FEDS Demand County Records

[vta]

Be safe!!!

Feds demand Mendocino County pot records


Ukiah Daily Journal

Federal authorities have subpoenaed financial records the county of Mendocino keeps regarding its medical marijuana ordinance, official sources confirmed.

County officials confirmed Tuesday that a federal grand jury issued a subpoena to the Mendocino County Auditor-Controller's Office for records of funds paid to the county under its medical marijuana ordinance, County Code 9.31. The subpoena arrived in late October, according to one source.

The reason for the request is unclear as local and federal officials remain quiet regarding the subpoena.

Until recently, the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office issued permits under 9.31 for collectives wanting to grow up to 99 marijuana plants, an exemption to the county's 25-plant limit.

Former County Counsel Jeanine Nadel proposed in February that the county stop issuing the permits and revert to the 25-plant limit for all growers after the U.S. Attorney's Office threatened to file and injunction against the county's medical marijuana cultivation ordinance and seek legal action against county officials who supported it.

Under 9.31, the Sheriff's Office still sells zip ties for $25 apiece, which can be affixed to plants to show they are grown in compliance with state law. The popular program had brought in about $500,000 for zip ties and permits for the Sheriff's Office before the permitting portion stopped in March.

Representatives with the federal Drug Enforcement Administration and U.S. Attorney's Office said they could "neither confirm nor deny" that a subpoena was issued. When asked about the subpoena, Mendocino County Counsel Tom Parker and Deputy Auditor-Controller Lloyd Weir both refused to comment.

 

[vta]

UPDATE: Mendocino County still mum on fed pot request
By TIFFANY REVELLE Ukiah Daily Journal

Despite the Daily Journal's continued efforts Wednesday morning, county of Mendocino officials remain mum regarding a federal subpoena issued for the county's records on money collected under the county's medical


Part of the Daily Journal's PRA request is to find out whether the information that is the subject of the federal subpoena contains private information about people who have paid the county for medical marijuana cultivation permits and/or zip ties that can be affixed to the plants to show compliance with state law.

The Daily Journal has no evidence that such private information has been requested by federal authorities, or that it has been or will be released. As of noon Wednesday, the county has released no further information regarding the federal investigation.

The Daily Journal reported Tuesday that, according to official sources that did not wish to be named, the federal government had issued the county a subpoena for financial records connected with the county's 9.31 ordinance, which regulates medical marijuana growing in the county. The ordinance's permit program for collectives was shut down in March, but the county still issues zip ties to individual growers if they request them.

Information about the investigation will be reported as it becomes available.

Contact Tiffany Revelle at [email protected] or 468-3523

 

[Skip]

Never trust the government when it comes to marijuana. Until Federal law is changed, you might as well just give the DEA your location and info on your grow, cause local agencies can't keep such info out of the hands of the Feds if they demand it.

 

[FunkBomb]

What Skip said.

-Funk

 

[justpassnthru]

Oddly, the State of California, is not mentioned. Damn State anyway! jpt

 

[SCF]

I was just going to post this VTA! fucking bullshit. they cant get away with this.

 

[SCF]

Feds demand marijuana records from NorCal county, Mendo and other Sensitive area's

Feds demand marijuana records from NorCal county, Mendo and other Sensitive area's

The Associated Press
Posted: 11/28/2012 12:02:09 PM PST
Updated: 11/28/2012 12:02:10 PM PST

SANTA ROSA, Calif.—Federal investigators are demanding records related to a Northern California county's medical marijuana permitting program.
Mendocino County Sheriff Tom Allman told local news outlets this week that county officials received a subpoena in October from the U.S. Attorney's Office in San Francisco.
The records request is connected to the county's now-canceled program to authorize certain marijuana growers to grow as many as 99 plants, exceeding the local limit of 25 plants. The permitting process garnered more than $800,000 in county fees in its two-year existence.
Officials canceled the program in January after the U.S. Attorney's office threatened legal action.
The county collected information that included growers' names and the patients they were serving.
Allman said he is not sure why federal prosecutors want the records. Other county officials and the U.S. Attorney's Office declined comment.

http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_22082650/feds-demand-marijuana-records-from-norcal-county

 

[SCF]

we have whats called HIPPA in law, so as long as you DO NOT get a STATE CARD. you should be fine. Just between you and your doctor.... Thats why they wrote that in Prop 215 that a state card would be optional, not mandatory. Only your Script from your doctor is the legal beagle.

 

[Scottish Research]

I was just going to post this VTA! fucking bullshit. they cant get away with this.

