Feds Raid L.A. Medical Marijuana Clinics

Local Officials, Medical Marijuana Advocates Irked By DEA Raids

(CBS/AP)  Federal agents raided 10 marijuana clinics Wednesday, the same day city leaders introduced a measure calling for an end to the crackdown on the dispensaries allowed under state law.

The bust netted five arrests, large quantities of marijuana and cash, and even pot brownies and cookies, reports CBS Station KCBS. It was the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration's second-largest since California voters approved medical marijuana sales in 1996. The drug remains illegal under federal law.

The agency has maintained the clinics are distribution points for illegal drugs and earn their owners big profits. Those arrested Wednesday included clinic owners and managers, though no patients, for investigation of marijuana distribution.

Councilman Dennis Zine, who earlier in the day wrote a letter to DEA Administrator Karen Tandy asking the agency to stop the raids, called the federal agents "bullies."

"Instead of using resources to go after drug dealers ruining neighborhoods and poisoning school kids, they're going after individuals dying of cancer and suffering from AIDS who need cannabis to have any type of appetite," Zine said.

"The DEA came in and they smashed the doors, and they ransacked the building and took all of the medicine from the patients, and left the place in shambles," Dan Duncan of California Patients Group, an advocacy organization for medical marijuana, told KCBS.

KCBS correspondent Kaj Goldberg reports that protestors flocked to the California Patients Group's office in Hollywood trying to stop the DEA raids.

"It's really a shame that on the same day that Los Angeles City Council was voting to support the federal legalization of medical marijuana that the DEA and the LAPD were cooperating to shut down dispensaries in Hollywood," Duncan said.

DEA spokeswoman Sarah Pullen said the timing of the bust and the city's action was "purely coincidental."

The clinics are largely unregulated, which Zine and others said invites illegal pot use and sales.

He said he and the council support a congressional bill that would prohibit new clinics from opening until the city finds a way to better regulate its more than 100 dispensaries. It also calls for withholding funding for DEA raids on medical marijuana clinics.

The council proposed Wednesday requiring existing dispensaries to obtain a city tax registration certificate, a seller's permit, a property lease, business insurance, proof of dispensary membership and a county health permit within 60 days.

DEA agents raided 11 Los Angeles-area dispensaries in one day in January, the largest-ever such crackdown by the agency.

Earlier this month, the DEA sent letters to at least 30 landlords of marijuana dispensaries in Los Angeles County warning their property and assets could be seized. Agency officials said at the time the letters were not a threat.

[omega39-2009]

You want to dismantle a worthless government agency, stop funding the DEA.

[omega39-2009]

It was the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration's second-largest since California voters approved medical marijuana sales in 1996.

Your votes mean nothing. I am the all powerful "Decider"!!

[gkc99]

So this is the "getting government off our backs" legacy of Reagan and the present occupant?

Neocons are liars and hypocrits.

We subsidize a drug plant that kills millions of people every year, because Virginia tobacco farmers and tobacco companies are a powerful group of political donors, but spend billions of dollars a year putting people in prison for a relatively harmless plant that never killed anyone.

Plus the feds violate the will of the people of states like California, Oregon and others that permit medical marijuana.

Is there any bigger group of lying hypocrits than neocon scum?

[gunownerdan]

COPS SAY LEGALIZE MARIJUANA.
End prohibition once and for all!
www.LEAP.cc

[gunownerdan]

Why is marijuana still illegal?

- Legalization would endanger billions of dollars in prison and law enforcement spending, thousands of jobs would be at stake.

- It is useful in society to have some laws which virtually everybody breaks - that way undesirables can be arrested at will.

- Legal drugs would interfere with the existing pharmaceutical industry.

- Fully legal hemp would interfere with existing paper, rope, clothing and other industries.

- The war on drugs provides a convenient cover under which to project U.S. influence into many countries, particularly in South America and South Asia.

- The war on drugs is a critical revenue source for the prison industry, the CIA, and the DEA.

www.mpp.org

[omega39-2009]

- The war on drugs is a critical revenue source for the prison industry, the CIA, and the DEA.

www.mpp.org
Posted by GunOwnerDan

GunownerDan, it has also become a critical source of funding for local police departments. When a grower is arrested it is "assumed" that every asset in his possession was purchased with drug money and therefore fair game for seizure.

