cannabisnews.com: MMJ Low Priority, Oregon's New U.S. Attorney Says
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MMJ Low Priority, Oregon's New U.S. Attorney Says
Posted by CN Staff on May 21, 2012 at 04:56:51 PT
By Nigel Duara
Source: Statesman Journal
Portland -- The proliferation of dispensary-style medical marijuana operations in Oregon concerns the state’s new U.S. Attorney, but she said she’s unwilling to devote much time or money to prosecuting a criminal activity that’s low on her list of priorities.U.S. Attorney Amanda Marshall said the number of dispensaries in Oregon has been growing. Her office estimates the state hosts at least 100, most of which are in the Portland metro area.
In 2010, Marshall’s predecessor joined his counterparts in other medical marijuana states by sending warning letters to operations it felt were the most egregious offenders of the state’s medical marijuana law, threatening them — or their landlords — with civil asset forfeiture if they didn’t close shop.The problem, Marshall said, is that Oregon’s medical marijuana law was passed without any enforcement power or extra money for local agencies to crack down on the worst actors.“I don’t know that the law itself is the problem, so much as the lack of oversight in terms of the medical marijuana grows and distribution,” Marshall said Friday. “When you look at it, you’ve (had) a handful of prosecutions and you’ve got over 100 dispensaries, there’s no oversight.“They passed this law, and there’s no additional resources or funding mechanisms for law enforcement.”Medical marijuana took center stage in Oregon politics last week when it emerged as a flashpoint in the Democratic primary for state attorney general.Former interim U.S. Attorney Dwight Holton had criticized the state program as a ”train wreck,” mobilizing marijuana advocates to lobby against him. It’s impossible to tell whether the issue played a role in Holton’s loss to retired judge Ellen Rosenblum, but it accounted for at least one-quarter of Rosenblum’s fundraising.Marshall said she wouldn’t use the words ”train wreck” to describe Oregon’s law.“I’m not here to say this law is good or bad or to suggest future legislation or future policy direction,“ said Marshall, who took office in October. ”People say, ‘You’re the U.S. attorney, are you going to go after medical marijuana?’ No I’m not. I don’t care about medical marijuana.“The state’s law, passed in 1998, allows patients to possess 24 ounces of marijuana.In 2010, Oregon voters rejected a ballot measure that would have legalized California-style dispensaries. Cannabis club owners say their properties aren’t dispensaries but havens for cannabis users to obtain and use the medicine they would otherwise have to grow themselves, have grown for them or buy on the black market. They say marijuana available at cannabis clubs often comes from authorized growers who donate it.To Marshall, the threat isn’t from cancer patients growing plants in their window boxes for personal consumption. Rather, it’s drug trafficking operations that move bales of marijuana from Oregon and California’s fertile growing climate to the East Coast, where it retails for $5,000 per pound.“Pounds and pounds and pounds of marijuana are being shipped out of Oregon, not to sick people needing cards but to drug dealers who are selling it, who are laundering money, who are evading taxes,” she said, “and it’s dangerous business.”Voters didn’t know what they would get when they approved the law in 1998, Marshall said. They approved six plants per patient, believing the yields would be sufficient for personal consumption, she said.“People weren’t thinking about the plants that we saw pulled out of the ground in Southern Oregon that produced 10 pounds of manicured, smokable marijuana bud,” Marshall said. “These people are master gardeners.“I wish I could grow tomatoes like that.”Source: Statesman Journal (OR)Author: Nigel DuaraPublished: May 21, 2012Copyright: 2012 Statesman JournalContact: letters statesmanjournal.comURL: http://drugsense.org/url/RWrFnWpxWebsite: http://www.statesmanjournal.com/CannabisNews Medical Marijuana Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/medical.shtml
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Comment #15 posted by runruff on May 24, 2012 at 08:59:53 PT
Looking to congress.
