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  DEA Raids Santa Rosa Medical Marijuana Club
Posted by CN Staff on May 29, 2002 at 23:35:06 PT
Breaking News 
Source: Associated Press 

medical Santa Rosa, Calif. -- Federal agents raided a medical marijuana buyers club here Wednesday and arrested two people. A U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration spokesman said two addresses were searched, including the club near downtown.

Marijuana, cash, a car and a weapon were seized. Authorities declined to identify the arrested pair, saying all information about the case was sealed by a federal judge.

According to one witness, at least six DEA agents stormed the storefront around 10:45 a.m.

"They made a big show of it," Mark Nabavi, who runs the Printing Express store next door, told the Santa Rosa Press Democrat. "They took down everyone's license plate number."

In February, DEA agents raided a San Francisco medical marijuana club and arrested four people amid an ongoing tug-of-war between local and federal officials over the sale of pot for medicinal purposes.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled last year that it is illegal to distribute marijuana for medical purposes. But some local law enforcement officials have said their job is to enforce the laws of California, where voters overwhelmingly approved medical marijuana use.

Source: Associated Press
Published: Wednesday, May 29, 2002
Copyright: 2002 Associated Press

Related Article:

Feds Raid Local Medical Marijuana Club

Federal drug raids in Santa Rosa Wednesday included a Santa Rosa medical marijuana club.

A U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration spokesman said two people were arrested and two addresses searched. Marijuana, cash, a car and a weapon were seized.

One of the locations searched was a marijuana buyers club on College Avenue in Santa Rosa.

Advocates refer to the club as a dispensary or compassionate care center. They say people with medical approval can buy marijuana at the club.

At least six DEA agents pulled up in dark-colored SUVs and stormed into the front door of the store about 10:45 a.m., said Mark Nabavi, who runs the Printing Express store next door.

“They made a big show of it,” he said. “They blocked the front entrance and wouldn’t let anyone in. They took down everyone’s license plate number.”

Authorities declined to identify the people who were arrested, saying all information about the case was sealed by a federal judge.

Source: Press Democrat, The (CA)
Author: Randi Rossman
Published: Wednesday, May 29, 2002
Copyright: 2002 The Press Democrat
Contact: letters@pressdemo.com
Website: http://www.pressdemo.com/

Americans for Safe Access
http://safeaccessnow.org

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http://cannabisnews.com/news/list/medical.shtml


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Comment #12 posted by Duzt on May 31, 2002 at 19:19:29 PT
examples
I could list examples but I'll just name one for you to research. Steve Kubby's case is a great example of how cases are invented out of fabricated evidence.

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Comment #11 posted by Snatchmo on May 30, 2002 at 09:27:35 PT
lies damn lies
nope, not buying into any gov't lies and it's obvious that one person couldn't grow for that many people. What I'm saying is that prop 215 allows caregivers to grow and supply cannabis to medical patients, correct? If you are a club operator, then assemble a group of growers/caregivers that agree to only sell to the clubs and not supply or employ street dealers which is still illegal under state law. Separate the markets.

Since you have first hand knowledge of fabricated evidence, why don't you give us some examples?

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Comment #10 posted by Duzt on May 30, 2002 at 08:51:30 PT
snatchmo
I think you may be buying into the governments lies. I've dealt quite a bit with several of the clubs that have been shut down and can tell you that the feds are creating ALOT of evidence. When they want to shut down a co-op it doesn't matter what you do, they will create a case against you. I had my files in 1 of the clubs that was shut down and at Dr. Fry's office that was raided as well which means the feds now have all my private medical info twice which is something they shouldn't have. I will no longer go to any doctors in this country due to the fact that the records aren't safe and most doctors in this country don't know the difference between a migraine and a broken leg. If the feds want you, they will go after you and there's no law that will stop them. It doesn't matter wheter you break the law or not. Some of these clubs have 1200 patients or more, there's no way one person can grow enough to supply them and stay discreet, they have to spread out there grows. the DEA just needs to be stopped. I suggest everybody join the nationwide protests against the DEA on June 6th, it might help.

