cannabisnews.com: Crackdown Targets Marijuana Dispensaries 





Crackdown Targets Marijuana Dispensaries 
Posted by CN Staff on June 22, 2005 at 19:32:46 PT
By Don Thompson, Associated Press Writer
Source: Associated Press
Sacramento -- Federal drug agents launched a wide-ranging crackdown on medical marijuana providers Wednesday, charging a husband and wife in Sacramento and raiding more than 20 San Francisco dispensaries.In San Francisco, drug agents conducted searches of three pot clubs and more than 20 homes and businesses, capping a more than two-year investigation into an alleged marijuana trafficking ring.
Officials with the Drug Enforcement Administration and U.S. attorney's office would not say how many people were arrested or give other details, pending a news conference Thursday.In Sacramento, Dr. Marion Fry, 48, and her husband, attorney Dale C. Schafer, 50, were arrested on a sealed indictment handed down a week ago. It charged them with conspiracy to grow and distribute marijuana between August 1999 and September 2001 from their storefront California Medical Research Center in Cool, a Sierra foothill community northeast of Sacramento."Marijuana was legal in this part of the United States until this month, so any attempt to hold them as serious criminals would have been, I think, inappropriate," said their attorney, Laurence Lichter. "They are charged with violating the old marijuana laws, which are now back in effect, and I'm hoping that the jury will see ... that Dr. Fry was acting as a physician."Law enforcement officials in Sacramento and San Francisco said the actions were unrelated and were part of independent, long-running investigations.Lichter, however, said he believed Wednesday's arrests and sweep may have been prompted by the U.S. Supreme Court's medical marijuana ruling two weeks ago. The high court said federal law prohibiting the sale and distribution of narcotics supersedes state medical marijuana laws.First Assistant U.S. Attorney Lawrence Brown in Sacramento said the Supreme Court ruling "lays to rest any question whether federal authorities have jurisdiction."California is one of 10 states that allow the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes.State Attorney General Bill Lockyer supports the state's medical marijuana law, but his Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement was involved in the San Francisco investigation, spokeswoman Teresa Schilling said."It's more than medical marijuana. This was an illegal marijuana operation," she said.Gordon Taylor, the assistant special agent in charge of the Sacramento DEA office, alleged that Fry and Schafer also crossed that line. The indictment states the couple was growing more than 100 plants during the period in question."They were taking their (medical) clients and turning them into their customer base" for illegal marijuana sales, Taylor said.Both were freed without posting bond after an initial court hearing Wednesday.That investigation has been pending since December 2000, when drug agents said they seized several United Parcel Service packages containing marijuana.In September 2001, the DEA seized 28 filing cabinets full of patient records from the Medical Research Center, which doubled as Fry's doctor's office. That raid triggered a legal battle over patient privacy.The DEA ended Fry's registration to dispense controlled substances in December 2002 based on the investigation, but no charges were filed until the indictments last week.Complete Title: Crackdown Targets Marijuana Dispensaries in Northern California Source: Associated Press (Wire)Author:  Don Thompson, Associated Press WriterPublished: Wednesday, June 22, 2005Copyright: 2005 The Associated Press CannabisNews Medical Marijuana Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/medical.shtml
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Comment #9 posted by jose melendez on June 23, 2005 at 02:23:50 PT
entertainment, fraud and the law
Law Enforcement Gets High Denying Reliefhttp://www.ontherecord.org/blog/"The Sunset Medicinal Resource Center dispensary at 445 Judah Avenue was also been raided. Smiling and relaxed agents(1) with DEA and Secret Service jackets are clustered(2) around the outside of the dispensary(3). 1.) Cocaine-Like high:http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/08/0827_040827_punishment.html" . . . a second area of the brain, known as the prefrontal cortex, is activated when players need to weigh the satisfaction derived from punishment against the monetary cost of punishing.The study results show that the higher the cost of the punishment, the lower the actual punishment imposed. "Thus, this all looks pretty rational," Fehr said. "People seem to trade off the expected satisfaction from punishing with the cost of punishing in quite a rational way."According to de Quervain, the study co-author, understanding the role of the prefrontal cortex in altruistic punishment may also help researchers better understand psychiatric disorders characterized by abnormal social behavior or addiction."Deficits in prefrontal cortical functioning may contribute to these psychopathologies by a disturbed ability to weigh beneficial against negative consequences of an action," he said. 2.) Cluster $%!?http://www.all-usenet-archive.com/File.asp?service=16641 Using positron emission tomography (PET), the researchers determined that
deciding to impose this penalty activated a "reward" region of the brain, the
dorsal striatum, involved in anticipating enjoyment or satisfaction, whether
from cocaine or seeing a pretty face.The study concludes, "When people punish others who are deceitful, the reward
centre of the brain is engaged even if the action yields no apparent benefit."The researchers also found that the fantasy of revenge is immensely satisfying:
"The activation in the dorsal striatum reflects the anticipated satisfaction
from punishing defectors" — or, it appears, from seeing them suffer.3.) Unlawful restraint of trade, economic protectionism, price fixing . . .http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=browse_usc&docid=Cite:+15USC1 From the U.S. Code Online via GPO Access
[wais.access.gpo.gov]
[Laws in effect as of January 7, 2003]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
 January 7, 2003 and February 12, 2003]
[CITE: 15USC1] 
           TITLE 15--COMMERCE AND TRADE
 
