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Despite Attorney General Eric Holder’s statement last week that dispensaries would only be prosecuted if they were violating state and federal law, the Drug Enforcement Agency raided a popular medical marijuana dispensary at 12th and Howard Streets in San Francisco yesterday Wednesday, while patients chanted: "Our medicine is marijuana! Listen to Barack Obama!"
Federal agents raided a medical marijuana dispensary in San Francisco Wednesday, a week after U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder signaled that the Obama administration would not prosecute distributors of pot used for medicinal purposes that operate under sanction of state law.
U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents raided Emmalyn’s California Cannabis Clinic at 1597 Howard St. in San Francisco’s South of Market district mid-afternoon.
They hauled out large plastic bins overflowing with marijuana plants and loaded several pickup trucks parked out front with grow lights and related equipment used to farm the plants indoors.
The dispensary had been operating with a temporary permit issued by the Department of Public Health.
San Franciscans are eager to find out from our elected officials if the local police department will protect our medical dispensaries from rogue federal agents operating without sanction of the United States Attorney General.
A source in San Francisco city government who was informed about the raid said the DEA’s action appeared to be prompted by alleged financial improprieties related to the payment of sales taxes. DEA Special Agent Casey McEnry, spokeswoman for the local office, would not comment on that information.
Attorney General Eric Holder needs to get his cowboys under control. Emmalynn’s Clinic operates a large compassionate care program for patients who cannot afford the retail price. Poor people with no other options will go without their medicine because of this raid. And other dispensaries must be wondering where the DEA will raid next.
The DEA needs to listen to the boss in Washington. And San Francisco elected officials need to ensure their constituents are protected from cowboy raids.
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judas forking priest teddy – was holder lying or is this a do as i do not as i say kinda deal?
“However, later on Thursday afternoon during the White House press briefing after multiple reporters asked marijuana-related questions, Obama Administration spokesman Robert Gibbs unequivocally said that the president opposed legalization.
Among other things, Gibbs was asked if he has the economic data or a study to back up Obama’s claim that marijuana legalization would not be a good strategy.
“He opposes the legalization — I’ll do this for the president,” Gibbs stated. “I neither emailed my question in or voted for it but he opposes the legalization of marijuana and I’ll say I did that without even the slightest bit of laughter.”
When pressed as to why Obama opposes legalization, Gibbs said, “He does not think that is — he opposes it. He doesn’t think that is the right plan for America.”
BUT Obama won’t say why it’s not a good idea or even if it’s an idea worth considering; same bullsh*T as his talk today when asked about single payer healthcare system.
“Emmalyn’s provides marijuana for free to poor people on Wednesdays.”
That must be it; giving pot away and they will claim that sales tax wasn’t collected on it (”"As of now, we are prohibited from releasing further details of the case. Items of evidentiary value were seized and no arrests have been made,” Williams said.”) as their basis for claiming there was a violation of State law.
“Based on our investigation, we believe there are not only violations of federal law, but state law as well,” DEA Special Agent in Charge Anthony Williams said in a prepared statement.
Say hello to the new boss, same as the old boss.
Does this mean that other legitimate businesses in San Francisco that are behind on their sales tax payments to Sacramento can expect their storefronts to be raided, their entire inventory to be seized, and all their operating equipment hauled off?
I am calling my county supervisor tomorrow to find out what steps the Board will ask our police department to take in order to protect patients and their providers from these cowboys. This is scary shit.
Thank you for the post, Teddy. This is so wrong.
I already got banned from DK when I figured out the presidential election meant very little would change for the better. I had high hopes, and I don’t smoke weed (not for a long time). Now I just hope I’m dead before the United States becomes all the things I worry it will.
Of course not; that is unless they are violating Federal law or the DEA is bored.
The DEA appears to a completely out of control private fiefdom. Did you hear about the $100,000 they spent on a private plane to fly their director to Colombia when they have a huge air fleet.
Obama you gave an order now your solders are making you look weak.
bull shit (and I don’t smoke pot).
As I went through the questions submitted to President Obama it wss obvious how many times people were asking about the legalization of marijuana. It seemed to be every fourth question.
Obama is wrong. Legazlizing would help the economy immensely and above board.