Of one thing I am certain, all nine members of the SCOTUS are corporate shills. Not one of them is any better or for the constitution than the other. The destruction of the contract between the people and our government is intended to give power to the people to keep our government inline. We are no longer able to do this due to many a breach in out protective document ; The United States Constitution and The Bill of Rights. Through calculated piecemeal increments chip by chip this document, along with the greatest social experiment in an all inclusive government for the people and by the people, is vanishing from this earth.
It is not due to the bad guys in the democratic party or the bad guys in the republic party, it is the outside and monied influences on these parties that render them, by and large, in house conspirators to the ongoing practice of treason! One of the first missions of these conspirators is to cause a great divide between the people. They do this easily with their hot button issues based on personal beliefs and a challenge to the morals of the country, and sorry, you cannot legislate morals. That is something taught in homes and churches. If The Body of this country were in the right moral climate and taught the right lessons to their kids instead of raising the best damn consumers the earth has ever seen, We would not not need to even try to legislate morality as a last ditch effort to save the fading grace of a once great and noble experiment.
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Comment #14 posted by runruff on May 22, 2012 at 10:34:38 PT
Recruiting?
Here in Oregon with asset forfeiture all but gone, taxpayers unwilling to pay for their antics any longer, and it is getting harder and harder for them legally steal pot, I suspect candidates for the force will be staying away in droves.
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Comment #13 posted by ekim on May 22, 2012 at 09:38:33 PT
great list of violations anyone see more
http://michiganmedicalmarijuana.org/topic/39773-help-with-list-of-civil-rights-violations/page__pid__386966#entry386966
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Comment #12 posted by museman on May 22, 2012 at 09:36:49 PT
cop 'funding'
And once again the voters have spoken;"Cops, who needs 'em?"They don't do anything but hassle teenage partiers and cannabis users.So we voted not to give them any money.Where do you suppose they are gonna get it?Can you say FED?Time to secede.LEGALIZE FREEDOM
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Comment #11 posted by Oleg the Tumor on May 22, 2012 at 09:14:48 PT:
The Steam Powered Howitzer
“Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin to slit throats.” -H.L. Mencken"NEW TITLES FROM A GRIMM WORLD YOU ARE NOT LIKELY TO SEE"The Little Blowout Preventer That Couldn't.The Brave Captain of the Exxon Valdez.Hillary Hears a "Hunh?"Green Cigs and SpamOh, the People You'll Fight!One State Two State – Red State Blue State.Where's Barack's Bellybutton? The Fat Cat with the Brass HatHow the Grinch Stole Congress.On the Night You Were Had.The Phantom Tax BoothMitt and the Giant Pork.The Swiss Family Robber’s SonKing Bernanke's Mines."Honey I Just Arbitraged the Kids."The Fed, The Fed, Who's watching the Fed?Throw Ron Paul from the Train!Your Money Doesn't Live Here Anymore"RECOMMENDED TITLES FROM THE NEW WORLD ORDER COLLECTION""Competition Is Sin"
by John A. RockefellerA businessman exploits a court decision to invent a popular new sport and finds that he can charge admission to players and spectators alike.
Using his wealth, he influences legislators to make the rules of his game the law of the land.
When the players and spectators find that it is more fun to break the rules instead of playing by them, the inventor starts a "cartel" of rule breakers. By convincing his newfound "friends" to use their own money to influence legislation outlawing his game, his profits and power expand geometrically.
But alas, every game must come to an end…"And to Think That I Saw Them Sell Mulberry Street!"A small boy witnesses a credit default swap outside his school by men in fancy cars, wearing black suits, fedoras and sunglasses."Lost Deepwater Horizon" Shangri-La disappears under an ocean of crude…"Run Dick, Run"A young naval officer (and future POTUS) finds his ticket to Congress while examining captured enemy documents in 1945.
