Legally owned and operated medical marijuana clinics around the United States are constantly being watched and monitored by the DEA. On Sunday March 11, 2007 (Yahoo News: Sun Mar 11, 2007 @ 12:29pm) federal agents trailed Sparky Rose as he drove a Porsche Carrera convertible to his medical marijuana clinic. Under California law, clinics are supposed to dispense marijuana just to seriously ill people and clinic owners are to get only “reasonable compensation.” But to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, the sports car suggested that Rose might be pocketing big money from his purportedly nonprofit clinic, “New Remedies Cooperative.”
Rose was arrested in October and accused of illegal drug trafficking — charges he denies. According to court papers, an investigation turned up records showing $2.3 million was deposited in a New Remedies bank account over eight months starting in December 2005, and Rose wrote himself weekly checks of $9,600.
California was the first of 12 states to allow the sale of marijuana for medicinal purposes, mainly used for pain control and is legal only in a limited number of territories, including Canada, Belgium, Austria, the Netherlands, Spain, Israel, Finland, and some U.S. states which include Michigan and California (regarded as having the loosest regulations). This usage generally requires a prescription, and distribution is usually done within a framework defined by local laws.
The DEA has taken a particularly strong stance on enforcement of the Controlled Substances Act on persons and organizations acting within State Laws that allow Medical Marijuana cultivation and distribution, making an especially strong effort to silence many of the most vocal opponents of the DEA’s war on patients. In 2002 Federal Drug Agents raided the (WAMM) Wo/Men’s Alliance for Medical Marijuana a medical marijuana clinic in Santa Cruz, CA. WAMM is a model collective growing medical cannabis with the full cooperation, permission, and knowledge of the Santa Cruz County Sheriff and Board of Supervisors.
“The people of California and the County of Santa Cruz have overwhelmingly supported the provision of medical marijuana for people who have serious illnesses,” county Supervisor Mardi Wormhoudt told the San Francisco Gate. “These people (blocking the road) are people with AIDS and cancer and other grave illnesses. To attack these people, who work collectively and have never taken money for their work, is outrageous.
Despite the fact that the Wo/Men’s Alliance for Medical Marijuana has never bought or sold marijuana, the DEA still raided the collective of terminally ill patients.
As a result, the Wo/Men’s Alliance for Medical Marijuana, with the City and County of Santa Cruz, has sued the DEA, Attorney General Michael Mukasey, and the ONDCP. The most recent court decision rejected the government’s motion to dismiss, which allows discovery to move forward. The ACLU hailed the decision as “a first-of-its-kind ruling.”
More recently, the DEA has escalated its enforcement efforts on the recently-proliferated Los Angeles area medical marijuana clinics. Since Fall of 2006, the DEA has raided more than 21 locations in 32 different actions against legal medical marijuana clinics in the LA area. Hundreds of landlords were also threatened with arrest and Federal Asset Forfeiture for knowingly leasing properties to medical marijuana clinic operators and owners. Many of these actions (both raids and landlord threats) have focused on medical marijuana clinics associated with the area’s most vocal advocates for Safe Access to medical marijuana.
On July 25, 2007, the DEA raided two medical marijuana clinics, namely: California Patients Group and Hollywood Compassionate Collective in Hollywood, CA. Earlier that day, the operators of those collectives participated in a press conference with LA City Councilmembers announcing the City’s intention to regulate the medical marijuana clinics and asking the DEA to halt raids on the medical marijuana clinics while the city drafted regulations. Directly after the Los Angeles City Council called for an end to raids, the DEA retaliated by raiding California Patients Group and Hollywood Compassionate Collective among a total of 10 Hollywood medical marijuana clinics that day.
Tags: medical marijuana clinic
Loading ...