Obama is wrong on this one. Really really wrong
Obviously “Pursuit of happiness” is just so many empty words. Go get drunk, instead! Many well connected people make lots of money off of that. Come to think of it, many well connected people make a lot of money off of keeping pot illegal…
” Challenging head-on the powerful private insurance and pharmaceutical industries, Vermont’s Sen. Bernie Sanders introduced a single-payer health reform bill, the American Health Security Act of 2009, in the U.S. Senate Wednesday. The bill is the first to directly take on the powerful lobbies blocking universal health reform in the Senate since Sen. Paul Wellstone’s tragic death.
In contrast, Sanders’ new legislation would cover all of the 46 million Americans who currently lack coverage and improve benefits for all Americans by eliminating co-pays and deductibles and restoring free choice of physician. The most fiscally conservative option for reform, single payer slashes private insurance overhead and bureaucracy in medical settings, saving over $400 billion annually that can be redirected into clinical care.
http://www.pnhp.org/news/2009/…..ealth_.php
A copy of the bill is available here. (PDF) “
Forget personal liberty, “they” don’t respect that.
This argument will be won on economic realities, not personal liberty.
Unfortunately, the bottom line is all that matters to many of our “leaders”. Stop spending tax dollars imprisoning pot smokers, tax it at a $10 an ounce rate for county funds, try it in a few California and Colorado and maybe Massachusetts counties for a year, and see how quickly their coffers fill up.
Then you will see state legislatures all across the nation defy the federal government’s Nixon-era arcane pot laws, which were implemented not to save our children from the “scourge of drugs” but to protect synthetic chemicals and major 20th Century monopolies like cotton, oil and timber from a renewable plant that can compete with all of them. One that requires no pesticides and can grow just about anywhere.
Anyone who believes pot is illegal because it is a drug is simply naive.
And as for all those manipulators who keep using the term “legalize drugs” rather than “legalize pot” all I can say is, you aren’t fooling the general public with your catch-all framing. Most pot legalization supporters want JUST pot legalized, not heroine or cocaine, just marijuana. But the word-framers won’t allow it, they want pot listed along with deadly drugs. And every time it all gets lumped into one category, it only stalls the inevitable.
Which is exactly what Dow Chemical wants, because every day pot remains on the same list with the worst drugs ever created or refined, the longer their synthetic profits continue, free from organic competition in the pahrmacuetical, fiber, fuel, food and construction industries.
Legalize pot, for smokers, and all the fake labels and false lists become moot. Then the real process of bringing this and other organic alternatives back into the manufacturing and production loops can start.
Stop vilifying this versatile plant and lets get on with our economy.
” Even as President Barack Obama slapped down the hopes of American marijuana consumers as to his position on legalization, Senator Jim Webb (D-Va) was quietly preparing to introduce major legislation which has the potential to dramatically alter US drug laws.
“Despite the president’s flippant comments today, the grievous harms of marijuana prohibition are no laughing matter,” said Jack Cole, a former undercover narcotics officer and founding member of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, in a statement to RAW STORY. “Certainly, the 800,000 people arrested last year on marijuana charges find nothing funny about it, nor do the millions of Americans struggling in this sluggish economy.
Sen. Webb’s office has published the legislation online.”
http://rawstory.com/news/2008/….._0326.html
Personally I think that legalizing cannabis would help the economy some, but, IMO, the larger issue is one of justice. In the spirit of the great Leonard Cohen’s song, Everybody Knows:
Everybody Knows that cannabis is no more dangerous to the individual than alcohol.
Everybody Knows that cannabis is is measurably less dangerous to society than alcohol.
Everybody Knows that the “gateway drug” meme is a fabrication created to continue to justify jailing people for smoking and growing pot.
Everybody Knows that the conservatives have demonized cannabis since the 1960s because pot was smoked at most anti-Vietnam War rallies. Lyndon Johnson conflated pot smokers with an evil opposition to his war strategy in Southeast Asis.
Everybody Knows that it’s a generational issue, with older people having absorbed years of demonization of pot smokers by the government and the Partnership For A Drug Free America. (Not me, BTW, as I’m 67.) So, to keep some seniors free from fear of the herb, people are jailed.
