Feds Raid Two Los Angeles Pot Dispensaries

DEA Says Agents Seized 100 Pounds of Marijuana, 200 Plants and $100K

(AP)  Officials say federal and local agents raided two medical marijuana dispensaries in the Los Angeles area and arrested the owner.

The Los Angeles County district attorney's office says drug task force agents served a state search warrant at the Organica Collective in Culver City, at the Overland Gardens Collective in West Los Angeles and at a home on Wednesday.

Drug Enforcement Administration spokesman Jose Martinez says agents from several agencies seized about 100 pounds of marijuana, about 200 live plants and about $100,000 in cash.

Martinez says the owner of the dispensaries, 50-year-old Jeffrey Joseph, was arrested at his home in Topanga Canyon.

He says agents shot a pit bull during the raid but the dog is expected to survive.

No further details were released.

Here's more from CBS Station KCBS in Los Angeles:

[gomurr]

Hey....steve54z....you must be doing more than smoking pot if you believe what you just said....Federal laws to protect us from high THC content that causes schizophenia????? Maybe in a rare case where someone is already prone to schizophreia. Most pot theses days has a very high THC content unless its dirt weed, which no one wants to smoke anyway. I haven't seen any pot smokers jumping off buildings or going on killing sprees. Actually, all the ones I know go to work every day and take care of their families.

Oh.....and bigmo47.....not sure I understand what your saying. You say it's not our representatives or senators fault because the serve the "will of the people." Are you living in the same AMERICA I am? And all those older Americans making their making their voices heard by writing and faxing their represenatives.....I am one of those.....so are most of the people I know. As far as we are concerned, pot should be legal.....PERIOD. You are right about one thing, the younger generation should take a stand [although that might be too much work for some of them.....they might have to stop talking and texting their frieds for a few minutes and call or text someone who could make a difference].

[gomurr]

Phamecutical companies control the FDA.....naturally they don't want it legalized. With pot growing all over the place, it's impossible for them to gain a monopoly on it's distribution. What a waste of time and resources "the war on pot" is. The war on drugs for that matter. If you are not infringing on anyone else or robbing people to pay for your habit [never heard of a pot smoker doing that], if you support yourself and take care of your kids, as far as I'm concerned you can ingest or smoke anything you want. Actually, that WAS one of our constitutional right before the government found a way around it. Our rights are quickly disappearing....."when good men do nothing."

[sugar_maple]

Thank you hypocritical Obama. I think Obama might have the same thoughts Nixon did on marijuana. Just look up Nixon's quotes on marijuana.

[fstwrtr]

so much for state sovereignty.. if I was gov I sure as heck wouldnt allow the feds to come storming in.

[quapawsix]

look at the dates of some of these posts must be real hard not reporting the real news, the theft of the American dream by wall street and the elitists CBS find something else to report mediocre journalism at best.

[reverendanslinger]

This arrest highlights the dangers associated with the Devil's Weed...pitbulls, guns, and money. Marijuana should be eradicated from the earth, as it has NO uses other than to create lazy zombies who commit crimes.

Thank you DEA!!

[FedsRunDrugsToo]

I guess this is the "change" Obama promised since the Feds work for him now.
Meet the new boss-same as the old boss!!

[gboyd41]

I am not claiming to be a great seer- such as St. John, Nostradamus, or-required reading from my time at Vandy in the late 70"s-"An essay on the principle of population," by Thomas Malthus-my favorite for the class. My point being, why do the people who voted for this POTUS act suprised that the legal pot is not going to happen. But, I may will myself to

[andylance1]

Obama suggested during his campaign he was for cannabis reform. He relaxed the enforcement on medical marijuana and told the states to go ahead. Then he ordered the DEA to seize 100 pounds of marijuana from two medical marijuana dispensaries in the Los Angeles area and arrest the owner.

This is exactly what Mao Zedong did in China in the 1950s. Mao relaxed censorship and said, "Let a hundred flowers bloom." In 1956, China lifted the restrictions imposed upon Chinese intellectuals and granted greater freedom of thought and speech.

After the intellectuals started criticizing the government, he rounded them up and sent them to jail. This is exactly what Obama is doing on the marijuana issue. Isn't great that Obama is a student of history.

[bigmo47]

I see how you are trying to compare A democratically elected president with a tyrant 50+ years ago, but this one doesn't pass the common sense test. Why would President Obama arrest marijuana growers who are overwhelmingly liberal (meaning, they would be his supporters) Which is the opposite of arresting people who speak aout against you. Just say you like the man because these nonsensical analogies brings more doubt to your argument.

[growlll]

I would not pay any attention to any idiot that thinks majority rules in a constitutional republic as they are a bit deluded.

[steve54z]

Businesses have the right to sell legally-graded cannabis. Plant within state THC limit is not restricted by the narcotics laws of California. Pharmacies may distribute cannabis for health reasons. Federal laws are enforced to eliminate dangerous hemp products that are high in THC and induce schizophrenia. Average, ordinary cannabis is used for health and fitness.

[bigmo47]

What in the H.E.L.L. are you talking about? Maybe you need to stop smoking for a while.

[susiizm]

This is offensive considering the huge fire in Southern California that was caused by ILLEGAL drug growing operation - THIS is what the FEDS need to be focusing on and not those who legally set up shop under California laws. Why is the federal government wasting time on these people when we have immigrants setting up illegal growing operations in our national forests and parks? The feds need to remove thier heads from whatever orifice they seem to have them stuck in and go after the real criminals here. This is ridiculous.

[susiizm]

This is offensive considering the huge fire in Southern California that was caused by ILLEGAL drug growing operation - THIS is what the FEDS need to be focusing on and not those who legally set up shop under California laws. Why is the federal government wasting time on these people when we have immigrants setting up illegal growing operations in our national forests and parks? The feds need to remove thier heads from whatever orifice they seem to have them stuck in and go after the real criminals here. This is ridiculous.

