cannabisnews.com: DrugSense FOCUS Alert # 158 January 31, 2000 





DrugSense FOCUS Alert # 158 January 31, 2000 
Posted by FoM on January 31, 2000 at 13:43:37 PT
Laguna Beach Police Refuse to Uphold Prop. 215
Source: MapInc.
Prop 215 co-author Anna T. Boyce, R.N. will join Steve and Michele Kubby for an emergency meeting with Laguna Beach Mayor Kathleen Blackburn at 4:30 PM on today. Several other patients will also be attending, to lodge a protest against the threats made by the Laguna Beach Police Department that they will order a SWAT raid on any citizen who attempt to grow even one medical marijuana plant. 
Andy Kinnon, Regional Director for AMMA arranged the emergency meeting with Mayor Blackburn specifically to discuss threats and civil rights violations made against Steve Kubby by the Laguna Beach Police Department. The AMMA group is currently considering taking the LBPD to the Orange County Grand Jury for felony violations of the Compassionate Use Act, Americans with Disabilities Act, Unruh Act, and especially the Bane Act which provides enhanced penalties where an officer of the law threatens a disabled person who is attempting to exercise rights granted by the state. AMMA also calling for an investigation of the Laguna Beach Police Department for violating their oath of office to uphold the law, violating the California Constitution and endangering the public safety. It would be very helpful if you could fax a letter sometime this week, on your official stationary, to Mayor Blackburn, explaining your frustrations about this issue and urging the implementation of the Compassionate Use Act. Please make the point that there is no reason to vote anymore if the laws that we pass are so blatantly ignored by police.The Laguna Beach City Council Fax is (949) 497-0771. The Laguna Beach Home Page: http://www.scag.org/homepages/laguna_beach/frmain01.htm As an alternative to faxing, you can transmit your fax or statement to Steve Kubby (steve kubby.org) via e-mail and he will deliver it to the Laguna Beach Mayor.Laguna Beach is just a small city and we are a national organization. Let's focus our total resources on forcing the police to obey the new medical marijuana law. After all, if police are successful in gutting Prop. 215, then we'll face the same problems everywhere else, even if a federal medical marijuana law were to pass. This is the battle that we must win and we need to make our voices heard loud and clear in Laguna Beach California. Please do what you can to help pave the way for this historic effort to finally force the police to accept the will of the voters who passed the Compassionate Use Act.Thanks for your effort and support. WRITE A LETTER TODAY:Together we ARE making a difference!It's not what others do it's what YOU do! Make Writing At Least One Letter a Week Your Commitment to Reform:PLEASE SEND US A COPY OF YOUR LETTER OR TELL US WHAT YOU DID: (Letter, Phone, fax etc.)Please post a copy your letter or report your action to the sent letter list (sentlet mapinc.org) if you are subscribed, or by E-mailing a copy directly to MGreer mapinc.org Your letter will then be forwarded to the list with so others can learn from your efforts and be motivated to follow suit This is VERY IMPORTANT as it is the only way we have of gauging our impact and effectiveness.CONTACT INFO:Contact: The Laguna Beach City Council Fax is (949) 497-0771 Please write a letter to Mayor Kathleen Blackburn in response to the article about police threatening a SWAT raid on any who attempts to exercise their legal right to cultivate medical marijuana, even if it is just one plant.You can also e-mail to Steve Kubby (steve kubby.org) who will print up your letter and send it on to the Mayor. EXTRA CREDIT:Two grand juries are currently deciding if they want to investigate AMMA's civil rights complaints and what priority their complaint will have with other important cases. PLEASE send a letter today to the two people listed below and tell them that why this issue is personally important to you and to the future of our country: Placer County Grand JuryNancy Gregoi, Foreman11490 C AvenueAuburn, CA 95603Fax (530) 889-7447Voice (530) 889-7469Orange County Grand Jury c/o Carol Duensing (cduensing superior.co.orange.ca.us) 700 Civic Center Dr. West, Room A100 Santa Ana, CA 92702 Voice (714) 834-3320In addition, PLEASE send a letter today to: Bill Jones Secretary of State Sacramento, CA 95814 916-657-2166 fax 916- 653-3214 http://www.ss.ca.gov/ AMMA's carefully documented civil rights complaints are posted for public inspection at:Orange County: http://www.kubby.com/ComplaintGrandJury.OC.html Placer County: http://www.kubby.com/Complaint.Grand.Placer.html Sec of State: http://www.kubby.com/Complaint.SecState.html Attorney General: http://www.PetitionOnline.com/AMMA/petition.html ARTICLE:Top Story: Steve Kubbyıs Interview With A Nark Posted by Richard Cowan on 2000-01-29 19:21:36 US: OPED: The Dark Side of Sgt. Sunshine URL: http://www.marijuananews.com/ Source: http://www.kubby.com/AMMA.html Posted January 29, 2000(MarijuanaNews note: I think that Steve Kubbyıs interview with a nark shows, as Steve says, "a prime example of what the drug war ideology has done to our police." This is by no means a unique phenomenon. This is an international ideology that has corrupted law enforcement around the world. Even prohibitionists should be disturbed by the refusal of the police to obey the law. This is a danger to everyone.) 