[clestes-2009]

Another stupid example of the Bush administration's waste of money and man-power. I am sure that desperate drug dealers lurk in every closet.

[bombadil4]

Disgusting is too mild a word for this. This is the same government that is deep in the pockets of the pharmaceutical companies aggressively pushing every conceivable drug they think they can make big bucks on from those Americans who are fortunate enought to have the health insurance to pay for them. But don't worry, "your doctor can do simple tests to check for liver damage," and "if you notice a decrease in vision, call your doctor right away," and "you'll feel better knowing you"ll be ready when the time is right," and "go to purplepill.com and get your free coupon for 10 dollars off your first prescription," and (my favorite) "ask your prescriber." That last one makes it clear that you don't want some doctor telling you maybe you should lay off the Big Macs and get off your butt once in a while. No--YOU WANT DRUGS. We've gotten way too used to lies,hypocrisy, and greed trumping our best interests and our rights.

[condumism]

Narcs bust medical pot clinics while BIG TOBACCO increases the amount of highly addictive nicotine in cigarettes with ZERO OVERSIGHT from our FASCIST US GOVERNMENT!

1200 American's have died today and everyday on average from cigarette addiction, while NOBODY DIED TODAY FROM SMOKING POT!

FVCK YOU FASCIST AMERICA!

[drummer94]

I guess the feds got nothing better to do, eh? How about SECURING OUR BORDERS? How about INCREASING SECURITY AT OUR PORTS? How about MAKING SURE NO ONE SNEAKS A CHEESE-BOMB ON ONE OF OUR PLANES? How about TRACKING DOWN ILLEGAL ALIENS AND DEPORTING THEM LIKE THE LAW SAYS? How about.......................................

[mo005]

More bu-ls--t. The goverment is trying to make it self look good. I see it as if they don't get their cut they will shut you down. Also they can't stop the coke and go-fast dealers so they go after the easy kill. Ha I laugh in the face of these fools, because thats what this makes them look like, Fools.

[swwils]

A lot of good this is gonna do for the people who need this.Now they will just go seek it on the streets from the "pusher man"This administration has everything bas ackwards,and continues to astonish me and my friends daily as we see the news unfold.Some day maybe everyone will figure out that we need a leadership that actually cares about the rest of the country and not just saying they do to capture votes.

[mo005]

GunOwnerDan: Plus the fact it would create a large line for quarter pounders at Micky'Ds

[mo005]

swwils: Hopefully someday we can have a government that works for the people , by the people. Kinda like it started out to be.

[processor2]

I agree with the liberals on this one.

Marijuana needs to be legalized.

End of discussion

...

[blackbug99]

It's only not legal because they haven't found a way to tax it and keep people from growing their own.

[scottyusa]

I agree pot should be legalized. It is a natural substance no worse than other drugs that are legal. Too many lives are wasting away in jails and for what? Carrying/growing/smoking a plant? What a travesty. In this matter with California and the FEDs does KGB ring any bells?

[sandy19731]

It's only not legal because they haven't found a way to tax it and keep people from growing their own.
Posted by Blackbug99 at 11:15 AM : Jul 26, 2007

yep!, And, when the pharmaceutical companies find a way patent it and sell it, it will be legal.
What a waste of DEA resources!

[festes81]

Does anyone know why marijuana was banned in the first place? A lobbyist for the paper industry didn't want competition from the hemp paper market. I'm not going to go dig up all the facts and links for you now, but this is the truth.

On a side note.. I hear Marlboro has already trademarked "Marlboro Greens"

[omega39-2009]

Posted by festes81

Festes81, I read the same thing, it was Randolph Hearst who had just purchased huge tracts of lumber in the pacific northwest. His brother in law was attorney general at the time.

[festes81]

Posted by festes81

Festes81, I read the same thing, it was Randolph Hearst who had just purchased huge tracts of lumber in the pacific northwest. His brother in law was attorney general at the time.
Posted by omega39 at 11:40 AM : Jul 26, 2007

Thanks for finding that.. I wonder if anyone who doesn't agree that it should be legalized will google that name.. Probably not.. they'll just spew forth their hate.

