first place. And by the way on a side note, federal agencies usually conduct operations AT THE SPECIFIC REQUEST OF THE PROPER STATE AGENCIES, regardless if its a state issue or not - you think local police have the ability to trace explosives? No, they call the ATF, even if it is not a federal issue. Im not splitting hairs - the difference is night and day, there is a VERY VERY BIG difference between a legal and an illegal dispensary. These people who got raided DESERVED to get raided because they were BREAKING THE LAW (both state and federal). The DEA does NOT pose anykind of threat what so ever to LEGAL dispensaries.

[HowDoULikeMeNow]

Originally Posted by meatpie

with all due respect, wild will, almost every one of your comments on this thread has come off as VERY snarky with hints of being condescending.

yeah definitely

[snapperkeeper]

You can take false comfort in distinguishing between dispensaries that are operating "legally" and those that are operating in violation of one or more state laws, but you do so at your own peril. We are still talking about a penalty that far outstrips the severity of the crime. An operator who slips up and runs afoul of state law should face jail time? Bullshit. This is a plant and a fairly innocuos drug/medicine. It is strange to me to hear a member of this forum stating in essence that he wants the federal government to police him. Good luck with that; I don't have anything more to add to this.

[PurpleZebra]

Please don't put words in my mouth, my thoughts are nothing the like. I'm simply replying to the parent in that Obama has not broken his word. Obama said that the DEA will no longer target dispensaries UNLESS requested to by the state, he in no way stated that the DEA will no longer raid dispensaries all out. I am also pointing out that the user snapperkeeper is VERY misinformed and delusional. The dispensaries that he pointed out were raided, were raided for breaking non drug laws, not for simply being a dispensary. Somehow snapperkeeper can't understand this. He stated that the dispensary owners should not be prosecuted because they "slipped up"... I'm sorry, i'm not really experienced with tax evasion, but how is failing to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxes a "slip up"? What about non dispensaries? If they are committing tax crimes, should they be prosecuted? I mean why did we prosecute Enron or WorldCom or any of those guys? They just "slipped up". Granted, those companies "slipped up" on a much larger scale, but the bottom line is the same. I am a medical patient in California, I believe in the need for safe access, however, I do not condone crime.