Feds file lawsuits against CA pot growers, sellers

Feds file lawsuits against CA pot growers, sellers
AP / 4,4,2012


SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (AP) — Federal officials have filed three lawsuits against marijuana shops and growers in Santa Barbara, Calif. and have sent warning letters to 10 more in the county.

U.S. Attorney Andre Birotte Jr. said in a release Thursday that the latest action means all known marijuana stores in the county are now facing federal law enforcement actions. The lawsuits allege that the owners knowingly allowed commercial marijuana stores to operate or knowingly allowed large indoor marijuana farms to function. California law allows the drug to be cultivated and supplied to ill people on a nonprofit basis. But marijuana is still illegal under federal law and federal officials say pot clinics are lucrative ventures.

One of the defendants in Thursday's lawsuits, Miramar Collective, is accused of generating annual profits of $840,000 in 2009.

California law allows the drug to be cultivated and supplied to ill people on a nonprofit basis.
One of the defendants in Thursday's lawsuits, Miramar Collective, is accused of generating annual profits of $840,000 in 2009.

Then you wonder why they're cracking down. Dispensaries and growers are making a ton of profit.

CA was real close a couple years back when there was a ~6% difference at the polls, almost guarantee many growers voted no

I mean, enough is enough already with these federal intrusions on state laws. I'm surprised the same politicians who passed the law aren't backing their handy work.

It seems as if the Fed is looking for every outlet to turn a dime, fund an agenda, and denounce every legitimate effort to legalize MJ.

I mean, enough is enough already with these federal intrusions on state laws. I'm surprised the same politicians who passed the law aren't backing their handy work.

It seems as if the Fed is looking for every outlet to turn a dime, fund an agenda, and denounce every legitimate effort to legalize MJ.

Unfortunately, they aren't technically intruding on state law. If these dispensaries are making almost a million dollars annually, then they are breaking state law. The dispensaries are supposed to be non-profit.

Unfortunately, they aren't technically intruding on state law. If these dispensaries are making almost a million dollars annually, then they are breaking state law. The dispensaries are supposed to be non-profit.

Yeah and politicians are not supposed to be getting paid any money, period.

Don't see the feds going for them.

[/INDENT]
Then you wonder why they're cracking down. Dispensaries and growers are making a ton of profit.

CA was real close a couple years back when there was a ~6% difference at the polls, almost guarantee many growers voted no

Unfortunately, they aren't technically intruding on state law. If these dispensaries are making almost a million dollars annually, then they are breaking state law. The dispensaries are supposed to be non-profit.

I rather doubt those figures that were cited are accurate or, if they are, then I doubt that they are recent. I just moved from Santa Barbara a few months ago, and they've been running a pretty tight ship for almost a year now. Before that, it was pretty absurd and 2 of the biggest dispensaries got raided with some embarassingly obscene amounts of cash stockpiled around the state. The city was very quick to jump on that and tighten the noose around the necks of the dispensaries though. One of the owners was held on $ 2 million dollars bail....in other words, Santa Barbara decided it wasn't fucking around any more.

Since those raids, it has at least seemed to me that the collectives that have been allowed to remain (and a great many were forced or scared out) are indeed 100% legit non-profit collectives that take the time to go through exactly how the organization is run with every member before they are allowed to join, price fairly, show members how to grow their own for free, and have lots of charity programs and whatnot. This is a topic that is brought up at every city council meeting. It's not like the city doesn't know what's going on. They do and they've set very strict rules about it which they haven't hesitated to (over)enforce. The idea that the feds know what's going on in these collectives better than the people-right-down-the-street who have been up their asses all year seems kinda suspect.

Edited by Meursault, 04 May 2012 - 08:58 PM.

The feds better hire a whole state of officers, they can't stop the CA scene.

when the hell are the american people going to pull their heads out of their asses and get rid of these federal thugs?

we need to fix the government.

One of the defendants in Thursday's lawsuits, Miramar Collective, is accused of generating annual profits of $840,000 in 2009.

i feel bad for the small guys that are feeling the wrath of this.....but good, this collective deserves to get busted.




50 years down the road from now when its 100% legalized i dont want to see corporations taking over weed sales. it should be kept local and small business oriented. when big companies take over, well thats when you see a decrease in quality and a change in price (maybe extremely low at first, but once they corner the market they steadily increase the price).



people trying to make $1,000,000 a year off of it = corporate mindset.


were programmed now to become the richest we possibly could, but everyone should take a step back and look at how badly we hate corporations.




so, yeah. like i said, i feel sorry for small time growers and caregivers. you can blame people like the miramar collective for bringing this upon the patients of california with their greed.


thats why i always dog people on here when they say they're medicinal, but they have 500 plants for 6 patients. if you want to make money off of it do it illegally; dont let people who want to be legit suffer.





-OSUB

If making a profit for selling medicine is illegal they should be raiding Bayer and Pfizer any day.

Unfortunately, they aren't technically intruding on state law. If these dispensaries are making almost a million dollars annually, then they are breaking state law. The dispensaries are supposed to be non-profit.

This is a misconception. There is nothing in California state law that prohibits dispensaries from making millions of dollars. In fact there is nothing in California state law that prohibits dispensaries from making a profit, period.

SB420 includes this language:

nor shall anything in this section authorize any individual or group to cultivate or distribute marijuana for profit.