[scottyusa]

"Does anyone know why marijuana was banned in the first place? A lobbyist for the paper industry didn't want competition from the hemp paper market. I'm not going to go dig up all the facts and links for you now, but this is the truth."



festes81, thanks for the tidbit. I thought they banned pot because it is fun. I believe they smoked hemp a while back so there may have been some competition. I imagine you can't smoke hemp now. They probably fixed it so its not fun any more. Otherwise, it would be illegal.

[randalds]

"Feds Raid L.A. Medical Marijuana Clinics"

As*sholes.

[cathaleen]

Please someone save these people from themselves.
Aren't there any cocaine dens needed raided?

[randalds]

Is there any bigger group of lying hypocrits than neocon scum?

Posted by gkc99 at 10:12 AM : Jul 26, 2007

Yes, the people who still support them.

[gunownerdan]

Cops Say LEGALIZE MARIJUANA.

Law Enforcement Against Prohibition
www.LEAP.cc

Prohibition always causes much more harm than good.

[cofmanaaron]

Funny how the party of 'state's rights' has become one of the worst anti-democratic parties ever known. Do you know who started the DEA and using Congress forever denied the states to determine their own drug laws? I'll give you a couple of hints, he was a rebublican and his last name started with an N.

[jjreding-2009]

What a waste of time and money when the real drug problems are crack and powder cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin ... and ALCOHOL.

Hemp is not smokable - at least not to get the same effect as marijuana and should be legalised throughout this country to grow for food, fuel (can anyone say BIOFUEL - George Bush), paper, clothing and who knows how many other uses for this versatile plant. Talk about a way to get out of debt in this country and reduce the deficit almost instantly. Letting farmers grow industrial hemp would also help to lower the skyrocketing food prices because it would remove the necessity to grow corn for biofuel that is affecting the entire food industry. George Washington and Thomas Jefferson farmed hemp and the original paper money in this country was printed on it.

[werscrd]

more people die on a daily basis from alcoholism yet it is advetised everywhere has anyone heard of someone dying from a marijuana overdose we live in a society where the govt. can do what they wish its unfortunate that people with power abuse it by scratching the back of those who scratch theirs we the people no longer exsist I live in a drug infested area i had to call the police several times one night guess what happened i am now listed as a bother to the people who are supposed to protect us i got mugged night and was told not to come out of my house once it got dark i agree that it should be leagl but good luck in that ever happening

[festes81]

Is there any bigger group of lying hypocrits than neocon scum?

Posted by gkc99 at 10:12 AM : Jul 26, 2007

Yes, the people who still support them.
Posted by RandalDS at 12:02 PM : Jul 26, 2007

omg. you two just brightened up my day like

[processor2]

I agree with the liberals on this one.

Marijuana needs to be legalized.

End of discussion

...

[wtw9]

Wow, this is amazing. Your nation prides itself as a god-fearing, free nation. Yet it continues to enforce draconian, damaging policies towards a plant God created for the benefit of humankind. While we don't support the sale of marijuana, we do fully in our constitution of New Jerusalem support the licensing of the plant for individuals to grow and use peacefully without selling it publically. So even though these types of businesses are not the best or preferred model, they do offer some kind of outlet for the plant's use as medicine and should not be prosecuted like this, especially by a "system" that wants everyone to believe it is good and acts for the benefit of its people. Your nation is being seen more and more as a corrupt, immoral entity. You'd be wise to clean it up. Nonsense like this goes beyond ridiculous, and enters into the realm of evil.

WTW
The Priests Of God Of New Jerusalem

[rushlimpdrug]

We should be grateful they have the manpower to investigate, arrest, and go to trial with evidence?
Will someone call the "users" to testify?
-bush message to cancer patients, "skrew you, go buy some legal drugs"

compassionate conservative?

