DEA agents raid 4 medical marijuana dispensaries California

[Stoner4Life]

Medical pot backers say LA raids betray Obama vow​

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Several recent federal raids on medical marijuana dispensaries in California have betrayed President Barack Obama's campaign pledge to halt such busts if elected, medicinal cannabis advocates said on Wednesday.

U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents served search warrants on four medical marijuana vendors in the Los Angeles area on Tuesday, seizing more than 200 kg (440 pounds) of cannabis, edible marijuana products and about $10,000 in cash, a DEA spokeswoman said.

There were no arrests, according to the spokeswoman, special agent Sarah Pullen.

The busts, following a spate of similar raids in recent years under the Bush administration, drew fire from such groups as the Drug Policy Alliance and Americans for Safe Access, which have advocated legalization and regulation of marijuana for legitimate medical purposes.

They cited comments Obama made during his White House bid last year that he intended to halt raids of medical marijuana facilities operating under state laws.

"If it's an issue of doctors prescribing medical marijuana as a treatment for glaucoma or as a cancer treatment, I think that should be appropriate because there really is no difference between that and a doctor prescribing morphine or anything else," he said in a March 2008 interview captured on a YouTube video clip.

He added that expanding access to medical marijuana would not be a priority of his administration, but "what I'm not going to be doing is using Justice Department resources to try to circumvent state laws on this issue."

Asked about those comments, Pullen said, "There has been no direction as to a change in how we ... enforce federal law." The DEA is a Justice Department agency.

Stephen Gutwillig, California head of the Drug Policy Alliance, suggested the latest raids stemmed from a lag in new policy directives from the 2-week-old Obama administration.

'SHOULDN'T NEED A MEMO'

"We hope these recent raids don't represent official administration policy and that Obama will order federal agencies in no uncertain terms to stop harassing medical marijuana patients and providers in California," he said.

White House spokesman Nick Shapiro on Wednesday reiterated Obama's stance that "federal resources should not be used to circumvent state laws."

"And as he continues to appoint senior leadership to fill out the ranks of the federal government, he expects them to review their policies with that in mind," Shapiro said.

Bill Piper of the Drug Policy Alliance in Washington said, "The DEA shouldn't need a memo from the White House to know that undermining the will of California voters is a waste of taxpayer money."

Twelve states have enacted medical marijuana statutes since California became the first to do so in 1996.

But the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2005 the federal government may continue to enforce U.S. law barring the cultivation, possession and use of cannabis for any purpose, even where states seek to legalize it for medical reasons.

Medical marijuana vendors have continued to operate despite hundreds of DEA raids on such establishments in recent years, most of them in California, under former President George W. Bush's administration, according to Caren Woodson of Americans for Safe Access.

 

[PrimoVG]

U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents served search warrants on four medical marijuana vendors in the Los Angeles area on Tuesday, seizing more than 200 kg (440 pounds) of cannabis, edible marijuana products and about $10,000 in cash, a DEA spokeswoman said.

There were no arrests, according to the spokeswoman, special agent Sarah Pullen.

looks like the next most lucrative business after growing/selling, is being a DEA agent in CA....

I mean if no cases are being made...then where is all this "evidence" going? why would you need evidence if there's no case?

the frequency of the raids is what alarms me...it's like they're getting as much as they can, while they can...

 

[Yes4Prop215]

pathetic pathetic pathetic.


the DEA must be bored sitting around with their thumbs in their asses again.

this is what happens at a DEA meeting
"Oh darn, going after the methlabs and cocaine smugglers is too much hard work"
"What do you suggest then big fella?"
"Ah fuck it, pick a name off the list, lets hit a cannabis club"
"woohoo, easy paycheck, maybe i will get a new car out of this!"


The DEA is pathetic, for every coke/heroin/meth bust they hit 20 cannabis clubs.

Its obvious they are trying to get their last licks in before Obama hopefully stops this blatent disregard for human and voter rights.

 

[Yes4Prop215]

All these lame duck agents need to be hog tied up, stripped, and whipped with cannabis stems for hours on end.