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Comment #10 posted by Oleg the Tumor on May 22, 2012 at 08:45:31 PT:
It's Official – The Sluice Gates Are Open
Here we go folks. Now Timmy is marketing our debt wholesale."I've been kidnapped by Kmart!" – Bette Midler in "Ruthless People"
http://http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/geithner-thinking-treasury-gr
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Comment #9 posted by ekim on May 22, 2012 at 07:48:14 PT
tell it brother
http://www.drugwarrant.com/2012/05/prohibitionist-love-fest/#comments
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Comment #8 posted by runruff on May 22, 2012 at 07:36:06 PT
U.S. Attorney Amanda Marshall.
There are 93 US Attorneys and 350 assistant US Attorneys and 350 staff.A need to cut back on the number of US Attorneys.Without the WoD this number would be half and needs too! Who knows it better than these attorneys who are in place to protect society form the dregs of humanity. Instead, either by design or ignorance these interlopers of justice take their insatiable egos on the Just Us hayride.Their jobs? To fill the belly of the Gray Monster...The BoP!Can I get an amen brother!
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Comment #7 posted by runruff on May 21, 2012 at 13:48:31 PT
Schmeff.
My policy is to remain lighthearted towards those who are on the same side as me. I have plenty of deserving targets for my righteous indignation and is sure does not include those of you who deserve to be called friends and colleges.Have a nice day.
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Comment #6 posted by afterburner on May 21, 2012 at 12:14:44 PT
'Evading Taxes'
Weak response: still following the federal obstinacy. Marc Emery paid taxes on his cannabis, but that did not stop the DEA from going after him. When will the U.S. federal government honestly address the issue of medical cannabis supply?
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Comment #5 posted by schmeff on May 21, 2012 at 12:13:20 PT
Sorry Runruff...
I didn't mean to refute a master gardener, but just between us Beaver-Staters, don't you think that if the Feds decided to prohibit eggs, someone would come up with a chicken that laid 400 eggs a day? It's a classic case of a prohibitionist complaining about a situation caused by prohibition.You better put some fences around those giant cannabis trees. If one of them falls and injures a child, some dim bulb A.G. will introduce legislation banning children.I will retract my previous claim of being a master chicken choker in favor of being a master eggsistentialist, lest I offend any animal rights types.
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Comment #4 posted by runruff on May 21, 2012 at 11:12:08 PT
I don't not make hollow claims or boast for ego.
You may see for yourself what a 10 pound plant looks like before it it harvested. and you will be fortunate enough to meet me in the process. [Just kidding about that].On Youtube search type in Runruff and you will be able to see some video [3] of these legendary plants.Happy viewing!
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Comment #3 posted by Oleg the Tumor on May 21, 2012 at 10:09:10 PT:
A "Card"? Its a Plucking Flant, for crying ..
“Pounds and pounds and pounds of marijuana are being shipped out of Oregon, not to sick people needing cards but to drug dealers who are selling it, . . . "Uh, excuse me, I might be a patient from a different ward, but there's nobody else selling it around here.All my other meds are clearly labled.
The warning labels say I might want to kill myself.I never thought of it as a suggestion, until now.I am damaged, neurologically. Is that why I am a federal criminal?
It would be nice to know why.I'm just going to have to roll out the Steam-Powered Howitzer again and blow off a few rounds to stay sane.When will this madness end?Restore the Hemp Industry before somebody else does!Eliminate the "Hemp Gap" now facing the US!
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Comment #2 posted by schmeff on May 21, 2012 at 09:27:28 PT
10 pounds per plant is nothing...
...I have a chicken that lays 400 eggs a day. My cholesterol is through the roof!I am a master chicken choker.
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Comment #1 posted by runruff on May 21, 2012 at 08:16:50 PT
10 pounds per plant, yep, I've done it!
"...Who are evading taxes".In my considered opinion, a true patriot will not pay federal taxes. It is an anathema to freedom and a crime what they do with it.I agree to pay local taxes because we can control where it is spent and they benefit the community. It is a bad thing to be able to lose your home if you are unable to pay your local taxes. This should be changed.
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