Frontline: ‘The Pot Republic’ Airs On PBS July 26 & 29

By Steve Elliott

Photo: Frontline

Mendocino County Sheriff Tom Allman (left) visits a marijuana farm run by Matt Cohen (right), as featured in “The Pot Republic,” airing July 26 and 29 on PBS.

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Frontline is presenting “The Pot Republic,” a report on the effort to legalize marijuana in California, this month on PBS.

While the bulk of cannabis used in the United States used to come across the border from Mexico, Colombia, Canada and elsewhere, more than half of it is now believed to be domestically grown, much of it in California, “where an enormous black market has emerged under the cover of the state’s medical marijuana law,” at least if PBS is to be believed.

With more than a third of the U.S. now experimenting with some form of legalization and decriminalization — and several California counties attempting to openly regulate cannabis production — Frontline and the Center for Investigative Reporting teamed up to take a look at the country’s oldest, largest and most wide-open marijuana market.

Recently, the U.S. Department of Justice fired a shot across the bow to states which have legalized, and are regulating, the growing and distribution of medicinal cannabis.

Marijuana is still illegal for any purpose under federal law, and the DOJ can even prosecute “those who knowingly facilitate such activities,” including state and local officials. (This hasn’t happened anywhere yet, but both U.S. Attorneys for the State of Washington have openly threatened to do exactly that.)

Can the federal government put the ganja genie back in the bottle? And why on earth would they want to? Stay tuned…

Frontline: The Pot Republic airs on PBS affiliates (and will be available online) Tuesday night, July 26 and will repeat Friday night, July 29. Check your local listings for airtimes, which will be 9 p.m. or 10 p.m. in most markets.

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Congressional Candidate Disappointed With Latest DOJ Medical Marijuana Memo

Roger Goodman: Dear Department of Justice: Please Try Again

Yet another disappointment! I’ve just read carefully through the new Cole Memo from the DOJ. It supposedly “clarifies” federal policy on state-regulated medical marijuana, but if anything it leaves us more confused and uncertain (which is probably how folks at DOJ are feeling, too).

With the Ogden Memo in 2009 the Administration staked out new territory that gave some comfort to the drug policy reform community.  The latest statement from DOJ says federal policy has not changed – but the social and cultural change continues as public opinion sways in our favor.  The situation on the ground is clearly straining federal policy.

If we can count on federal policy not changing, as the Cole Memo asserts, than any activity “unambiguously complying with state law” should not be prosecuted, as the Ogden Memo originally stated. The increasing scope of state-sanctioned, state-regulated activity related to medical marijuana shouldn’t trigger any federal enforcement.

Unfortunately, the disturbing raids here in Washington State and elsewhere prove otherwise. Patients right now are feeling vulnerable and afraid because of this new spectre of federal prosecutions.

The original Odgen Memo and the new Cole Memo are political statements more than legal opinions. We must remember that marijuana is absolutely prohibited under federal law for any purpose whatsoever. Until recently this Administration had wisely implemented a selective enforcement policy more respectful to state laws and to public opinion. We need more sensitive leadership like that.

Let us call on the Administration to come out clearly in support of responsible state-regulated medical marijuana programs across the country – what’s best for patients and for public health and safety.

Sorry DOJ – Please give it another try.

 

Rep. Roger Goodman (D-WA)

Candidate for U.S. Congress 2012

Federal Forfeiture Laws Punish Legal Medical Marijuana Businesses

If you are involved in marijuana legalization or the marijuana industry, you need to read this

BY EAPEN THAMPY

The federal government is after you. They do not care if your state government has passed laws allowing you to conduct business, whatever facet of the cannabis business you might be in. They do not care if your customers are patients with Ehler-Danlos Syndrome, multiple sclerosis, or terminal cancer. They do not care if you’ve never been involved in a “real” crime in your life, if you pay your taxes on time, or if you go to church. They do not care if you are the mayor of your town or the hobo on the street.

The only thing that these federal law enforcement agencies care about is their money. Because when they raid you, your house, your business…they are looking for cars, houses, and cash.

When they raid you, they will have a chase car on scene. When the jackbooted thugs break down your door, guns blazing, they will search your house and the entirety of your personal effects. If they find any evidence, any mention, of a bank account, of personal wealth…they will take it.

