DEA Flouts Mendocino Medical Marijuana Ordinance by Raiding First Grow Permit Applicant

COVELO, Cal, Jul 7th 2010:   The DEA  flouted Mendocino County's newly enacted medical marijuana cultivation ordinance by raiding the first collective that had applied to the sheriff's cultivation permit program.
  A multi-agency federal task force descended  on the property of Joy Greenfield, 68, the first Mendo patient to pay the $1050 application fee under the ordinance, which  allows collectives to grow up to 99 plants provided they comply with  certain regulations. Ms Greenfield  had  applied  in the name of her collective, "Light the Way," which opened in San Diego earlier this year.  Her property had  passed  a preliminary inspection by Mendo sheriff's deputies shortly before the raid, and  she had bought the sheriff's "zip-ties" intended to designate her plants as legal. In the days before the raid, Ms Greenfield  had seen a helicopter hovering over her property;  she inquired with the sheriff, who told her  the copter belonged to DEA and wasn't under his control.
  The agents invaded her property with guns drawn, tore out the collective's 99 plants and took Ms Greenfield's  computer and cash. Ms Greenfield was not at home during the raid, but spoke on the phone to the DEA agent in charge.  When she told  him that she was a legal grower under the sheriff's program, the agent replied  "I don't care what the sheriff says."
  When she returned to her house  she found it in disarray with soda cans strewn on the floor. "It was just a mess," she said, "No one should be able to tear your house apart like that." Ms. Greenfield  called the raid a "slap in the face of Mendocino's government."
   The DEA has been tight-lipped about the raid, but claims it was part of a larger investigation involving other suspects."Here Mendo is trying to step out in front by passing this ordinance, and what do the feds do but raid the first applicant," commented Ms Greenfield's attorney, Bob Boyd of Ukiah. " The DEA is stepping all over local authorities trying to tax and regulate."
    Neither Boyd nor other locals believe that the sheriff tipped off the DEA or gave them  any information about permit applicants. Sheriff Allman has been highly supportive of efforts to bring local growers into the permit program.  Nonetheless, observers fear that
the raid will have a chilling effect.
   "This raid is clear evidence that the DEA is out of control,"
said California NORML director Dale Gieringer.  "A change in federal law is long overdue. In the meantime, the DEA needs a new director who will enforce Attorney General Holder's pledge not to interfere in state medical marijuana laws." The agency is currently directed by Michele Leonhart, a Bush holdover who has presided over numerous medical marijuana raids and has obstructed  research efforts to develop marijuana for medicine. Obama has denominated her to head the agency -  a move strongly opposed by drug reformers, who are calling on the administration to honor its pledge of change.

Dale Gieringer - dale@canorml.org
California NORML, NEW ADDRESS:  2261 Market St. #278A, San Francisco
CA 94114 -(415) 563- 5858 - www.canorml.org

UPDATE:

In response to this post:

Hide your granny, another hardened criminal off the streets

You Should Know Why Snakebites Are About to Get a Lot More Deadly

The cure for bites from North American coral snakes is about to disappear.

Find out why an unprofitable antivenom may end up costing lives.

If you live in Alabama, Arizona,Florida, South Carolina, Louisiana, or Texas, you should know that unfortunately, after Oct. 31 of this year, there may be no commercially available antivenom (antivenin) left. That's the expiration date on existing vials of Micrurus fulvius, the only antivenom approved by the Food and Drug Administration for coral snake bites. Produced by Wyeth, now owned by Pfizer, the antivenom was approved for sale in 1967, in a time of less stringent regulation.

 

U.S., Russia exchange spies in biggest spy swap since the Cold War

Planes land in U.K. and Moscow after Cold War-style airport handover

Just when it looked like this recent spy story was going to be an ongoing saga the Russian and American governments put a lid on it.

After the swiftest swap in spy vs spy history between the two countries, the story comes to an inclusive ending. What were those Russian spies reporting on to their Moscow handlers?

We just barely got to know what happened. Spies in suburbia sure sounded like a good outline for a James Bond movie.

As a matter of fact, As It Stands this Sunday in The Times-Standard, will be about channeling your inner Ian Fleming and coming up with a better ending to this tale!

Paul the Octopus is Germany’s answer to Pennslvania’s Punxsutawney Phil

‘It looks like a clear-cut victory for Spain,’ spokeswoman says

An octopus named Paul opens a box decorated with a Spanish flag and a shell inside on Friday at the Sea Life aquarium in Oberhausen, western Germany.

View related photos

I was traveling around today with a buddy who had a camera

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It was beautiful along Highway 36 today.

My friend Carl Young and I were in the Dinsmore area and he started snapping away with his fancy camera.

This is my favorite photo from the bunch he took. I might have to start posting his stuff on a regular basis. What do you think?

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Judge: Federal gay marriage ban unconstitutional

Lawsuit deals with ban on pension, other benefits for same-sex couples

U.S. District Judge Joseph Tauro ruled in favor of gay couples' rights in two separate challenges to the Defense of Marriage Act, known as DOMA, a 1996 law that the Obama administration has argued for repealing. The rulings apply to Massachusetts but could have broader implications if they're upheld on appeal, but it was not clear if the Obama administration would appeal.