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Comment #9 posted by Snatchmo on May 30, 2002 at 08:20:07 PT
Cameras in the clubs...
The tapes would surely be seized and the only parts that would be seen by the public would be a young guy who appeared to be in good health smoking a joint and/or buying a supply of "the evil weed". No masked, MP-5 set to full auto carrying, DEAth squad members would be featured "in order to protect the identity of the officers involved"

"We have not targeted marijuana clubs. We have investigated marijuana trafficking groups," said San Francisco DEA spokesman Rich Meyer. "As we develop leads, we follow those leads. If one takes us to a marijuana club, then we continue that investigation."

While I agree that the above quote is most likely BS, club operators/employees/growers need to wake the fuck up and stop selling to recreational users on the street. Don't give the feds any more ammunition, that can be proven in court, to use against the clubs/medical cannabis movement. If you are going to supply cannabis to med patients under state law, GROW it yourself for that purpose and for ONLY that purpose. Don't smuggle from Canada or anywhere in the US. If you can't grow it, don't open a club. Don't make the feds case for them, use your head.

[ Post Comment ]

 
Comment #8 posted by Lehder on May 30, 2002 at 08:12:02 PT
bullies
We should not have to count on philanthropists to enforce state law, though I agree with the spirit of Dark Star's comment.

We should be able to count on the trust and oaths of local officials to uphold state and community laws. In particular, with respect to the earlier raid on a San Francisco cooperative, DA Terence Hallinan, who talks a good game ("safe haven" for medical mj users, "Voters should be outraged", "Keep out of San Francisco"), ought to bring criminal complaints against the DEA agents.

Similarly, I think that the governments of countries like Venezuela and others that have suffered from illegal interferences by the US may one day, as a symbolic gesture, declare war on the US. No military or even economic action would be taken. But the world would be informed that a state of war exists between the two countries.

Neither the world nor, evidently, San Francisco is quite ripe for these sorts of actions that would be intended to compel mainstream coverage and discussion of important issues. But as official interference in the lives and well-being of people escalates, stronger and unignorable protest will be provoked.

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Comment #7 posted by p4me on May 30, 2002 at 07:45:00 PT
a pox in both houses
of Congress needs to be removed from office in the worst way. There is already inflamation of some voters and this voteritis is being caused by Congress and our inept President. Onlinejournal.com is calling for the impeachment of the president on the homepage in the article titled " The Truth is Out:Bush Knew.

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Comment #6 posted by Dark Star on May 30, 2002 at 07:03:39 PT
Reverse Surveillance
It would be great if an interested philanthropist would help the surviving clubs install high-quality video equipment so that the DEA antics during their raids can be filmed and then shared with the public, much as Lehder suggests.

When their thuggery is juxtaposed with discussion with desperate patients deprived of their medicine supply, the true evil and actual criminals will be apparent.

[ Post Comment ]

 
Comment #5 posted by Jose Melendez on May 30, 2002 at 05:30:02 PT:

connect those dots
from:http://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/30/politics/30SPY.html

WASHINGTON, May 29 — As part of a sweeping effort to transform the F.B.I. into a domestic terrorism prevention agency, Attorney General John Ashcroft has decided to relax restrictions on the bureau's ability to conduct domestic spying in counterterrorism operations, senior government officials said today.

Mr. Ashcroft and Robert S. Mueller III, the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, plan to announce on Thursday a broad loosening of the guidelines that restrict the surveillance of religious and political organizations, the officials said. The guidelines were adopted after disclosures of domestic F.B.I. spying under the old Cointelpro program, and for 25 years they have been among the most fundamental limits on the bureau's conduct.

The revision will shift the power to initiate counterterrorism inquiries from headquarters to the special agents in charge of the 56 field offices, the officials said.

"We are turning the ship 180 degrees from prosecution of crimes as our main focus to the prevention of terrorist acts," a senior Justice Department official said tonight. "We want to make sure that we do everything possible to stop the terrorists before they can kill innocent Americans, everything within the bounds of the Constitution and federal law."