Oh, they can and they will. It will just get worse now since CA helped re-elect "Our Lord & Savior".

R.Fortune

 

[megayields]

Arent you so happy the Obama administration won 4 more years..you get what you vote for!

 

[canna woop!]

as opposed to... voting for minority party with under %10 of total national votes?

 

[Stranger]

This is way bigger than the current administration. This is just a progression of para military agencies above the law, that uses fear, forfeiture, financial ruin and physical battery, death or restraint (jail).

Cannabis is the low hanging fruit, and they are not going to reach up at all.

The IRS is a supreme power that you cant mess with, we lose every time. No way legalization laws are going to change the IRS and the banking regulations.
Its about the money period. If you don't make any money on your grow, you're mostly safe. If you attempt to exchange cash on any scale other than a few bucks you're toast or for sure under the target.

If the other guy had won, other than Gary Johnson or Jill Stein it would be even worse.
Don't spread crap, the alternative was much worse on this issue in particular. We have few political allies in power.

Who said otherwise?

Never register anything and keep it personal. Its far from safe business yet, if ever.

 

[SCF]

As if Bush is any Fucking Better. As i was stating above. They can not get away with this. And if you have followed post around here, you would have not gotten any STATE CARD to track you down. There is no benefit in the state card.

And they would need a Warrant from the SUPREME COURT to search your Doctors Office. This is why they wrote the law the way it is for prop 215. to protect us patients from being Numbered out. But if your on the internet your fucked anyways. LOL you bet your ass higher officials are " looking for certain Trends" We have several Private Sectors who Run this right now, basically a building out of every state. And they MAY OR MAY NOT be profiling on the internet. And it is NOT being overseen by the government, but it is paid for, by the government. Dont believe me, Google Jessie Venture Police State. Jessie V is my F'n Hero!

 

[vapedg13]

Arent you so happy the Obama administration won 4 more years..you get what you vote for!

hahaha you think your other choice was going to do any better...he said up front he will go after medical marijuana

I would not legalize marijuana for medicinal purposes, and the reasons are straightforward: As I talk to people in my state and at the federal government level about marijuana and its role in society, they are convinced that the entry way into a drug culture for our young people is marijuana. Marijuana is the starter drug....The idea of medical marijuana is designed to get marijuana out in the public marketplace and ultimately lead to the legalization of marijuana overall. And in my view, that's the wrong way to go. I know that other people have differing views. If you'd like to get someone who is in favor of marijuana, I know there are some on the Democratic side of the aisle who will be happy to get in your campaign. But I'm opposed to it, and if you elect me president, you're not going to see legalized marijuana. I'm going to fight it tooth and nail

 

[dizzze]

One says he will eliminate medical marijuana, The other one say he will leave it up to the states, and millions still have their head up their ass and vote republican or democrat.

 

[pearlemae]

Don't have a card, won't get a card. Seems that a card is much like putting a target on your ass saying FUCK ME PLEASE. my 2 scents.

 

[Hash Zeppelin]

As if Bush is any Fucking Better. As i was stating above. They can not get away with this. And if you have followed post around here, you would have not gotten any STATE CARD to track you down. There is no benefit in the state card.

And they would need a Warrant from the SUPREME COURT to search your Doctors Office. This is why they wrote the law the way it is for prop 215. to protect us patients from being Numbered out. But if your on the internet your fucked anyways. LOL you bet your ass higher officials are " looking for certain Trends" We have several Private Sectors who Run this right now, basically a building out of every state. And they MAY OR MAY NOT be profiling on the internet. And it is NOT being overseen by the government, but it is paid for, by the government. Dont believe me, Google Jessie Venture Police State. Jessie V is my F'n Hero!

Supreme shmashmeme, the government is fascists, they don't care about the old law of the land. They wouldn't hesitate to drone strike pot fields with guided missiles if they thought it necessary.

 

[Rainmaker]

The real issue the Feds have with 9.31 is the fact that the Sheriffs pulled in over 800k from Mendocino County growers. At the moment.. it seems to be the Sheriffs Dept who are coming under fire. They are combing through the books to see how the money came in... how it was allocated..and most likely seize the funds collected.

On the other hand...I wouldn't be resting too well if I were one of the collectives that had complied. There is sure to be some recourse from this investigation.

 

[vta]

Source: Press Democrat, The (Santa Rosa, CA)
Author: Mary Callahan

FEDS SUBPOENA MENDOCINO COUNTY POT RECORDS

Mendocino County officials are under federal orders to surrender records from their now-suspended medical marijuana permitting program, raising questions about the fate of those named in the permits as well as more than $800,000 in fees collected from pot growers.

