cannabisnews.com: Council Frustrated by DEA Pot Raids





Council Frustrated by DEA Pot Raids
Posted by CN Staff on August 16, 2007 at 06:32:10 PT
By Rick Orlov, Staff Writer
Source: Los Angeles Daily News
Los Angeles, CA -- Wearing pink arm bands to show their support for the use of medical marijuana, the Los Angeles City Council on Wednesday asked for information on other cities' success in stopping clinic raids by federal agents. Voicing frustration with city efforts to develop operating guidelines for the clinics and protect them from raids, the council also asked the Los Angeles Police Department to review its policy on cooperating with the federal Drug Enforcement Administration.
"We know we have no control over the federal government, but I don't think we should play a role in helping them raid clinics we have authorized," Councilwoman Janice Hahn said. But Cmdr. David Doan said the LAPD is not prepared to make such a pledge, and that it would have to review any regulations developed by the city. While police Chief William Bratton has said he agrees with allowing medical-marijuana clinics to operate, the LAPD also has a policy of cooperating with other law enforcement agencies. He also has said the department might be asked to provide backup support for Drug Enforcement Administration operations. The LAPD has 20 officers with dual local-federal authorization who work with the DEA, Doan said. Only one, however, has been involved in raids at local marijuana clinics. Councilman Bill Rosendahl said he wanted to know whether any cities with similar measures have been successful in stopping DEA clinic raids. "Without that information, all we are doing is a sham on the public," Rosendahl said. The City Council last week adopted a measure placing a moratorium on all new medical-marijuana clinics in the city until it can develop guidelines. Hahn said she is prepared to call for the LAPD to stop participating in DEA raids or ask the DEA to impose a moratorium on raids. The debate came as a group of nearly two dozen women and clinic operators rallied at City Hall to thank the council for its efforts to halt the DEA raids and develop regulations. California cities and the federal government have been at odds ever since the passage of Proposition 215, allowing doctors to prescribe marijuana for medical use. Police officials estimate there are some 200 medicinal-marijuana clinics in Los Angeles. Source: Los Angeles Daily News (CA)Author: Rick Orlov, Staff WriterPublished: August 15, 2007Copyright: 2007 Los Angeles Newspaper GroupWebsite: http://www.dailynews.comContact: http://www.dailynews.com/writealetterRelated Articles: LAPD Will Continue To Help With Federal Raids http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread23257.shtmlLAPD Role in Marijuana-Clinic Raids Questionedhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread23254.shtml
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Comment #9 posted by user123 on August 18, 2007 at 13:52:08 PT:
Jackbooted Thugs
But Cmdr. David Doan said the LAPD is not prepared to make such a pledge, and that it would have to review any regulations developed by the city. In other words "In case you haven't noticed, this country is in a police state, and we'll do damn well as we please."
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Comment #8 posted by Max Flowers on August 17, 2007 at 12:53:43 PT
Regarding comment #6
I don't mean to contradict you since you seem to really know this, but it seems unlikely to me on its face, because if a medical cannabis user is attempted to be busted by SFPD, it will most likely be only a misdemeanor (if it even sticks), whereas if they nail someone selling a hard drug it is a slam-dunk felony.I am well north of SF, but am somewhat tuned in to what happens there. Whenever I've been in the city the vibe toward cannabis use seemed very chill indeed to me...