   CHAPTER 1--MONOPOLIES AND COMBINATIONS IN RESTRAINT OF TRADE
 
Sec. 1. Trusts, etc., in restraint of trade illegal; penalty  Every contract, combination in the form of trust or otherwise, or 
conspiracy, in restraint of trade or commerce among the several States, 
or with foreign nations, is declared to be illegal. Every person who 
shall make any contract or engage in any combination or conspiracy 
hereby declared to be illegal shall be deemed guilty of a felony, and, 
on conviction thereof, shall be punished by fine not exceeding 
$10,000,000 if a corporation, or, if any other person, $350,000, or by 
imprisonment not exceeding three years, or by both said punishments, in 
the discretion of the court.(July 2, 1890, ch. 647, Sec. 1, 26 Stat. 209; Aug. 17, 1937, ch. 690, 
title VIII, 50 Stat. 693; July 7, 1955, ch. 281, 69 Stat. 282; Pub. L. 
93-528, Sec. 3, Dec. 21, 1974, 88 Stat. 1708; Pub. L. 94-145, Sec. 2, 
Dec. 12, 1975, 89 Stat. 801; Pub. L. 101-588, Sec. 4(a), Nov. 16, 1990, 
104 Stat. 2880.)- - -Follow up on fraud:Tony Blair Plagiarizes Rumsfeld SpeechMoments before typing this, I heard a BBC report quoting a European Union leader whose words seemed patriotic, stirring and "propagandish". Here is the Prime Minister's line, as close as I can recall:" . . . ideas survive in the face of change they die in the inertia in the face of challenge."Deception apparently pays well, since sure enough, a very similar line appears in a plea for more war profit funds:
 
"All this costs money. It costs more than we have. It demands agility -- more than today's bureaucracy allows. And that means we must recognize another transformation: the revolution in management, technology and business practices. Successful modern businesses are leaner and less hierarchical than ever before. They reward innovation and they share information. They have to be nimble in the face of rapid change or they die. http://www.defenselink.mil/speeches/2001/s20010910-secdef.html San Francisco area media contacts:http://www.savepacifica.net/media2.htmlCall, write letters, DO IT NOW and make a difference!see also: http://justacitizen.com/
(A) disturbed ability to weigh beneficial against negative consequences . . . " 
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Comment #8 posted by Taylor121 on June 23, 2005 at 00:25:22 PT
Dr. Fry
The guy there looks... a bit happy eh? :) I really like that picture actually. He looks like a warm guy.
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Comment #7 posted by E_Johnson on June 22, 2005 at 22:58:55 PT
It's hard to say what will happen next
During the Stalinist purges, some people were arrested and some were not. People speculated why, there must have been a reason, but the people who really knew what was going on knew there was no "why" and no "reason".So we'll see, I guess, whether there was a "why" or a "reason" in this case.Or whether this latest song and dance is meant to strike terror in our hearts and remind every one of us that we have no power, the power is all theirs (for now).
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Comment #6 posted by FoM on June 22, 2005 at 22:19:25 PT
New York Times Article on SF Raids
http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread20892.shtmlhttp://www.freedomtoexhale.com/raid.htm
Crackdown Targets Marijuana Dispensaries 
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Comment #5 posted by AOLBites on June 22, 2005 at 22:16:24 PT
,,,
*sigh*
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Comment #4 posted by b4daylight on June 22, 2005 at 21:16:19 PT
Dr. Marion Fry
Dr. Marion Fryas in fried?ok bad jokeFree the weed!
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Comment #3 posted by FoM on June 22, 2005 at 20:10:30 PT
noahtao
I also believe there must be more then we know right now. I'm sure over the next few days we all will learn more.
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Comment #2 posted by noahtao on June 22, 2005 at 20:08:05 PT
Raids in SF
I was there and saw this happening 1st hand. What a trip! You never want to wake up and see DEA agents raiding local MMJ disoensaries. The funny thing was, there is another dispensary right across the street from where they were conducting the raids, that wasn't touched. It made me think that they were raiding places that were actually doing something wrong, not just targeting dispensaries because they do what they do. I think there is more to this story then it seems. 
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Comment #1 posted by FoM on June 22, 2005 at 19:56:03 PT
Picture of Dr. Molly Fry
http://www.cannabinoid.com/boards/drugpolicy/media/3/3087.jpg
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