They will take your money before you can hire an attorney to defend you in a court of law, and they will actively try to keep you from using the federal law that allows the provision of counsel for people who can’t afford it.

They will bankrupt you before they charge you with a crime.

If your mother wrote you a check or sent you a bank note, they will seize your mother’s bank account.

If your child has a piggy bank, or perhaps received a large cash gift for a birthday…they will take that too.

If they suspect you are a “drug dealer” they will time their raid to the best of their abilities to catch you with cash. I have found that law enforcement across the country will routinely and uniquely delay the service of warrants in “drug” crimes to maximize seizure revenue, rather than prevent the “drugs” from being sold to the community.

If you are innocent and you have had your property seized, they will threaten you if you attempt to get your property back. I know dozens of people who were hit with criminal charges after they challenged the civil seizure of their property. They will threaten your citizenship status if you look like an immigrant or associate with anyone who is an immigrant.

If you challenge their seizure of your property, they will use a labyrinth of tricks and pitfalls to undermine your efforts.

They will use the law of the high seas, laws designed to deal with violent pirates and terrorists, to persecute you in public and in private.

They will use the law of the high seas, laws designed to deal with violent pirates and terrorists, to persecute you in public and in private.

If you have the temerity to use the money you earn from providing products and services to consenting adults to purchase a nice car or any kind of visible luxury, you are a target.

They will laugh at you when you mention the Constitution or “rights”. Indeed, you may be reported to the FBI or Homeland Security for a “preliminary” assessment that the government does not have the legal obligation to keep a record of. In other words, they can punitively investigate you without telling you or anyone else, and you will have no way to prove what they are doing to you.

They can use the Patriot Act to stalk you and find your property. Because to them, you’re not an American…you’re a cash cow that they can slaughter under the name of “public safety”.

These are people who have no decency, yet occupy positions of power and respect. They will lie, bold-faced and brazen, to a state legislature. Not even the attentions of Congress will provoke respect from them. Agency heads who are invited by Congress to testify on forfeiture abuses have a track record of declining the invitation and sending a subordinate.

These are people who have no problem shredding subpoenaed documents that might prove damaging to them.

They will pay their salaries from the money and property they take from you. They will also buy weapons from the military, because they have the money and the power. They will use tanks and men wearing back masks and machine guns to raid you at night, like the KGB in the Soviet Union.

Some federal agencies have even paid judges directly from forfeiture funds. Impartial justice? I think not.

You will not have a proper record of the property that is taken or who has it. If your property is damaged or destroyed during their raid, they will deny the allegation. If you win your claim, they will claim that they are protected by qualified and absolute immunity.

If you do file a civil rights lawsuit against the government for violation of your rights, get ready for a 5-10 year ordeal. If and when you win your lawsuit, the government will fight the judgment and the payment of attorney’s fees. This is so that other attorneys will think twice before challenging the government.

The issues surrounding marijuana legalizers are not issues of marijuana legalization. They are issues of mercenary law enforcement, people who put on the blue uniform and the badge and go looking for plunder.

eapen.thampy@gmail.com

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Portland Aims to End Marijuana Arrests in Oregon City

Sensible Portland Aims To End Marijuana Arrests In Oregon City

Graphic: Sensible Portland

​A group of concerned citizens in Portland, Oregon is trying to pass an ordinance making marijuana possession the lowest enforcement priority for police, with no arrest required.

Sensible Portland turned in petitions with more than 2,000 signatures to the city clerk on Tuesday morning, reports WGME. In order to put the question before voters on the November ballot, 1,500 valid signatures are needed.

The proposed ordinance also requires Portland’s mayor to report to the City Council on marijuana arrests by the police, reports Caroline Cornish at WCSH 6.

Officers wouldn’t face any penalty if they violated the ordinance, and the language specifically states that it’s not intended to prohibit police from working with federal drug enforcement agents.

But Sensible Portland said it’s important for voters to go on the record about this issue, since the federal government said it plants to crack down on even medical marijuana users.

The group also hopes the proposed ordinance will eventually help lead to a discussion about legalizing marijuana.