 

[Yes4Prop215]

Do these retards seriously go home every night thinking they are doing the world a better place by raiding pot clubs?

What a bunch of delusional idiots, they are all slaves to their bosses and the drug war.

I should join the DEA just so i can go on a raid, then at the last second throw a crazy fit and berate everyone for being such pathetic excuses for law enforcement.

Cops are supposed to be there when you are robbed, hurt, etc, to HELP people, not go on the offensive warpath against NON VIOLENT MMJ growers.

Its so utterly frustrating to read these articles, really makes me angry because theres almost nothing we can do to fight back against these bully roid raged porkers.

 

[Funky Donkey]

Then there's this:

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/feb/05/dea-led-by-bush-continues-pot-raids/

DEA continues pot raids Obama opposes

President vowed to end policy

Stephen Dinan and Ben Conery, THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Thursday, February 5, 2009

Drug Enforcement Administration agents this week raided four medical marijuana shops in California, contrary to President Obama's campaign promises to stop the raids.

The White House said it expects those kinds of raids to end once Mr. Obama nominates someone to take charge of DEA, which is still run by Bush administration holdovers.

“The president believes that federal resources should not be used to circumvent state laws, and as he continues to appoint senior leadership to fill out the ranks of the federal government, he expects them to review their policies with that in mind," White House spokesman Nick Shapiro said.

Medical use of marijuana is legal under the law in California and a dozen other states, but the federal government under President Bush, bolstered by a 2005 Supreme Court ruling, argued that federal interests trumped state law.

Dogged by marijuana advocates throughout the campaign, Mr. Obama repeatedly said he was opposed to using the federal government to raid medical marijuana shops, particularly because it was an infringement on states' decisions.

“I'm not going to be using Justice Department resources to try to circumvent state laws on this issue," Mr. Obama told the Mail Tribune newspaper in Oregon in March, during the Democratic primary campaign.

He told the newspaper the "basic concept of using medical marijuana for the same purposes and with the same controls as other drugs prescribed by doctors, I think that's entirely appropriate."

Mr. Obama is still filling key law enforcement posts. For now, DEA is run by acting Administrator Michele Leonhart, a Bush appointee.

Special Agent Sarah Pullen of the DEA's Los Angeles office said agents raided four marijuana dispensaries about noon Tuesday. Two were in Venice and one each was in Marina Del Rey and Playa Del Ray -- all in the Los Angeles area.

A man who answered the phone at Marina Caregivers in Marina Del Rey said his shop was the target of a raid but declined to elaborate, saying the shop was just trying to get back to operating.

Agent Pullen said the four raids seized $10,000 in cash and 224 kilograms of marijuana and marijuana-laced food, such as cookies. No one was arrested, she said, but the raid is part of an ongoing investigation seeking to trace the marijuana back to its suppliers or source.

She said agents have conducted 30 or 40 similar raids in the past several years, many of which resulted in prosecutions.

"It's clear that the DEA is showing no respect for President Obama's campaign promises," said Dan Bernath, a spokesman for the Marijuana Policy Project in Washington, which advocates for medical marijuana and for decriminalizing the drug.

California allows patients whose doctors prescribe marijuana to use the drug. The state has set up a registry to allow patients to obtain cards allowing them to possess, grow, transport and use marijuana.

Kris Hermes of Americans for Safe Access, a medical marijuana advocacy group in California, called the raids an attempt to undermine state law and said they were apparently conducted without the knowledge of Los Angeles city or police officials.

He said the DEA has raided five medical marijuana dispensaries in the state since Mr. Obama was inaugurated and that the first took place on Jan. 22 in South Lake Tahoe.

"President Obama needs to keep a promise he made, not just in one campaign stop, but in multiple speeches that he would not be spending Justice Department funds on these kinds of raids," Mr. Hermes said. "We do want to give him a little bit of leeway, but at the same time we're expecting him to stop this egregious enforcement policy that is continuing into his presidency."

He said he is aware that Mr. Obama has not installed his own DEA chief but that new Attorney General "Eric Holder can still suspend these types of operations."

The Justice Department referred questions to the White House