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ASA’s Media Summary for the Week Ending 8/31/07

Submitted by dguard on

FEDERAL: New Mexico Paraplegic Raided

New Mexico Governor and Democratic Presidential candidate Bill Richardson is outraged over a federal raid on a paraplegic who is registered with the state to legally use medical marijuana. The patient was attempting to grow six plants, as he is entitled to, but most had died. Agents seized them regardless. The Governor has said he will use every available means to curtail federal interference with his state’s medical marijuana program. See ASA’s press release on the federal escalation to undermine medical marijuana state laws.

Governor to battle with feds over marijuana law
by Ray Seva, KOB TV 4 (NM)
A battle is brewing in Santa Fe over medical marijuana. An angry Governor Richardson wants the feds to leave sick New Mexicans alone and let them grow their pot. "I'm very concerned that the Bush administration instead of going after drug dealers, is going after people suffering from cancer, a paraplegic, most recently," said Governor Richardson.

Feds raid man's house for marijuana
KOB TV 4 (NM)
A drug task force on Tuesday raided the home of a man holding a state certificate allowing him to have and use marijuana. The problem for 44-year-old Leonard French is that the certificate exempts him from state law, not federal law, and the raid was a federal operation staffed by DEA agents and local law enforcement.

COMMENT

Multi-Agency Drug Task Force Wastes Money and Time Harassing Wheel-Chair Bound Patient
by Reena Szczenpanski, Huffington Post
Yesterday, the Pecos Valley Drug Task Force in southeastern New Mexico entered another skirmish in the failed war on drugs. Officers raided and seized a marijuana grow operation from the home of Leonard French, a paraplegic man who lost the use of both of his legs in a motorcycle accident. They seized...six plants, most of which were dead, according to Mr. French. Mr. French suffers chronic pain and muscle spasms due to his spinal cord injury, and qualified as a medical marijuana patient under the Lynn and Erin Compassionate Use Act state law that passed earlier this year.

FEDERAL: DEA Raids Northern California Dispensaries

The escalation of DEA attacks on patient access to medical marijuana continued this week with a coordinated series of raids on three dispensaries in the San Francisco Bay Area. As with earlier raids in the San Diego area, the DEA action came at the behest of the local district attorney’s office, which concluded that it was easier to ask the feds to act than comply with state law.

Pot club asks city for help
by Dana Yates, San Mateo Daily Journal (CA)
For more than a year, the Patient’s Choice Resource Cooperative distributed marijuana to 800 members quietly in San Mateo — until federal drug agents closed down the operation Wednesday. Now the lead director of PCRC is making some noise, urging the San Mateo City Council to enact a policy that supports marijuana dispensaries for sick patients.

San Mateo raids stir conflict on medical marijuana
by Michael Manekin, ANG Newspapers (CA)
Soon after the Patients Choice Resource Cooperative moved into its new digs in downtown San Mateo, the group received a cease-and-desist letter from the San Mateo County District Attorney's Office. "We could have sat here and spent a great deal of taxpayer money in San Mateo County, prosecuting it and going through the appeals, or we could bring the case to the attention of the federal government," the deputy district attorney said.

Three San Mateo pot distribution centers raided
by John Cote, San Francisco Chronicle
Federal agents and local police on Wednesday raided three locations in San Mateo that authorities described as "marijuana distribution centers."

Feds Shut Down 3 San Mateo Marijuana Centers
NBC 11 TV
Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Special Agent in Charge Javier F. Peña and San Mateo Police Chief Susan Manheimer announced Wednesday the execution of several federal search warrants on three marijuana distribution centers in San Mateo.

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