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Comment #7 posted by ekim on August 16, 2007 at 10:04:59 PT
sink or swim
  
ON WASHINGTON JOURNAL C-Span.org Dir TV Ch 350 
Thursday, August 16 
 Asa Hutchinson, Fmr. Undersecretary of Homeland Security & DEA Administrator
 Sara Carter, Washington Times, Reporter | Articles: August 15 - August 14 - August 9 - August 8 today both Hutchinson and Carter told of how drug cartels were working with tearists --when Hutchinson was asked what about ending prohibition and taking away the profit and black market he shot back that that was a policy decision and no public petition yet had called for the ending of the drug war-- he never mentioned that fact that the DEA was raiding every med clinic it can get its hands on in States where the People have voted to end the drug war. The same logic completely escaped Carter when asked what can be done to help stop the drug cartels from making such huge profits --- she never ever brought up the fact that Prohibition was causing such damage -- both Hutchinson and Carter for that matter C-Span refused to even once bring up any group or Organization that was calling for changing the drug laws ---only expanding the drug war on more US citizens.Councilman Bill Rosendahl get your hands on a copy of the movie Damage Done and have Leap Speakers(http://www.blog.leap.cc) at your events or keep treading water.Oct 24 07 Damage Done at United Nations Associaton ... Palo Alto California 
 Hosted by Stanford University. This year's theme is the Camera as Witness www.unaff.org October 24-28, 2007 
http://www.leap.cc/events 
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Comment #6 posted by mykeyb420 on August 16, 2007 at 09:05:03 PT:
SFPD
SFPD does participate in DEA raids. They might not kick in doors,,but they are AT the raids doing " peace keeping duties" such as crowd control and traffic control. We have rougue cops such as Martin Halloran that go after only medical marijuana users and leave the crackheads alone. If you sell crack, heroin , speed or any other deadly drugs in SF then your chances of getting busted are less than if you smoke pot. THAT is the truth from SF CA.
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Comment #5 posted by dongenero on August 16, 2007 at 09:04:46 PT
LAPD
It seems that with the LAPD it's been one scandal/ethics/corruption issue after another, for decades.It's a police department that is obviously in need of reform and some major house cleaning. 
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Comment #4 posted by Hope on August 16, 2007 at 09:04:08 PT
Unkat27
You're right! And you're right about most people not noticing or caring about the state of freedom vs. fascism ...because they think the War on Drugs is about someone else, "those other people"...certainly not them.Now, if you're Nick....trim that up a bit and send it in an E-mail to the Editor of the Los Angeles Daily News at http://www.dailynews.com/writealetter, with permission to print your reply to the article , Re: Council Frustrated by DEA Pot Raids. Include your phone number and address, with a request not to use your phone number or address in print. If you're not Nick...get his permission to quote him.Make your misery count. Letters to the Editor are a way to scream your message from the rooftops without attracting a paddy wagon.
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Comment #3 posted by whig on August 16, 2007 at 08:56:57 PT
unkat27
Some states and some places and some police departments are more fascist than others. The Berkeley police department, San Francisco police, etc., do not participate in federal raids (I don't think but correct me if I'm wrong). LAPD needs to be brought to heel since the voters of California made their choice and the police are not supposed to make the laws just enforce it.I think a lot of some police departments' operating money comes from the drug war and from the federal government with strings attached to require their help and so they go for the money rather than the will of the California voters.
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Comment #2 posted by unkat27 on August 16, 2007 at 08:50:50 PT
Fascism reigns in U.S.A.
The LAPD are vampires and vultures, just like the DEA fascists. Birds of a feather. Besides, they probly take a percentage of the profits from the booty taken from the busts.Some thoughts about this war on drugs:What too many Americans fail to see is that American freedom took a severe set-back in the 80s when Reagan and Bush escalated the "war on drugs" and demonized the cannabis plant as a "gateway" to hard drugs. In doing so, fascism took a foothold in the US government when it started to dictate what Americans could consume and could not consume, destroying the lives of anyone that chose to ignore that bad policy. Fascism is a form of government that denies people the freedom to live the life-style they choose by making false claims that one life-style is superior to another and that the superior life-style has the righteous duty to destroy the inferior life-style. Cannabis-use was demonized by these fascists in the early 80s and all cannabis-users were mistakenly labeled inferior by them, paving the way for the "superior" fascists to destroy them and their way of life.If ever the people gain a voice in the MSM and their governments again, they need to redefine the rules for "war" so that officials may never declare wars on inanimate, intangible and obscure concepts like "drugs" or "terror" ever again. Such wars are favored by the elite because they know they will never end and as long as they continue, the elite maintain unreasonable, undemocratic, fascist executive powers over any and all that fall under the realm of such intangible, unending wars.A "war on terror" is every bit as absurd, unwinnable, and unending as a "war on drugs". The ruling-class tyrants that try to declare such wars should be tarred, feather, and run out of town on a rail.From "Observations of a Pathetic Social Reject" 
by Nick Zentor
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Comment #1 posted by Yasuo on August 16, 2007 at 07:31:59 PT:
Uh,
Wouldn't it be illegal for the LAPD to participate in Federal activities anyways? The LAPD should only function under California state law.
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