[festes81]

more people die on a daily basis from alcoholism yet it is advetised everywhere has anyone heard of someone dying from a marijuana overdose we live in a society where the govt. can do what they wish its unfortunate that people with power abuse it by scratching the back of those who scratch theirs we the people no longer exsist I live in a drug infested area i had to call the police several times one night guess what happened i am now listed as a bother to the people who are supposed to protect us i got mugged night and was told not to come out of my house once it got dark i agree that it should be leagl but good luck in that ever happening
Posted by werscrd at 12:27 PM : Jul 26, 2007


It's impossible to die from an overdose of marijuana. You could eat 2 pounds of thc stripped from a plant, and take a big heaping puff every few seconds from a joint and the only thing that will happen is you may forget your name until the next day. I guess there may be a possibility of getting lung cancer, but no where near as bad of a possibility as smoking cigarettes.

[gunownerdan]

How do dangerous gangs and drug dealers make billions of dollars each year?
They sell illegal drugs on the black market.
This huge and deadly black market is created by PROHIBITION as a result of the WAR ON DRUGS.
Just like how alcohol prohibition created Al Capone and most of the other dangerous criminals and gangbanging bootleggers of the 1920's, today's drug prohibition(especially marijuana prohibition) is responsible for a huge multi-billion dollar black market where drug dealers and drug gangs rule and death and violence is the norm.

http://www.leap.cc
Law Enforcement Against Prohibition

http://www.mpp.org
Marijuana Policy Project

[mkelza]

IF GEORGE BUSH HAD CANCER AND WAS IN NEED OF WEED. BET YOUR *** HE WOULD BE THE FIRST IN LINE (IF HE HASN'T ALREADY). THE GOVERMENT DOESN'T CARE THAT U.S. BUILDINGS ARE GETTING BLOWN TO HELL OR THAT AMERICANS ARE BEING HELD HOSTAGE AROUND THE WORLD. AS LONG AS THEY CAN BUST THE POT CLINICS. WHY ? DID THEY SEE A LINE OUT SIDE OFFERING FREE WEED TO ANY ONE WHO ASKS. NO, BUT I BET YOU CAN GO DOWN ANY KNOWN DRUG DEALER'S HOOD AND YOU CAN SEE A LINE. IF THEY REALLY WANT TO DO SOME GOOD. WHY DON'T THEY GO BUST THEM OR PROTECT OUR BORDERS, OR TRY TO FEED THE HUNGER, HOUSE THE HOMELESS OR BECOME BIG BROTHERS AND SISTERS FOR THE AMERICAN KIDS. GO GET THE REAL BAD GUYS. IT IS A SHAME WHEN THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ARE LEFT TO FEND FOR THEM SELVES WHILE THE GOVERMENT OFFICALS LIVE HIGH ON THE HOG. BUT GOD FORBID A PERSON WHO IS IN NEED OF A LITTLE RELIEF FROM KILLING DISEASE'S. WHO NEED A LITTLE HELP FROM A LITTLE PLANT THAT MOTHER NATURE GROWS AND COULD GET FOR FREE IF THE YOU COULD GROW IT YOUR SELF. BUT NO THE GOVERMENT WANTS THE AMERICAN PEOPLE TO PAY FOR THE HIGH PRICES OF MAN MADE DRUGS FROM THE PHARMACEUICAL COMPANIES. IF YOU DON'T SIT IN A CHAIR AT CONGRESS OR THE WHITE HOUSE YOU AIN'T ***

[oleander8]

What a waste of taxpayer money. Legalize pot just like liquor and bring in the taxes as well as freeing up resources and money for REAL illegal drug enforcement. It isn't even as dangerous or destructive as liquor.

[mkelza]

WHAT REALLT MAKES ME MAD , IS THAT A BUNCH OF *** CAN SIT ON CAPITAL HILL AND SAY WHAT THEY THINK IS BEST FOR THE AMERICAN PEOPLE WITH OUT EVEN ASKING. AND WHEN THEY DO ASK THE REALLY DON'T GIVE A ***..WHERE ARE OUR RIGHTS...HEMP CAN SOLVE ALOT OF AMERICA'S MONEY PROBLEMS

[slim1h2o]

" They chopped and they burned, and they burned and they chopped till all our little wild wood weed was gone, and when them revenuers left, I had smile on my face, sitting on them sack of seeds".

Jim Stafford; Wild Wood Weed

[weareone2]

I don't want anybody to face my Grandmother's choice. When she was in pain, dying from cancer, she chose to stop eating and starve to death to escape.
Why is it that conservatives are for states rights when that results in hurting people, but are against states rights when that results in hurting people?