If at least 1,500 of the 2,114 signatures turned in on Tuesday are valid, the proposal will go to the Portland City Council. The council will hold a public hearing, after which it can either enact the proposal, or put it before the voters in November.

The council can also put its own alternative plan before the voters at the same time.

Tags: lowest enforcement priority, ordinance, sensible portland

Feds Locking In On California’s Marijuana Industry

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by Michael Montgomery, California Report

With demand for medical marijuana surging around the country, some cities and states are looking to license commercial growing, including in California. Local officials say regulating the industry protects public safety and is a good source of tax revenue. But now the Obama administration is pushing back.

Last October business and city leaders gathered with medical marijuana growers and activists in a gritty industrial compound in east Oakland.

With DJs on hand, the crowd was inaugurating a super-store for pot growing supplies — and celebrating plans to open four industrial-scale medical pot farms under a new city ordinance.

Oakland Mayor Jean Quan spoke at the event, welcoming the potential tax windfall.

“When these cultivation facilities come online, we’re estimating in the first few years five to eight million dollars. Now that’s a sizeable chunk of change and it’s going to be an important part of this city’s economy,” said Quan.

Eight months later, Oakland’s plans are in tatters following stern warnings from the U.S. Justice Department that licensing of commercial marijuana growing, even for medical use, violates federal law.

At a large industrial park just off the Oakland’s 880 Freeway, developer Jeff Wilcox walks into a giant concrete and glass warehouse. It’s empty.

“This building was dubbed the football field of cannabis during our heyday. We were going to have 380 employees, and the average pay was about $52,000 [a year] per person,” said Wilcox.

Wilcox thought the facility would be safe from the feds as long as the operation closely complied with the city’s regulations and state laws. But today he sees things differently.

“The industry is scared that there’s a big push back coming against us,” said Wilcox.

The push back isn’t just against Oakland. Recently, the Justice Department warned officials in eight other states that they would be violating federal law if they allowed commercial production of medical marijuana.

“That, in very simple terms, is what drug traffickers do. That is drug trafficking period,” said Tommy LaNier, director of the National Marijuana Initiative, a program funded by the White House Office on Drug Control Policy.

LaNier says the tripwire for the Feds’ tough new posture came last year after Californians narrowly rejected Proposition 19, a measure to legalize recreational pot use. He says officials then zeroed in on local medical marijuana schemes like Oakland’s, and decided to threaten prosecution.

“They’re not going to go after someone who’s standing on the corner or in their home using marijuana. This is going to be targeting those individuals who are facilitating production, trafficking, engaged in the distribution,” La Nier said.

LaNier says the Justice Department letters state pointedly that even local officials could face criminal charges. But Jay Rorty, an ACLU attorney, says those warnings violate previous assurances from the Feds.

“It’s important that the DOJ makes clear that people who are complying with valid state law do not fear federal prosecution,” Rorty said.

Rorty and others insist that was the promise made in a 2009 Justice Department memo, which essentially stated: comply with state law and the feds won’t prosecute you. But Justice Department officials are saying the exemption only applies to seriously-ill people, not commercial growers and not medical marijuana distribution outlets.

Benjamin Wagner, the US Attorney for California’s Eastern District, says the Justice Department will enforce federal law.

“We’ve met with the DEA in this regard. People from Washington have been out to California to coordinate a statewide enforcement strategy,” Wagner said.

It’s unclear whether the Feds will target the state’s most established medical marijuana operators, like Harborside Health Center in Oakland.

On a recent afternoon at Harborside, dozens of customers were eagerly inspecting gleaming glass cases displaying well-manicured marijuana buds. Despite a grueling audit battle with the IRS, owner Steve Deangelo says Harborside is turning over millions of dollars in sales each month. Still, he says, medical marijuana remains a risky business.

“Until federal law changes, this is not an industry, it’s a movement. And anybody who gets involved in distributing medical cannabis has to be prepared to be arrested and have a monumental challenge on your hands,” said Deangelo.

Oakland city officials say they haven’t given up on plans to license marijuana cultivation. But for his part, developer Jeff Wilcox says the Feds’ warnings have scared off people who wanted to invest in a legitimately regulated business.

