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DEA Hits More CA Medical Marijuana Dispensaries

Submitted by Phillip Smith on (Issue #705)
Politics & Advocacy

DEA agents conducted raids on two more California medical marijuana dispensaries Monday, according to local press reports. Monday's targets were the Medizen dispensary on Northgate Boulevard in Sacramento and the Central Valley Caregiver's Co-operative in nearby Stockton.

The raids are only the latest evidence of the Obama administration's ramped-up war on medical marijuana distribution in the Golden State. They come less than two weeks after the state's four US Attorneys announced they were aggressively going after not only dispensaries, but landlords and property owners. They also come less than a week after a DEA raid on Northstone Organic, a fully state- and county-law compliant medical marijuana grow and co-op in Mendocino County.

In Sacramento, a Medizen employee told local TV news that neither the dispensary nor its landlord had been the object of a threat letter from the feds, but that the business was forced to close without warning.

"I was supposed to open at 10am. They got here at 7:30. I heard... they came in and basically took all our stuff, seized everything, took all our cash and product and stuff and that's basically it," said employee Mike Amarao. "They just said they're shutting all the clubs down in Sacramento, that's all we heard."

An attorney representing several Sacramento dispensaries said that some were going out of business rather than weather the threat of federal harassment and prosecution. That's going to hurt the city, which instituted a dispensary tax in July. It was estimated that the tax would generate $2 million for city coffers, but without dispensaries that figure would become inoperative.

There are no details on the Stockton raid.

Meanwhile, in Southern California, Orange County NORML and Americans for Safe Access are gearing up for a Tuesday night protest in Lake Forest in Orange County, where eight dispensaries have been ordered to close by a landlord whose bank account has been seized by federal officials.

Activists there accuse local officials of calling in the feds to do their dirty work after their own anti-dispensary efforts were blocked in state court. The city had spent $600,000 in its failed legal efforts.

Federal agents Saturday handed out asset forfeiture notices to some of the dispensaries. As of Tuesday, five of the eight dispensaries had already closed, with the others reported to be closing by day's end.

Permission to Reprint: This content is licensed under a modified Creative Commons Attribution license. Content of a purely educational nature in Drug War Chronicle appear courtesy of DRCNet Foundation, unless otherwise noted.

Comments

Bayareaman (not verified)

It's time we start asking serious questions in the US.  How can the federal government continue to harass the citizenry of California?  How can these federal resources be spent on this dribble?  What are the methamphetamine crime statistics for California?  Why is DEA directly helping the Mexican cartels with the California effort of stopping safe cannabis?  Why doesn't the federal government do something good for America, like preserving our freedom? Is another Waco or Ruby Ridge taking form in California?  It's time to vote America.  Vote these feds away with legislative might!!  It's our only hope before all our freedoms are just a memory of the past.

Tue, 10/18/2011 - 8:20pm Permalink
Ronn Pal (not verified)

In reply to by Bayareaman (not verified)

Really people? They keep it illegal so they can "raid" you, steal your money and product. its paractically free. they just need to pay the sheep boys to knock down the door. I'm certain they came up big in upwards of 10 million $ in cash,seized bank accounts, product, etc in Sac area alone!!!. They "allowed" them to opperate for a while for this purpose.

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 4:03pm Permalink

The reason they're going after the MMJ dispensaries is because it's election year and they want to prevent the dispensaries from funding the legalise marijuana campaign.

And they're freaking out cause it looks like they are about to lose their jobs and the power they have to bully anyone they don't like the look of.

Enroll to vote to legalize.

Wed, 10/19/2011 - 10:16am Permalink

In case your just plain stupid its the mexican drug cartelas that are trying to close american dispeneries and the american mafia would also lose money if its legalized, all the modern Al capone's would lose thier Jobs its already been acknowledged they have lost the war on Marijuana, its a weed it grows wild..make trees illegal while your at it.. I have medical conditions that I predict taking the drugs thier making me take in Tn. I'll be dead in 10 years, I'm getting ready to move to calif for the specific reason of getting medical marijuana,