However "not authorizing" is not the same as "prohibiting".

Medical Marijuana Profit Is Allowed Under California Law - Toke of the Town

Vasconcellos SB 420 Ltr

just to make it short because i am high, i am for growing as many weed plants as you please. if you want to go legal, at least follow the restrictions. if not, do it illegally, ill encourage it.


and the feds (the people who are against legalization) look at profits like this and see these people as modern day drug dealers. why couldnt the people who ran that dispensary donate some money to the county park? how about animal shelters or other non-profit organizations? i understand california is expensive but almost 900k a year is alot of money in profit. seems greedy to me. and again, the feds look at these people as mob bosses, pulling in this much cash (i dont, but they do).


its not legal enough yet.......show them we mean good......maybe they will change.







-OSUB

Edited by OSUB, 04 May 2012 - 11:36 PM.

""nor shall anything in this section authorize any individual or group to cultivate or distribute marijuana for profit.""

However "not authorizing" is not the same as "prohibiting".

How true,,but if it is not authorized by the state,,the feds can bust you for it because you are operating outside your authorization,,exactly what the fed's warned everyone about.

why couldnt the people who ran that dispensary donate some money to the county park? how about animal shelters or other non-profit organizations?

Many do. Many that were shut down by the feds did also. The feds don't care if dispensaries are donating to non-profit organizations or humanitarian causes.

This sums it up better than anything I've read in a while (emphasis added):

The federal government is not trying to eliminate medical marijuana altogether, but it has decided that it cannot stand for the commercialization or large scale production of marijuana for the stated purpose of helping the sick, even when that production is technically within the bounds of state law.

Time: What Is President Obama?s Problem With Medical Marijuana? | NORML Blog, Marijuana Law Reform

Hold on.. why is it wrong to make money through a hard working business again? What is this jealously? This is so fucked up, we live in a dog eat dog world, a backstabbing economy with people trying to make money any way they can. We have a government thats full of corruption top to bottom excluding one man Ron Paul, but everyone in on the corrupted scam are making millions, the government loses trillions and nothing happens, yet some guy almost made a million through pot and they are flipping out?

What a joke. Really wish Paul would win, and just walk into the DEA office one day and be like "Big announcement! We're finally getting rid of this completely unnecessary corporation! Wish you all the worst karma for all the lives you've ruined."

Hold on.. why is it wrong to make money through a hard working business again? What is this jealously? This is so fucked up, we live in a dog eat dog world, a backstabbing economy with people trying to make money any way they can. We have a government thats full of corruption top to bottom excluding one man Ron Paul, but everyone in on the corrupted scam are making millions, the government loses trillions and nothing happens, yet some guy almost made a million through pot and they are flipping out?

What a joke. Really wish Paul would win, and just walk into the DEA office one day and be like "Big announcement! We're finally getting rid of this completely unnecessary corporation! Wish you all the worst karma for all the lives you've ruined."

There afraid to lose what little they have and what they fought so long and hard for because you know all these people saying these people are criminals for making a small buisness and turning a profit with the consent of the 51% majority went out there in the cold and protested /wrote thier congress,thier representatives, spent time in jail and just went through awhole lot of tough times and there not willing to lose what little they have won to some poor people trying to come up and do the same.

Get that Ron Paul shit out of here.


There's 400 threads in the politics about him, worship him elsewhere. I'm sick of seeing his name on this website, it's really annoying. I'm astounded so many people here absolutely love him....yet, he was an independent for years than finally succumbed into becoming a conservative because he felt that there was no way he was going to become president without joining a big political party. Hmmm......that sounds like something a big fat phony would do to me....changing his ways to get what he wants (president).

Seriously, I didn't mind him before, but since I've joined this website and have seen even the simplest thing turn into a Ron Paul discussion, I fucking despise that man. This website has become worse than TV with political ads.


If this thread continues to turn into a Ron Paul debate I am opting out of this discussion. I've been in way too many RP discussions here and it usually ends in someone cussing me out.





-OSUB

If making a profit for selling medicine is illegal they should be raiding Bayer and Pfizer any day.

No need...those corps pay off or outright OWN the feds...DC gets paid by those same corps TOO fuck with mmj states...as mmj hurts the corps profits...corps want money, so sic their lapdogs in DC on mmj states...

Get that Ron Paul shit out of here.


There's 400 threads in the politics about him, worship him elsewhere. I'm sick of seeing his name on this website, it's really annoying. I'm astounded so many people here absolutely love him....yet, he was an independent for years than finally succumbed into becoming a conservative because he felt that there was no way he was going to become president without joining a big political party. Hmmm......that sounds like something a big fat phony would do to me....changing his ways to get what he wants (president).

Seriously, I didn't mind him before, but since I've joined this website and have seen even the simplest thing turn into a Ron Paul discussion, I fucking despise that man. This website has become worse than TV with political ads.


If this thread continues to turn into a Ron Paul debate I am opting out of this discussion. I've been in way too many RP discussions here and it usually ends in someone cussing me out.





-OSUB

you realize you posted about RP, included RP in your post, and attract attention to RP by the ranting against people posting about RP...


is this some secret tactic to promote RP?


is that the sound of a palm hitting a face I hear...

Interesting read...

http://www.republicr...-lobby-illegal/