“You want to try to start an industry and then you have the IRS working against you, the federal government working against you — you’ve got a real problem,” said Wilcox. “So the problem is if you don’t grow this industry what happens is that it remains a black-market industry, and it’s always going to be that way.”

Medical-marijuana supporters are calling on the Obama administration to clarify the recent warnings. Sources close to the Justice Department say Attorney General Eric Holder is planning to do just that, in a letter that will be released soon.

Medical Marijuana Inc. Plans To Petition DEA For Right To Grow Cannabis

Medical Marijuana Inc is pleased to announce completion of a draft for a preliminary petition to the Federal Government to obtain a DEA sanctioned License to cultivate marijuana for medicinal purposes. In the US there are now 15 States which recognize the medicinal benefits of marijuana and cannabis related products (containing THC, the psycho-active ingredient) for various medical uses. Connecticut may soon be the 16th State to approve medical marijuana.

The Drug Enforcement Administration told Legalization Nation in an e-mail last week that 5 unnamed companies now hold licenses to grow cannabis in the United States. The DEA and enforcement agencies are examining a potential expansion of the medical marijuana industry along with a new acceptance by the Federal Government of the medical benefits. Nationwide, increasing numbers of Doctors are prescribing marijuana and related products for their patients and seeing their patients receiving benefit.

To further illustrate this expansion, (via a letter to the East Bay Express) the DEA revealed that “there are 64 active DEA registrations” (reflecting 55 companies) for manufacturers that have listed drug code 7370 (THC, Delta-8 THC, Delta-9 THC, dronabinol and others) and drug code 7371(TETRAHYDROCANNABINOL, ORGANIC) on their DEA record. In other words, 55 companies have active licenses for producing organic THC (meaning they are growing medicinal marijuana). These reports contradict the widespread belief that there is only one legal marijuana farm in America, operated under the DEA for research purposes.

Pharmaceutical manufacturers are watching this emerging trend of medicinal marijuana benefits to patients in the hope of bringing generic THC products to new market. For Pharmaceutical companies to bring generic THC products to market, the DEA would have to move organic THC down from Schedule I, where it is now, to a Schedule III classification, the same level of synthetic THC (Marinol). According to DEA records, pharmaceutical companies have requested just such a rescheduling. Should this rescheduling occur, it would green-light a new generation of prescription marijuana extract-to-pill farms.

The federal government has reportedly boosted its marijuana production capability by 900 percent to 4.5 million grams, according documents obtained by Americans for Safe Access. The most famous federally approved pot grower, Dr. Mahmoud El Sohly, has also testified he has begun legally selling THC extracted from his Mississippi farm to a substantial drug company.

Medical Marijuana Inc realizes that “full transparency in this industry” is a must, especially for investors in the growing number of publicly traded companies’ shares in the industry. MJNA and CannaBANK seek to provide the public with information on changing Governmental regulatory actions that may affect our businesses. As related in previous press releases, MJNA is dedicated to expanding available medical marijuana benefits to patients through science, such as its cannabinoid extraction process.

ABOUT MEDICAL MARIJUANA INC

Our mission is to be the world’s premier cannabis and hemp industry innovators, leveraging our team of professionals to source, evaluate, invest in and purchase value-added sustainable companies, while allowing them to keep their integrity and entrepreneurial spirit. We strive to create awareness within our industry, pay homage to the visionaries and activists of the past and present, provide the platform from which the industry can emerge into a global sustainable economy for all. Medical Marijuana Inc recognizes the vast and unequaled opportunities that exist in the rapidly expanding hemp and medical marijuana industries. The scientific recognition of cannabis has brought legalized marijuana use to the forefront of mainstream discussion, thus opening the door for safe and lucrative investment opportunities.

From www.medicalmarijuanainc.com

Feds Forced To Give Back $14K Seized From Pot Dispensary

Graphic: Hollywood Goodfella

​Federal authorities agreed last week to give back nearly half of the $29,350 in cash seized from a man who represents a man who operates a medical marijuana dispensary in San Marcos, California.

The decision to return $14,383 — about 49 percent of the money seized — was part of a settlement that stems from a December incident in which Ron Chang, the man behind the collective, was stopped by federal agents while hauling marijuana on Pala Road, reports Teri Figueroa of the North County Times.

