DOJ dispensary raids spur protest set for tomorrow at S.F. City Hall

UPDATE BELOW

California NORML invites friends & supporters to rally in protest of the Department of Justice's attack on medical marijuana at S.F. City Hall on Tuesday, April 3rd.

“In a report to Congress, http://www.canorml.org/news/DOJPelosiletter.html Cal NORML denounced the DOJ crackdown as arbitrary, inconsistent, disrespectful of state and local laws, and destructive of efforts to legally regulate marijuana.

The protest begins on the steps of City Hall (Polk Street entrance) at 11:30 a.m. A majority of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors will be joined by representatives from the offices of the City Attorney, Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, State Senator Mark Leno, and the Board of Equalization, to show their support for medical cannabis patients by delivering a strong message to the Obama Administration regarding recent actions by the Dept. of Justice (DOJ) and the State’s 4 U.S. Attorneys against local medical cannabis dispensaries.

District Attorney Gascon is sending a statement from his office affirming his stance on medical cannabis laws. A lively rally will precede the press conference at 11am, and at noon patients and supporters will march to the Federal Building located at 450 Golden Gate to demand that Attorney General Eric Holder end the federal attacks on safe access.

Other speakers at the press conference will include affected patients and dispensary operators, ASA Chief Counsel Joe Elford, Steph Sherer, representatives from the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws and San Francisco Medical Cannabis Task Force.”

- D. Gieringer, Cal NORML

For further information:

San Francisco Campaign for Safe Access: http://AmericansForSafeAccess.org/SFUnited

UPDATE: 1:23 p.m.                                 This kind of thing is why there’s a rally tomorrow!

Federal authorities raided Oaksterdam University, a “cannabis college” in northern California, on Monday morning.

Agents with the Internal Revenue Service, Drug Enforcement Agency and U.S. Marshals were spotted outside the medical marijuana facility, with some entering the site with power saws and a sledgehammer and other carrying out bags of material to a van, nbcbayarea.com and the San Francisco Chronicle reported.