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Federal agents on Monday morning raided several properties owned by Richard Lee, the leader of the marijuana legalization movement in California, sources told The Bay Citizen. Agents also detained Lee at his home.
Internal Revenue Service and Drug Enforcement Administration agents raided Oaksterdam University, which describes itself as "America's first cannabis college." It was also the center of the 2010 campaign to legalize marijuana in California.
Agents also raided Lee's home and the former site of Lee's medical marijuana dispensary Coffeeshop Blue Sky, which has been operating as an underground pot club.
Separately, federal agents raided the Oakland Hills home of Todd McCormick, a longtime medical marijuana activist, DEA spokeswoman Joycelyn Barnes confirmed. McCormick was arrested for growing pot soon after the state legalized medical marijuana in 1996 and currently grows put for patients, sources said.
Agents entered Lee's home with guns early Monday morning, said Dale Sky Jones, chancellor of Oaksterdam. Lee, who uses a wheelchair, was detained for a few hours Monday morning at his home and then released, sources said. Four marijuana nursery workers were detained at Oaksterdam. Barnes confirmed that five people were detained, but said that no arrests were made.
The raids come as Lee's battle with U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag escalated. Last fall, Haag ordered Lee's dispensary, Coffeeshop Blue Sky to move because it was too close to a school, as the Bay Citizen first reported. But instead of closing the dispensary, as many other pot club owners have done, Lee moved it first two doors down and then later into the building where the Oaksterdam museum is located.
Barnes declined to offer further comment, saying the warrants were under seal.
Protesters gathered outside Oaksterdam as the operation continued into the late morning. They chanted "Free Richard Lee" and screamed in the faces of the agents. One even called the Oakland Police Department to report that a robbery was in progress at the university.
Jason Overman, an aide to Oakland City Councilwoman Rebecca Kaplan, denounced the raids outside the university.
"If the federal government has extra resources in Oakland, then they should use them to get the illegal guns off the streets that are actually killing people," Overman said.
Steve DeAngelo, who runs Harborside Health Center,the largest dispensary in Oakland arrived on the scene to lend support to his sometime rival Lee. He said the raids were purely political, targeting Lee because he had led the effort to legalize marijuana in 2010 with Prop. 19.
"They can't say they're going after a criminal," DeAngelo said. "They're going after a voice of change. This is not about justice this is about revenge."
From the bay citizen...now back to your regular scheduled cookies!
Internal Revenue Service and Drug Enforcement Administration agents raided Oaksterdam University, which describes itself as "America's first cannabis college." It was also the center of the 2010 campaign to legalize marijuana in California.
Agents also raided Lee's home and the former site of Lee's medical marijuana dispensary Coffeeshop Blue Sky, which has been operating as an underground pot club.
Separately, federal agents raided the Oakland Hills home of Todd McCormick, a longtime medical marijuana activist, DEA spokeswoman Joycelyn Barnes confirmed. McCormick was arrested for growing pot soon after the state legalized medical marijuana in 1996 and currently grows put for patients, sources said.
Agents entered Lee's home with guns early Monday morning, said Dale Sky Jones, chancellor of Oaksterdam. Lee, who uses a wheelchair, was detained for a few hours Monday morning at his home and then released, sources said. Four marijuana nursery workers were detained at Oaksterdam. Barnes confirmed that five people were detained, but said that no arrests were made.
The raids come as Lee's battle with U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag escalated. Last fall, Haag ordered Lee's dispensary, Coffeeshop Blue Sky to move because it was too close to a school, as the Bay Citizen first reported. But instead of closing the dispensary, as many other pot club owners have done, Lee moved it first two doors down and then later into the building where the Oaksterdam museum is located.
Barnes declined to offer further comment, saying the warrants were under seal.
Protesters gathered outside Oaksterdam as the operation continued into the late morning. They chanted "Free Richard Lee" and screamed in the faces of the agents. One even called the Oakland Police Department to report that a robbery was in progress at the university.
Jason Overman, an aide to Oakland City Councilwoman Rebecca Kaplan, denounced the raids outside the university.
"If the federal government has extra resources in Oakland, then they should use them to get the illegal guns off the streets that are actually killing people," Overman said.
Steve DeAngelo, who runs Harborside Health Center,the largest dispensary in Oakland arrived on the scene to lend support to his sometime rival Lee. He said the raids were purely political, targeting Lee because he had led the effort to legalize marijuana in 2010 with Prop. 19.
"They can't say they're going after a criminal," DeAngelo said. "They're going after a voice of change. This is not about justice this is about revenge."
From the bay citizen...now back to your regular scheduled cookies!