1/28/00SPECIAL REPORT: THE DARK SIDE OF SGT. SUNSHINE: I spoke today to Sgt. Bob Rahaeuser, Head of Narcotics for Laguna Beach.The super-friendly Sgt. Rahaeuser, immediately suggested we use first names and came across like the nicest person you could ever speak to -- until we came to the subject of medical marijuana. That's when "Bob" went back to a very stern Sgt. Rahaeuser, who told me that he considers marijuana an addictive and dangerous drug. I asked about their arrest policy, now that the Compassionate Use Act was the law. Sgt. Rahaeuser explained that he will arrest anyone for any amount of marijuana over an ounce. Furthermore, he told me that if he had ANY reason to suspect if someone had just one plant, he would have a SWAT team raid them immediately. I explained that even under Dan Lungren's guidelines, patients were allowed two plants, but Sgt. Rahaeuser was firm and said, "Dan Lungren would never say any such thing." I offered to send Sgt. Rayhouser a copy of Lungren's "Peace Officer Guidelines," but Sgt. Rayhouser refused my offer.Then Sgt. Rahaeuser offered me some advice, "marijuana is addictive and leads to heroin." I pointed out to Sgt. Rahaeuser that the Drug Czar's own IOM report said that there is no evidence to support either of those assertions. Sgt. Rahaeuser discounted my claims, telling me that it went against his 26 years of professional experience. I explained to Sgt. Rahaeuser that the Compassionate Use Act was the law, that it has not been successfully challenged and that he had an obligation to uphold the law, regardless of his feelings. Sgt. Rahaeuser disagreed and said that it was only a law if the courts said it was a law and they aren't saying that. I pointed out to Sgt. Rahaeuser that rights not defended are soon lost and he responded that "any attempt to test the Laguna Beach Police Department will be met with a (SWAT) raid."After thanking Sgt. Rahaeuser for his frankness, I explained my medical condition and my documented life-and-death requirement for medical marijuana. Sgt. Rahaeuser expressed his concern for my health, but told me he was "glad" I had been arrested for attempting to assert those rights before, since "there was not possible way to justify growing so many plants."Once again I thanked Sgt. Rahaeuser for his clarifying the position of the Laguna Beach Police Department. Call me "Bob," said the once again warm and friendly Sgt. Rahaeuser, "and I hope you feel better...really I do!" Postscript: Sgt. Rahaeuser is a prime example of what the drug war ideology has done to our police. The fact is that Sgt. Rahaeuser, an otherwise honest and dedicated police officer, has clearly demonstrated his contempt for those he is supposed to serve and for his oath of office. Furthermore, Sgt. Rahaeuser's blind allegiance to his zero tolerance ideology makes it impossible for him to tolerate any implementing of the Compassionate Use Act. So zealous is Sgt. Rahaeuser's blind obedience to his drug war mentality that he refuses to believe his own copy of Dan Lungren's "Peace Officer Guidelines," which says: "One marijuana plant produces approximately one pound of bulk marijuana. One pound will make approximately 1,000 cigarettes. Therefore, one can argue that MORE THAN TWO PLANTS would be cultivation or more than necessary for personal medical use." [emphasis added]SAMPLE LETTER (sent to Mayor Kathleen Blackburn) January 30, 2000Kathleen Blackburn, MayorLaguna Beach, CADear Mayor Blackburn:I have been requested by Steve Kubby to write to you on behalf of his efforts to facilitate implementation of The Compassionate Use Act, California law11362.5 which was enacted to carry out the mandate of Proposition 215, originally passed in November, 1996. It has been very well documented that despite the clearly stated intentions of both the proposition and the statute, California patients and their caregivers have continued to be harassed and arrested by law enforcement officials who happen to disagree with the law. This illegal and reprehensible conduct has been facilitated by the fact that, although the valid medical uses of marijuana have been affirmed by the Institute of Medicine and validated by 55 to 60 percent of voters in those states where it has appeared on the ballot, the concept is not "politically correct" in the eyes of most elected politicians.This situation has led to 11362.5 remaining an orphan bereft of the usual enabling legislation at state level; this in turn has allowed individual sheriffs to engage in a travesty of justice and arrest bona-fide patients on suspicion of "sales" for wildly varying numbers of plants- plus other ploys too numerous to mention. Mr. Kubby, himself is facing felony prosecution in another county under circumstances which can only be described as disgraceful. My purpose is not to plead that case here; only to urge you to apply the principles of fairness and humanity to patients in Laguna Beach who meet the criteria of California law. This requires you to take steps to protect them as the statute intended; you must not tolerate the illegal and inhumane tactics at least one of your policeman is on record as claiming to be the "policy' of Laguna Beach toward users of medical marijuana.Sincerely,Tom O'Connell MDIMPORTANT: Always include your address and telephone numberPlease note: If you choose to use this letter as a model please modify it at least somewhat so that the paper does not receive numerous copies of the same letter and so that the original author receives credit for his/her work.ADDITIONAL INFO to help you in your letter writing efforts3 Tips for Letter Writers http://www.mapinc.org/3tips.htm Letter Writers Style Guide http://www.mapinc.org/style.htm TO SUBSCRIBE, DONATE, VOLUNTEER TO HELP, OR UPDATE YOUR EMAIL SEE http://www.drugsense.org/hurry.htmTO UNSUBSCRIBE SEE http://www.drugsense.org/unsub.htm Please help us help reform. Send drug-related news to editor mapinc.org Cannabis News Articles On The Kubby Case:New Tactic for Backer of Pot Use - 1/31/2000http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread4535.shtmlSearch Over 100 Articles On The Kubby Case:http://www.google.com/search?q=CannabisNews+Kubby&num=10&sa=Google+Search 
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Comment #1 posted by Rainbow on January 31, 2000 at 17:04:01 PT
Pigs
It has been shown countless number of times and you can not reason with a pig. Farmers have known it for a long time. I guess the city folk still do not realize it.My father inlaw had to convince them with a 2X4 to do what he asked.A pig is a pig is a pig no matter how well or quietly they oink.Even time does not change them. Witness the WTO police action. It was like that in the late 60's and early 70's in Seattle at the U.RainbowA holdover from the 60's
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