Officials at the American Civil Liberties Union criticized the new guidelines, saying they represent another step by the Bush administration to roll back civil-liberties protections in the name of improving counterterrorism measures.

"These new guidelines say to the American people that you no longer have to be doing something wrong in order to get that F.B.I. knock at your door," Laura W. Murphy, director of the national office of the A.C.L.U., said. "The government is rewarding failure. It seems when the F.B.I. fails, the response by the Bush administration is to give the bureau new powers, as opposed to seriously look at why the intelligence and law enforcement failures occurred."

Under the old guidelines, agents needed to show that they had probable cause or information from an informer that crimes were being committed to begin counterterrorism investigations. Under the new guidelines, agents will be free to search for leads or clues to terrorist activities in public databases or on the Internet.

Under the old guidelines, surfing the Internet for the sole purpose of developing leads was prohibited.

Among other changes, the new guidelines let agents search Web sites and online chat rooms for evidence of terrorists' planning or other criminal activities, the officials said.

The bureau will also use commercial "data-mining services" from companies that collect, organize and analyze marketing and demographic information from the Internet to help develop leads on potential crimes like threats to the security of computer networks. Businesses routinely use the information, but the bureau has been constrained from using those services.

The guidelines were imposed in the 1970's after the disclosures about Cointelpro, a widespread domestic surveillance program that monitored antiwar militants, the Ku Klux Klan and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., among others, while J. Edgar Hoover was bureau director.

Beyond the reports of the spying, a political firestorm arose over what many critics regarded as the abuse of power. The surveillance guidelines have since then defined the operational conduct of the bureau in inquiries of domestic and overseas groups that operate in the United States.

Since Sept. 11, the guidelines have been criticized by many law enforcement officials as an outmoded counterterrorism tool that hampered efforts.

A senior agent in the Minneapolis office, Coleen Rowley, complained on May 21 in a letter to Mr. Mueller that officials at headquarters had repeatedly held back agents in the field office who sought to investigate Zacarias Moussaoui aggressively in the four weeks before Sept. 11.

Senior officials said today that Mr. Ashcroft's new guidelines addressed some of Ms. Rowley's complaints. Ms. Rowley, general counsel in the Minneapolis office, also complained that agents there had no idea that an agent in Phoenix wrote in a memorandum to headquarters in July that Arab men, possibly connected to Osama bin Laden, had trained at a flight school in Arizona.

Under the new guidelines, field offices will no longer have to await approval for intelligence investigations from headquarters. Headquarters would often take weeks or even months before deciding whether an inquiry was warranted.

Instead, the field offices could begin counterterrorism inquiries themselves. Inquiries can last from 180 days to one year before being reviewed by senior officials.

"Agent Rowley's concerns are thoroughly addressed in the F.B.I. reorganization and the attorney general's guidelines," a senior official said tonight. "We are devolving power to begin and conduct investigations to the field offices and freeing their hands to do everything possible within the bounds of the Constitution and federal law to protect us from terrorists."

Under the current guidelines, the bureau cannot send undercover agents to investigate groups that gather at places like mosques or churches unless investigators first find probable cause or evidence that leads them to believe that someone in the group may have broken the law. Such full investigations cannot proceed without the attorney general's consent.

Many investigators have complained since Sept. 11 that Islamic militants have sometimes met at mosques, apparently knowing that religious institutions are usually off limits to F.B.I. surveillance squads.

A lawyer at the American Civil Liberties Union, Gregory T. Nojeim, predicted that the new guidelines would cause a flood of new information that the bureau will have trouble analyzing.

"The problem with the 9/11 investigation was a failure to analyze and act on relevant information," Mr. Nojeim said. "And their solution is to gather exponentially more information that they have no possible way to properly analyze."

A senior official at the Justice Department dismissed that criticism.

"Under the new rules," the official said, "we allow the field to conduct the investigations and we will give headquarters the ability to analyze the information. No longer will there be disparate pieces of information floating around in isolation in different parts of the country. Now you will have a much greater ability to connect those dots."