[wheelsup1]

GET THEM DOPE FIENDS!!!!!!
Don't you all know that smoking marijuana leads to using heroin and crack and all those other killer illegal drugs?

[festes81]

GET THEM DOPE FIENDS!!!!!!
Don't you all know that smoking marijuana leads to using heroin and crack and all those other killer illegal drugs?
Posted by WheelsUp1 at 02:32 PM : Jul 26, 2007

I knew people who had done nothing but smoke pot for decades.. one day, they get busted and put on probation.. And then they start snorting coke, cause it clears out of your system much faster than pot.. a heavy pot smoker will still test positive a month later.. a coke fiend (like president bush used to be) will not test positive after 3 days. I love it when closed minded morons start calling pot the gateway drug..

[slim1h2o]

Posted by WheelsUp1 at 02:32 PM : Jul 26, 2007

HaHaHaHaHaHahahahahahhaa Gateway drug you're funny,...........not!

Pot doesn't do anything like what you're suggesting,....... Sorry. Pedal that c.r.a.p some where else

[rushman71]

WheelsUp1: Where is the proof in your statement. Or are you just one of those kind of people that would believe anything the government is saying. MJ does not, and I repeat not, have anything to do with causing the person to go do other lethal drugs. It's the people themselves that make those careless decisions. To me, if it is not natural, it is not worth it. At least you would not die smoking ganja, compared to tobacco, since they have no knowledge or proof that smoking maryjane can cause cancer. It doesn't even cause any forms of death--period. Compared to alcohol and other drugs. But the phrase of "smoking marijuana leads to other forms of drug use" is total propoganda!!!

[wheelsup1]

I knew people who had done nothing but smoke pot for decades.. one day, they get busted and put on probation.. And then they start snorting coke, cause it clears out of your system much faster than pot.. a heavy pot smoker will still test positive a month later.. a coke fiend (like president bush used to be) will not test positive after 3 days. I love it when closed minded morons start calling pot the gateway drug..
Posted by festes81 at 02:43 PM : Jul 26, 2007

If they got out of jail from smoking pot, why did they start into coke? Maybe 'cause pot wasn't enough anymore? Smoking pot leads to other drugs!!

[rushman71]

WheelsUp1: As Olivia Newton-John once sang,"Have you ever been mellow, Have you ever tried." Roll it up, Light it up, Smoke it up...Inhale...Exhale!!!!

[wheelsup1]

WheelsUp1: As Olivia Newton-John once sang,"Have you ever been mellow, Have you ever tried." Roll it up, Light it up, Smoke it up...Inhale...Exhale!!!!
Posted by rushman71 at 02:56 PM : Jul 26, 2007

I tried it once........but, "I didn't inhale."
LOL

[festes81]

If they got out of jail from smoking pot, why did they start into coke? Maybe 'cause pot wasn't enough anymore? Smoking pot leads to other drugs!!
Posted by WheelsUp1 at 02:55 PM : Jul 26, 2007

can you read? It's because they can't get tested for coke, but they can be tested for pot.. It's called probation.. you know, visiting a probation officer and doing drug tests every week? If you make pot legal, people wouldn't be tempted with the others. As you can plainly see, you are the only moron arguing your single minded point of view here.

[rushman71]

Well I've done it a number of times my self, and "I did'nt exhale!!!" You have no idea what your missing. But one thing I assure you, it does not "lead" you to other drugs.

[wheelsup1]

can you read? It's because they can't get tested for coke, but they can be tested for pot.. It's called probation.. you know, visiting a probation officer and doing drug tests every week? If you make pot legal, people wouldn't be tempted with the others. As you can plainly see, you are the only moron arguing your single minded point of view here.
Posted by festes81 at 03:06 PM : Jul 26, 2007

Yes, I can see that I am the only one posting on ym point of view. That leaves one to draw a conclusion to 1 of 2 things......either....
1. everyone here is a dope fiend,
or,
2. everyone else who argees with my "single minded point of view" is not speaking/contributing.

Survey says.............rushman71 and festes81....BITE ME !!!!!!