Everybody Knows that further reinforcement about the the injustice of equating cannabis with harder drugs is constantly percolating up from younger people. When Pres. Obama acknowledged at the online forum that there was a high level of interest in a question about the legalization of pot as part of economic recovery, he said that he “…didn’t know what that said about the online community.” I really think that he does know that answer: The net roots are mostly comprised of younger people, and younger people are not impressed with anti-marijuana laws, and think it’s time that they were changed.
Obama erred in his flippant dismissal of the question yesterday, and his offhand mockery of the online community’s interest in marijuana legalization. He should know better, as one whose current residence is largely due to success in organizing online.
This was a mistake. I hope he fixes it soon.
Marijuana is medicine. It has been for centuries. We’re on the wrong track.
Two big problems with the raid:
1) DEA is now enforcing sales tax payments?
2) California does not charge tax on medicine.
Everybody knows(I am 57) that marijuana has provided jobs in areas for years.( I live in Appalachia/Athens/Meigs counties) Cultivation was in full gear during the late 60’s all through the 70’s and into the 80’s in this region. At one time I believe marijuana cultivation, harvesting, cleaning, drying, sales and profits from those sales were providing more income for Appalachian folks than the coal mining industry.
The profits from many of those sales went into building supplies, farms, farm equipment, etc etc.
Everybody knows that this has been going on for a very long time.
Now don’t get me wrong I am not a smoker and have seen what I believe to be social and emotional issues develop in long term users that I believe to be indications of addiction. But as alcohol is a choice for adults I believe marijuana falls into the same category. Legalize..legislate…educate….educate…educate….tax
Thought came to me as I was drinking a couple of beers at home. A 12 pack of Michelob Amber Bock -midline ‘quality beer’- ON SALE costs $10.99 here in CA; add tax -not the recycle fee because one gets money back from that- and the cost comes to $1 a beer.
Couple of beers gets me a small buzz -don’t want more after two- and works out to $2 a day. $60 a month. EXCEPT that one generally builds a tolerance up for alcholol (spoken as an ex Vegas bartender).
So say after awhile someone has a $100 a month ‘habit’ being a ’social drinker’.
Well, a ounce of above average Mexican weed is around $100 (the ‘extra strength pot that is always mentioned as an ‘issue’ is a good deal more but it’s a ‘high’ versus a ’stone’ when compared to Mexican weed.)
So just maybe the real pushback besides the prison industry is the liquor industry and it’s ability to do campaign contributions.
I wonder.
I’m thinking maybe the wrong question was asked at the virtual town hall. As president, Obama wouldn’t have the authority to change the federal status of marijuana even if he wanted to.
His stated (whether it’s genuine or not) intention not to interfere in states that want to permit medical marijuana MIGHT suggest a willingness to let states take the lead on the issue. With that in mind it might have been better to ask how he feels about states setting their own marijuana policy and IF a state did choose to legalize it, would his Justice Department advise it’s agents not to interfere?
Except that both Obama and Holder have pretty much answered that question, by saying that they don’t want federal prosecutions in states where dispensaries legally exist.
The question for both of them now, is: Will you rein in your rogue agency?
Agreed, that is the more pressing issue.
I’m talking about in the event a state actually wanted to legalize and tax marijuana for the general public. Odds are the Feds would smack them down regardless of how Obama feels and anyway, he has made clear isn’t going to squander any of his political capital on it.
If SEVERAL states went in that direction though, it might start to chip away at the status quo. Might even make it to SCOTUS although given the court’s current composition, that wouldn’t give me cause for optimism.
Excellent point, ratty.
We need to have a huge dialogue in this country about our drug laws, but I’m afraid Obama isn’t the president to lead that discussion. Especially after his flippant dismissal of the question at his Virtual Town Hall this week.
We’ll see.
Teddy, came across this which I had forgotten:
“The last government study group to look at drug policy, the 1972 Shafer Commission, recommended that President Richard Nixon decriminalize marijuana. He didn’t.”
37 years and how many lives?
I’m not counting on Holder to do anymore than he already has; I’d think differently if the DOJ hadn’t been activiely supporting so many of the Bush actions.