[bigmo47]

The fires weren't started in a LEGAL (under CA law) marijuana collective like the one that was raided. If this building would have caught fire it would not have sparked wildfires in the contryside. It would have been a normal business fire, albeit with a lot of relaxed and unexplicably hungry neighbors.

?The prestige of government has undoubtedly been lowered considerably by the prohibition law. For nothing is more destructive of respect for the government and the law of the land than passing laws which cannot be enforced. It is an open secret that the dangerous increase of crime in this country is closely connected with this.? - Albert Einstein quote on Cannabis
Who in our generation could call Einstein stupid...Senate/Congress?

"Even if one takes every reefer madness allegation of the prohibitionists at face value, marijuana prohibition has done far more harm to far more people than marijuana ever could."
- William F. Buckley Jr. quote on Marijuana
Who in our generation doubts the wisdom of William F. Buckley...Senate/Congress?

[bigmo47]

It is so sad to say, that we can't even blame Senators or representatives for this. They react to the will of their constituents. The statistic that 1% of Americans control 80% of the wealth and resulting power (big corporations through their lobbyists), is just one side of the equation. Current polls show that a slight majority of Americans support the legalization of marijuana and an even larger percentage of Americans suport medical marijuana. The problem is that this majority is more often than not a silent majority.

If you go to political rallies, town hall meetings...etc, the participants do not reflect the dompgraphic make-up of the community (age, race, sex, occupation...etc). Ask people over the age of 50 how many times they have written or called their congressman and I guarantee the results will be double or triple that of the younger generation. These letter writers and rally attendees are the voters that are being heard by their representatives.

So until the "majority" voters become more active in the political arena, not much will change. Websites, twitter, documentaries and blog postings just aren't enough.

[presjfk]

This guy was an easy mark. He has a business address, pays taxes, in the phone book. Why go after a heroin dealer and risk the lives of police officers when you can go after a guy like this, a real easy mark.

The message is simple. Go into this business and even though you follow the rules, the DEA might just come along and destroy you. Lesson learned.

[AlwaysOnTheGo]

The United States Of America; "Land of the free, home of the Brave"...
Yes most of us really ARE that stupid...

[Gumshrud]

Hypocracy, free Cannabis NOW.

[organicala]

The true story of Organica: the building on Washington that it occupies was sitting vacant for several years it was an ex boat repair place and was filled with trash and bums living in the place a developer was trying to buy the buiding but the deal was going sour so Organica rented the place and cleaned it up made it look nice... this was Aug 2006 after we rented the building with a lease that stated the building was in Marina del Rey. We found out that the front 50 feet of the building was in Culver City so we had to find out how to open the collective in the LA part of the building so in the meantime we put on art and music events as well as local westside promoters used the space called cre8tivity which was a freedom art space but it got too popular the parties were out of control with too much freedom that we afforded people to express themselves and be who they wanted to be with no judgement there is a huge need for this look at the success of burning man ( if people don't have a way to blow off steam they will go crazy ) ... so one year later Aug 2007 we Opened Organica 4 months before the ico (intermediate control ordance) we were in compliance with the law we turned our paper work into the city including getting our resale tax permit to pay sales taxes we followed protocol for dispensaries as well as applying Attorney General Jerry Browns guidelines we filled taxes every quarter.We are a collective all of our members are from california all of our medicine comes from california and from our collective members. we distribute organic medicine at all different ranges from very low priced out door to top grade lab approved and grown medicine the proof is in our member base we have the largest member base on the west side for a reason we were doing it right.
now why we were raided when Obama said there are no more raids is the question. the funny thing about this is you have to be inviolation of fed and state law yet there is no one that can even interpret what the legal way to operate is so it is all a grey area as the state accepts the sales taxes...so is the state guilty too? why is this happening? this collective was not in violation of state law... there is no charges that it was the irs involvment is typical yet there is no tax issues so...
why has this most complex plant that provideds medicine
as well as pulp for paper fiber and seed for protien rich food been crucified as well as it's supporters while corporate america can put out products that are killing millions of people every year like pharmacueticals tobbaco grown with radio active fertalizers and alcohol?
why would such hipocracy be tolerated?becauseof all mighty $ the powers that be have no way to regulate and control the plant or movement so it is a war on anyone who does support it. In my opinion the best way to solve this is to let the industry be and taxes it through a madatory card system in which anyone that wants to have cannabis gets a card that ids them as a patient and to have some sort of credit system to tax medicine as it is bought and sold. please have some compassion learn the truth be part of the solution.

[Kyle1965]

"Didn't Obama promise the Feds wouldn't do this?"

I believe the federal policy is not to raid dispensaries that are operating within California's medical marijuana laws. They've said before that if medical marijuana providers are really just dealing pot and not abiding by the state medical marijuana laws that they would still bust them. They're probably spending millions keeping an eye on all these dispensaries and looking for the most egregious cases of abuse of the program so they can bust them and discredit the entire program. I bet when the details come out they're going to have a lot on these people they arrested to make them look bad. They'll use this for propaganda purposes and even if Obama is upset about it he won't be able to say anything because he'll look like he's protecting scummy drug dealers. Marijuana enthusiasts on the other hand will be mad at Obama for not doing anything. The DEA doesn't give in easily. They can't stand Obama, and they probably think it's funny that they are putting him between a rock and a hard place.

[OregonJames]

What a waste of time, money, and resources. Legalize weed and end the insanity!

[johnbrown8888]

It's time for Barack O'Promise to stop jawboning and start delivering.

Or doesn't the DEA obey orders from the Commander in Chief?