legalize it completely , you stop the drug wars in Mexico cold,... no more profit in the USA, when someting is so stupid people cannot believe it  like making marijuana illegal, you can track it straight to the Mafia and the US gov. supposedly the gold is gone out of fort knox and it has illegal drugs to use as currency to deal with 3rd world countries that pieces of paper mean nothing in thier economy, the last time people were allowed to look at the gold thier were tons of american grown and processed heroin and morphine, they said in case of National emergency. I didn't seee any morphine go to Katrina victims did you??? the 800 million dollars spent in the war on drugs could have been used to get ready for the national disasters that are coming up its no secret the earth is changing again like it does every so many thousand of years La is losing a football field of land per day, the emergency meals made for citizens to buy are being bought up by the Gov., when the suppliers for catastrophes try to order emergecy meals their always bought up by the Gov. and what ever they order are placed on back order. the Gov. knows lots of things are going to be coming at us and according to a worker who drove one of those underground drills that can cut through 7 miles of rock a day with lasers they already have their underground cities ready to go complete with hospitals staff and doctor and the rest of us their gonna let us get hit by the asteroids brought by the planet heading toward earth that will pass through the asteroid belt dragging millions of these rocks behind it, the sunamis the tornadoes they know are coming  and in case you still dont get it they want you dead, by legalizing mariuana we couild have in place disaster relief set up, we could have water systems sewage systems in place ready to go like they have aleady plus their mach 2 trains mag lev they can go all over the us in short time, its all about what the few individuals who actually run everything want, and its not the congress they couldn't negotiate their way out of a wet paper bag they just want to vote them selves another raise, articles in magazines long ago said specifically they made more money with cannabis illegal now thier scared thier cash cow is gonna be exposed.

Sun, 01/08/2012 - 9:02pm Permalink
William Aiken (not verified)

I had great hope for Obama to champion the right of States that voted to have Medical Marijuana available for its citizens. However, I find it extremely frustrating that our President can revert to the Bush policy of raiding legal dispensaries for political gain. Where is the media on this story. None of the reports in the mainstream have sought a quote or comment from this administration on this major flip-flop.

If one compares what Obama said as a candidate for the democratic nomination and his position now on medical marijuana, there at complete opposite sides of the issue. The recent national polling that reveals that Americans are at a all time high of 50% in favor of legalization barely got mentioned in the national media. And when NBC's Brian Williams gave a 15 second snippet on this story, last night, he couldn't resist using a cliche pun to describe the poll. Until Obama demonstrates some support of the people's right to MM, drug reformers shouldn't whore there vote for the lesser evil. Vote Libertarian!

 

Wed, 10/19/2011 - 4:31pm Permalink
Ralph Wylie (not verified)

It never ceases to amaze me of the brilliance of the Federal government in attacking legal businesses in California that paid taxes, provided employment and a legal medical product for sick people by now forcing the whole industry back underground and into the hands of the cartels and scum bag dope dealers that will sell pot, meth, heroin and any other drugs to any one with the money.

BRILLIANT, JUST FUCKING BRILLIANT!!!!

Obama and Holder have to go and it can't be soon enough. They both lied about their stance on Medical Marijuana. Hell, they lied about everything! Enough is enough.

Dr. Ron Paul has it right.

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 1:03pm Permalink
rlhndrsn (not verified)

Schedule I: cannabis.. of no medical value.

oh really... if the US Government claims there is no medicinal value to cannabis, then tell me why they produce Marinol? oh, wait.. i forgot they catered to Big Pharma, all of whom have killed thousands with their 'cure' pills for this and that..

I have liver disease, fractured leg and hip, arthritis and herniated discs and cannot take OTC crap filled with coal tar and a ton of other chemicals. Just because the Feds say I cannot use cannabis legally won't stop me from using the only natural item I find relief with. 

In this sad case, Welcome Cartels! 

We now know who Obama supports and it is NOT what the majority of Americans support. 

Another vote lost, Mr. President.

You won't win this so called war on cannabis, but you just put folks like me back into the hands of the Cartels on this issue and California and the Feds will lose millions in tax revenues and hundreds of jobs lost with those people going on the unemployment roles... good job Feds!!

Perhaps it's because they privatized prisons and they make more money off arrests?

Well.. we could all just get arrested.. I'm old.. I could use three squares/day, free roof over my head, medical benefits, education... oh, dear.. come get me PLEASE! I could use the break from Amerika's BS...

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 2:34pm Permalink

We can no longer tolerate this propagation of evil... Like my commanding officer said once we must gouge the eye's out of the enemy... Look marijuana is a holistic and powerful herb in the treatment of many things... It has been proven and I have seen it first hand... even Harvard scientists know this... But guess what, so isn't Bees Honey just Google it... The fact is  Bees Honey is legal as it should be... Marijuana is not... We can no longer continue the hypocrisy in America... Alcohol a poison absorbed by the stomach lining is legal... Cigarettes ... with 1000 + chemicals is legal for Teens once they hit 18... If you have not researched you can not learn and if you do not learn the government soon could have the power to filter your FREE speech on the internet... America is on an unsustainable economic crash course... Ron Paul 2012

P.S. The only folks that are claiming that marijuana is not healthy or medicinal have clearly either A) Not ingested it and seen it first hand B) Have not researched the benefits of it or the possible side effects and C) Should not be anywhere near our government..

Fri, 11/18/2011 - 9:05pm Permalink

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