But Sheriff Tom Allman, whose department was tapped to run the program approved in March 2010, said the exercise may be worthwhile if it brings some clarity to a murky legal area in which state and federal law conflicts.

"The federal government surely isn't going to tell me what their game plan is," Allman said Tuesday. "I'm certainly willing to tell them everything about the program possible, with the hopes that we're getting closer to getting an answer about the law."

The subpoenas, issued quietly last month by a federal grand jury, mark the latest volley in a federal crackdown on California's medical marijuana industry. Over the past two years, federal authorities have stepped up enforcement efforts against medical marijuana, raiding farms and shutting down dispensaries.

Critics say the U.S. Attorney's Office is attempting to undermine California law authorizing medical marijuana use. Its current stance marks a departure from the 2009 guidelines issued by U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, who vowed to prosecute criminals using medical marijuana claims as a front for illegal drug distribution but said federal authorities would not focus on individuals operating in compliance with state laws.

"The question is, why is the federal government using resources in this way when people are growing all over the state in a similar fashion?" asked Kris Hermes, a spokesman for Americans For Safe Access, a national organization. "Why is there such determination to undermine what Mendocino County was trying to do, and hopefully will continue to do in the future, once it gets the federal government off its back?"

A federal grand jury convened by the U.S. Attorney's Northern California District issued the subpoenas for the county's first-of-its-kind regulatory program last month, even though the county already had suspended the program in January under threat of a federal lawsuit.

Until then, the county ordinance permitted medical marijuana users to grow up to 25 plants and collectives to seek waivers permitting up to 99 plants, as long as they complied with a host of regulations designed to mitigate problems like odor, environmental degradation, water theft, burglary, overloaded electrical circuitry and the like.

Applicants paid $1,500 for a permit, as well as monthly inspection fees of about $500, and $50 each for individually numbered zip ties designed to identify every authorized plant.

Over the past two years, the county collected $829,726 from growers. The fees were intended to reimburse the short-staffed Sheriff's Office for the cost of administering the program, Allman said.

In the first year, there were 18 permittees. In the 2011-2012 fiscal year, there were 95 entities that applied for the permits, 91 of which were approved, Allman said.

But the permit application included a waiver acknowledging it did not confer immunity from prosecution by federal authorities, who maintain that all marijuana use violates federal law despite inconsistent enforcement.

Marijuana advocates say the Obama administration has taken contradictory positions on enforcement. Court decisions have further confused the issue by bolstering medical marijuana regulations in the face of federal law.

County officials declined to say specifically what records the federal government wants or whether they are redacting any information before releasing the documents.

Most county officials declined even to confirm the existence of the subpoenas, citing instructions from Mendocino County Counsel Tom Parker, who also declined comment.

But privately, sources familiar with the subpoenas said they worry federal authorities will seize revenue raised through the program.

Some suggested the county was a victim of its own success -- that the U.S. attorney wanted to eliminate a working model for medical marijuana regulation and make a poster child out of Mendocino County so others would not follow its example.

"The program up there was the subject of national attention," said Oakland attorney Bill Panzer, co-author of Proposition 215, the 1996 initiative that legalized medical marijuana in California. " 'Frontline' did a story about it. Other communities were watching what they were doing. . . . I suspect that they ( federal officials ) are interested in forfeiture and taking away the money."

Supervisor Dan Hamburg, who has been a medical marijuana user and was not on the board when the code was approved, once said he feared the county's program would draw federal attention, calling it tantamount to "painting too big a target on our backs."

Now that he's on the Board of Supervisors, Hamburg said his job is to "make this come out as well as it can for the county as a whole." The greatest risk, he said, is the financial impact of the federal government's investigation.

But like some other officials who suggested some information might be redacted from any records turned over to the U.S. attorney, Hamburg said he hoped the county might find some way to safeguard the privacy of permit applicants.

Like law enforcement officials around California who have struggled to find direction in the 16 years since California voters approved medical marijuana use in defiance of federal law, Allman said he is frustrated by having made repeated efforts to get federal guidance on the matter.

Allman said he even laid out Mendocino County's permit program to Northern District U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag at a conference last year hoping to resolve any problems at that point.

"She was fully aware of what we were doing and how we were doing it, and I thought that transparency was very, very important. Because if we're going to do this -- and Attorney General Eric Holder had made the statement that the Justice Department would not interfere with any state medical marijuana process -- then we were going down a road that had never been gone down before, and that's why I tried to tell her as much about it as possible."

 

[!PeAcE!]

this can either go two ways, get worse or way worse...