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| Pot Club Crackdown Continues |
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Posted by FoM on February 15, 2002 at 08:08:05 PT By Emily Huber Source: Mother Jones 
The federal Drug Enforcement Agency ratcheted up its crackdown on medical marijuana clubs this week, confiscating thousands of plants and arresting four men in the San Francisco Bay Area. While the DEA has raided medical marijuana clubs several times in recent months, the arrests on Feb. 13 mark the first time suspects have been taken into custody. Just hours before DEA head Asa Hutchinson was scheduled to speak in San Francisco, DEA agents seized 600 marijuana plants from the Sixth Street Harm Reduction Center, a well-known medical marijuana club located in a gritty section of downtown. "They were here when I got here yesterday morning," says David Witty, one of the center's directors. "They'd popped the locks and were hauling out plants when I arrived." The DEA also served related search warrants around the Bay Area, confiscating thousands more plants and arresting three men connected to the center, including executive director Richard Watts at his home in San Francisco. Former director Kenneth Hayes was arrested by Canadian police on the same day in Vancouver, British Columbia, and may be deported to face a US arrest warrant. In what the DEA is calling a separate case, agents also arrested James Halloran in his Oakland home. All four of the men arrested in the US have been charged with the cultivation and possession of marijuana, charges which can mean up to forty years in prison. In response to the raids, hundreds of protesters gathered outside the Commonwealth Club of California where Hutchinson was scheduled to speak Tuesday evening. Among the demonstrators were San Francisco District Attorney Terence Hallinan and several city council members. "This city has been declared a sanctuary," for medical marijuana, Hallinan said. "This is such a misdirection of federal priorities -- they are cracking down on a bunch of sick people." Hallinan said that he has no doubts the raid was scheduled for Hutchinson's benefit. The DEA, however, says the raids were just business as usual. "This was a long-term investigation and it just happened to coincide with Hutchinson's visit," DEA Special Agent Richard Meyer said. "We wouldn't put our agents at risk just to impress him." California in 1996 legalized marijuana growing and consumption for people suffering from certain ailments. But federal law still bans marijuana use of any sort. After a long legal stalemate, a US Supreme Court ruling in May cleared the way for federal agents to move against medical marijuana. The DEA raided several California clubs last fall. The Harm Reduction Center, at least for now, remains operational -- not as a marijuana dispensary, but as what David Witty calls a "living room" for the neighborhood. "I intend for the doors to be open every day of the year," Witty said. "People come here to feel safe. They really have no other place to go." Source: Mother Jones (US) Related Articles & Web Sites: DEA Raids Medical Marijuana Club 3 Nabbed in Pot Bust Post Bail San Francisco Resists Medical Marijuana Raids Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help |
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| Comment #5 posted by shrox on February 16, 2002 at 00:39:47 PT |
| Early in the film "Braveheart" a meeting is called by the King's representative to discuss the differences between the local Scots and the English empire. As the Scots enter the lodge where the meeting is to have been arranged, they are seized and hung until dead from the lodge rafters.
The actions on 02/13/2002 by the DEA seem simular to me. I am disgusted with the actions of this demon Asa Hutchinson. What a Caesar like attitude, bringing troops with him as he tours his governship. [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #4 posted by FoM on February 15, 2002 at 12:30:21 PT |
| You know how much I appreciate you, Matt and Mapinc. Just the other day I had to send out a HELP!!! to Matt and bless his heart he got it fixed fast. I couldn't do what I do here on CannabisNews if I didn't have you kind folks supporting this web site. If I had to pay for it, particularly now since my husband is sick, I couldn't do it. I just couldn't afford to so a BIG thank you again! [ Post Comment ] |
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Comment #3 posted by Richard Lake on February 15, 2002 at 12:14:42 PT:
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| eco man wrote, to several email discussion lists: RAIDS. San Francisco (and other) medical cannabis clubs. MORE REPORTS. LINKS. Please distribute this widely. LATEST REPORTS ON TOP. CannabisNews.com archived article links are followed by links to reports posted at other websites such as Indymedia, DrugWar.com, Marihemp.com, etc.. CannabisNews.com has many newspaper, wire service, and other reports. All of which can be commented on by anybody. Straighten out the corporate spin! MANY LINKS. http://www.cannabisnews.com ---------------- I am sure Martha (FoM) appreciates your efforts to provide links to the many superb stories and discussions at www.cannabisnews.com We at MAP/DrugSense are all so proud of her work. In addition to maintaining the cannabisnews website, Martha is always among our top ten newshawks http://www.mapinc.org/hawk.htm While not an email discussion list person, Martha is an active member of our mailing list for editors at MAP. I will insure that she sees your kind note, eco-man! Plus I know Martha does all she does using a rather poor connection by modem to the 'net. I honestly don't know how she accomplishes all that she does. It is a real pleasure to be able to host and support www.cannabisnews.com among the growing family of hosted websites, a rather incomplete list which is at http://www.drugsense.org/sitemap.htm#hosted While we host Martha's cannabisnews without cost, and with whatever technical support it needs, doing so is not without costs to us. So if you like what Martha does, please consider making a donation to support our work and her site. While it is all the thousands of volunteers that are our strength, doing it all on a budget that wouldn't pay the annual salary of one or two inside the beltway full time reformers doesn't make it easy. The struggle to meet the website support bills is constant. If you can give a little, please see http://www.drugsense.org/donate.htm By the way, it is the success of Martha's comments system that led us to add our own for all the MAP news clippings (link at the bottom of every article in the www.mapinc.org archives). Oh, I have just updated again our special collection of email alerts, reports, and analysis taken from the some 60 email discussion lists I am on about the San Francisco raids with analysis reports by Preston Peet and Steve Kubby, as well as a from the scene report by Mikki Norris of Human Rights and the Drug War http://www.hr95.org I am updating this special page, which has already had tens of thousands of views, several times each day. See: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n238/a08.html Richard [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #2 posted by Zero_G on February 15, 2002 at 08:44:19 PT |
| The DEA, however, says the raids were just business as usual. "This was a long-term investigation and it just happened to coincide with Hutchinson's visit," DEA Special Agent Richard Meyer said. "We wouldn't put our agents at risk just to impress him." You've got to had it to Richard Meyer. He hasn't put his agents at risk. He is so concerned for his modern day SS. Going after those dangerous AIDS & cancer victims, and their caregivers. Known violent criminals with the temerity to think for themselves. After all, we have it on Sir Rudy's good authority that marijuana causes violence, don'tcha know... "Who are the Brain Police?" Frank Zappa 1966 - Freak Out [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #1 posted by eco-man on February 15, 2002 at 08:24:42 PT |
| Some of the RAID articles posted at San Francisco Indymedia are getting many comments added to them. Can see which articles are getting the latest comments here:
http://sf.indymedia.org/comment_latest.php San Francisco Indymedia (part of the well-known, international, Indymedia network) for ongoing reports on the DEA raids. BE THE MEDIA. Anybody can post info there: http://sf.indymedia.org/ and Fast search engine for San Francisco Indymedia site archives. http://sf.indymedia.org/news/search/ Prisons & Police Brutality : SF Indymedia feature category for articles. http://sf.indymedia.org/features/police/ MORE Photos. Protesting DEA Chief Asa Hutchinson after medical pot club busts. Commonwealth Club, SF, CA. http://alpaca.eddie.com/pix/dea_protest/ Feds Close San Francisco Medical marijuana Club, Arrest 4 - Are They Also After the District Attorney? By Preston Peet. Many LINKS. http://www.drugwar.com/psanfranraids.shtm [ Post Comment ] |
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