Law enforcement claims that smugglers use the well-traveled back road to avoid the border checkpoint near Temecula on Interstate 15.

Chang’s attempt to set up a dispensary caused a stir in conservative San Marcos, which enacted rules preventing any such businesses from setting up shop in the city of about 84,000 residents.

His first dispensary, Medical Marijuana Supply Collective, was shut down by a Vista-based judge’s order back in October. A second shop, Club One Collective, was then set up in the same location, and in April was ordered to close by the same judge.

Both times, the city of San Marcos sued in state court to shut down the dispensaries.

The property has now been surrendered to the landlord, and there are no plans to reopen the dispensaries, according to Club One’s attorney, Nathan Shaman.

“For all intents and purposes, Club One has ceased to function,” said Shaman, who represented the shop in the cases brought by San Marcos.

He also represented the dispensary in the federal battle over the confiscated cash.

The government gave back more of the ash than it typically does in such seizure cases, admitted Assistant U.S. Attorney Bruce Smith, who represented the federal government in the case of the seized cash.

“I reviewed it and looked at the events and the quality of the evidence and decided that this was the best thing to do,” Smith said, admitting that the disparity between state and federal laws regarding medical marijuana can create “a real conundrum.”

Club One and some of the medical marijuana patients it served from Oceanside to Temecula found themselves the subjects of raids in April. Federal agents seized computers, corporate records and documents, according to Shaman.

The April raids came just four months after Chang’s run-in with federal agents after he got stopped and his cash was seized.

Details of that December encounter are revealed in a federal complaint seeking to permanently seize the cash found in the truck. That complaint — filed on April 15, two weeks before the raids — says that on December 21, 2010, a U.S. Border Patrol agent pulled Chang over as he drove a truck north on Pala Road.

About 9:40 a.m. on that day, a veteran Border Patrol agent in a marked car spotted a man in a red sweatshirt, driving a rented box-truck with Indiana license plates. The agent claimed he saw the truck driver shift to look into his rearview mirror at the marked Border Patrol car.

According to court documents, the agent claimed that prompted him to follow the truck as it headed north on Pala Road into Temecula.

Once that truck merged onto I-15, the agent flipped on his lights and siren and pulled it over. Chang was the driver, and authorities said he was headed to drop off items at his warehouse business in Murrieta.

Agents claim Chang consented to a search of his truck. Agents claim the search turned up $29,350 cash in a duffel bahg, 1.22 pounds of marijuana, and growing equipment.

Feds raid medical marijuana facility, 2 other Oakland County properties

Federal agents raided at least three properties in Oakland County this morning.

U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents were at Caregivers of America, a medicinal marijuana facility in Walled Lake, a home in Commerce Township and an office building in Novi.

DEA Group supervisor Andrew Eiseman said sealed federal search warrants were executed at all three locations, but few other details were released.

He would not say why the warrants were issued or provide more details about the investigation. He did not say if any arrests have been made and would not comment on whether the raids were connected.

The home raided is located in the 3300 block of Benstein Road and is owned by Romel and Ban Casab, according to the Oakland County Assessor’s Office. Romel Casab has said in a lawsuit that he is one of the owners of the former Packard plant in Detroit.

A neighbor who lives across the street from the home said she first saw agents at the home shortly after 7 a.m. today. A black convertible was taken out of the garage and driven out before it was towed away, neighbor Annette Winberg, 66, said. Another car was also taken, she said.

About 10 agents were at the home this morning with four or five cars when a Free Press reporter arrived.

The medicinal marijuana facility in Walled Lake is located at 1020 Decker Road. Walled Lake assessor records say it is owned by 1020 Decker LLC. The assessor’s office said it sends the company’s tax bills to a suite on West 12 Mile Road in Novi. The DEA confirmed that agents were also at the location on 12 Mile this morning executing a search warrant.

Calls to Caregivers of America and to the Commerce Township home were not returned. A woman at the home in Commerce Township declined to talk to a Free Press reporter.

The DEA is working with the Oakland County Sheriff’s office on the raid.

http://www.freep.com/article/20110412/NEWS03/110412028/Feds-raid-medical-marijuana-facility-2-other-Oakland-County-properties