[ Post Comment ]
 
Comment #4 posted by Lehder on May 30, 2002 at 05:23:00 PT
illegal raids
these raids threaten the lives of thousands of californians and violate state law. it is the sworn duty of state authorities to place the dea agents under arrest so that they can be tried for breaking and entering, theft and the use of firearms in the commission of a felony. the renegade agency has conducted multiple raids and its agents' crimes are now punishable under the california three-strikes laws. if the dea's actions are indeed legal, then the agents will have nothing to worry about and they will be exonerated in state court.

if the federal government held the slightest belief in the legality and goodness of these raids, then it would encourage televised coverage of the raids, interviews with those whose property has been confiscated, and interviews with the cancer patients whom the government is protecting from the ravages of marijuana so that they may publicly express their gratitude. It would encourage televised public discussion of the issues, and asa hutchinson would hold televised press conferences to explain the dea's actions, their benefits to society, how proposition 215, like medical marijuana, is illegal under federal law, and how californians lack the capacity to determine their own will.

[ Post Comment ]

 
Comment #3 posted by qqqq on May 30, 2002 at 01:19:13 PT
.....Hardcore Empire Pigs....
..I agree with Paul Peterson...The republicans are revealing their radical tendencies ,in alot of ways that are hard to miss!....It will be interesting to see what happens in November,,I like to think that there will be a major backlash against republicans,,,(this is not to say that I think democrats are "good",,they are maybe slightly less bad.).....

.but anyway,,I would not be suprized if there were no significant backlash,and republicans did well...It seems to me,that the republican corporate hardcore element has infested itself into a commanding dominance over the country,,,,,,that they are almost impossible to stop....Despite those who seem convinced that we have a "liberal media",,I believe that the mainstream,national corporate media,is more dominated by conservative mega-corpo-hogs........control of the media,is perhaps the most significant factor in maintaining an empire,and it seems to me,that the current administration has a solid grip on the spin of the news.......?...also,,I think that alot of what people term as a "liberal press",,is actually a conservative agenda disguised as a "liberal"......I guess I would be called a "liberal",if I was forced to be labeled,,,,but I have an easy time faking out conservatives,because conservatives usually tend to be sort of blindly arrogant and more narrow minded..You have to be careful about saying the wrong thing,or giving the wrong impression to a "conservative",,but with "liberals",,most everyone is welcome,,and a conservative would have a harder time passing themselves off as a liberal,,than a liberal would have being a fake conservative......the labels of "liberal/conservative",are sort of nebulous,,but even undefined; ..I wonder what the ratio of "conservatives",to "liberals",would be in the US? .......outer space...


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Comment #2 posted by Robbie on May 30, 2002 at 00:16:41 PT
DAMNIT!
When the hell is Gray Davis gonna get off his high-horse and say STOP! It is now against California law to impede the consumption of marijuana for medical use. What the hell is a law if it has no teeth? What's the point? Why not just remove prop. 215 from the books? It would be nearly the same as we have now.

Stupid DEA has so much else to worry about, yet they prioritize interfering with sick people getting their medicine. Freakin' stormtroopers!

Damn right I'll be at the SF DEA protesting!

[ Post Comment ]
 
Comment #1 posted by paul peterson on May 30, 2002 at 00:01:20 PT:

DON'T THEY KNOW THEY'RE JUST LOOKING LIKE COWBOYS?
It may not seem like it right now, but they're just making Republicans look like fascists and war mongers! I'm thinking that these guys with guns just are going to make things look worse for the voting booth come November. I certainly hope there is a backlash of people tired of fearing their own police state more than those "terrorists" they pretend to try to protect us against. And where was Bush on the morning of 911? Safely tucked in a hanger somewhere outside of Washington, hoping that some people got scared (I don't really think he thought a few big expensive buildings would tumble to the ground, just some resistance to war, that's all). JUST REMEMBER WHAT THE DEA IS DOING COME NOVEMBER, THAT'S WHAT. paul peterson

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