Are you kidding me? Palin to replace Steel? From the gaffe king to the gaffe queen

How desperate is the Republican Party? Let’s put it this way - if GOP members pick Palin to head their party they’re panicked to the point of denying reality. Palin is a cartoon for extreme Conservatives, a comedian’s delight, and possibly the dumbest Republican star to emerge since George Bush. Look at her track record. She couldn’t even finish her term as Alaska’s Governor because she was getting into trouble with staff and letting her husband run things behind the scenes. The seat was becoming too hot and her handlers advised her to vacate before she ended up losing the job. But she figured out that the real money (forget a governor’s small salary) could be made flapping her guns from coast-to-coast to crazed Conservatives who thrive on rhetoric.   

When McCain pulled her out of obscurity, he created a monster. She found out that there were bigger fish to fry than what the political waters in Alaska offered. She let the world know that she could almost see Russia from her back door, and created that much repeated chant, “Drill baby Drill.” Now she gets a reported $100,000 per speaking engagements where she can continue to share her special views on the Constitution, her love for the NRA and hunting wolves from helicopters. All great grist for the GOP agenda.

The only positive thing I see coming out of Palin heading the GOP Party is it ought to drive any sane Republicans (if any are left) into becoming Independents and giving them a much needed lift to be  a  real player in politics.   

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Banks beg lawmakers not to throw them in the briar patch – just like that clever Briar Rabbit in the children’s story

R.J. Matson, The St. Louis Post Dispatch / Politicalcartoons.com

Swipe, smile, blow: Pa. has wine vending machines

Some question machines' efficacy in preventing sales to minors

Pennsylvania, which has some of the most Byzantine liquor laws in the U.S., recently introduced the country's first wine "kiosks."

Keith Wallace, president and founder of The Wine School of Philadelphia, described the kiosks as well-intentioned failures with limited selections and overtones of Big Brother.

"The process is cumbersome and assumes the worst in Pennsylvania's wine consumers — that we are a bunch of conniving underage drunks," Wallace wrote in an e-mail to The Associated Press

GOP chair Steele staying put despite latest gaffe

Steele, once known as “Homie The Clown” back in the days when he earned an honest living, sure isn’t getting many laughs from his GOP playmates.

'Everyone is basically working around him,' says former Republican rep

The outspoken Steele has faced calls for his resignation from conservatives and some in the GOP after he said that the nine-year-old conflict in Afghanistan was a mistaken "war of Obama's choosing." So far, Steele has ignored demands for him to step down.

Latest pot legalization study ‘casts more smoke than light’

Looks like another inconclusive academic study regarding Marijuana legalization. I got this email from Dale this afternoon (at noon):

“Overall, this report casts more smoke than light on the issue , but that is in the nature of any academic study where so many basic facts remain in dispute. The most important lesson to be taken away is that the benefits of legalization depend strongly on how it is implemented.  Passing a  bill or initiative is therefore just the first step in a lengthy process requiring many additional, carefully considered policy decisions.”

      - Dale Gieringer Cal NORML

http://www.canorml.org/background/mjeconomics.html

CONCLUDING REMARKS OF RAND REPORT (p.  69)

The current California proposals to legalize marijuana would go well beyond cannabis reforms in any other nation to date-even the Dutch cannabis coffee-shop system. California voters and legislators face considerable uncertainty because it is very difficult to estimate how much more marijuana will be consumed in the state or how the change will affect tax revenues, criminal-justice costs, and health-care costs. Nonetheless, we believe that bringing together relevant data in a systematic fashion and developing a model has provided some important insights:
* The pretax retail price of marijuana will substantially decline, likely by more than 80 per-
cent. The price consumers face will depend heavily on taxes, the structure of the regula-
tory regime, and how taxes and regulations are enforced.
* Consumption will increase, but it is unclear how much because we know neither the
shape of the demand curve nor the level of tax evasion (which reduces revenues and the
prices that consumers face).
* Tax revenues could be dramatically lower or higher than the $1.4 billion estimate; for
example, uncertainty about the federal response to California legalization can swing esti-
mates in either direction.
* Previous studies find that the annual cost of enforcing marijuana laws ranges from around
$200 million to nearly $1.9 billion; our estimates show that the costs are probably less
than $300 million.
* There is considerable uncertainty about the impact that legalizing marijuana in Califor-
nia would have on public budgets and consumption, with even minor changes in assump-
tions leading to major differences in outcomes.

* Much of the research used to inform this debate is based on insights from studies that
examine small changes in marijuana prices or the risk of being sanctioned for posses-
sion. The proposed legislation in California would create a large change in policy. As a result, it is uncertain how useful these studies are for making projections about marijuana
legalization.
Legalization has many potential dimensions; thus, the term can mean many different
things (MacCoun and Reuter, 2001). An examination of the Dutch system, the Australian
and Alaskan home-cultivation allowances, and the far more-extensive international experiences with alcohol and tobacco regulation suggests that the devil is in the details. On many dimensions, neither the Ammiano bill nor the RCTC proposition is particularly good at the details. Indeed, many of the issues addressed in this paper are specific to the "details" of these two proposals, not to marijuana legalization in general.

photo source