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

MAKE A DONATION TO AMERICANS FOR FORFEITURE REFORM TODAY!

California Rejects Plan To Reduce Cannabis Cultivation Penalties

Graphic: disinfo.com

​The California Assembly on Friday rejected Assemblyman Tom Ammiano’s bill, AB 1017, to reduce marijuana cultivation from a mandatory felony to a “wobbler,” which would have allowed discretion on charging a misdemeanor. The vote was 24 yes to 36 no.

The bill had been supported by the district attorney of Mendocino County, but was opposed by the state D.A.’s association.

“The state Legislature has once again demonstrated its incompetence when it comes to dealing with prison crowding,” said disappointed California NORML Director Dale Gieringer.

“With California under court order to reduce its prison population, it is irresponsible to maintain present penalties for nonviolent drug offenses,” Gieringer said. “It makes no sense to keep marijuana growing a felony, when assault, battery, and petty theft are all misdemeanors.

Photo: California NORML

Dale Gieringer, California NORML: “Legislators have once again caved in to the state’s law enforcement establishment”

​

“Legislators have once again caved in to the state’s law enforcement establishment, which has a vested professional interest in maximizing drug crime,” Gieringer said.

Numerous liberal Democrats failed to vote, with some of them actually opposing AB 1017, among them Sandre Swanson of Oakland, Jerry Hill of San Mateo, and Mike Feuer of Los Angeles.

Meanwhile, Chris Norby of Orange County was the only Republican “yes” vote in the entire Assembly.

Humboldt County Residents Plan Marijuana-Based City

Photo: Cheebatech

Just go ahead and put me down as a permanent resident, man.

A group from southern Humboldt County, California is hoping to capture the independent, weed-friendly spirit of the area by creating a city that uses revenues from the local marijuana industry.

The Humboldt Emerald City Organizing Group is holding an informational fund raiser Sunday, May 15, for the formation of Emerald City, according to Jim Lamport with Lamport Legal Documents in Garberville. The event, begins about 1 p.m. at the Beginnings Octagon in Briceland, aims to inform the public while raising money to fund the incorporation process, reports Donna Tam at the Eureka Times-Standard.

Lamport said the group hopes the new city will benefit from sales tax related to its marijuana industry.

While Arcata and Eureka have adopted ordinances regulating medical marijuana grows, Humboldt County itself has yet to pass an ordinance. Lamport said he thinks the Emerald City Council would quickly take up the passing of an ordinance.

Photo: PhoenixPharmer

A juicy bag of primo local product, Humboldt County Kush. Could this cash crop support a cannabis-friendly Emerald City?

​ “The rural southern part of the county is socioeconomically different from Arcata or Eureka, or Rio Dell or Fortuna,” Lamport said. “Currently, we’re lumped in politically with all the vast unincorporated areas of the county to the extent that we feel the need for greater local representation.”

The group needs about $7,500 for the first steps of the incorporation process, including an initial feasibility study, a preliminary analysis of available revenue sources for a potential city, and how any financial gaps might be filled.

The group would need to file a formal application with the Local AGency Formation Commission (LAFCO), which decides if an area has the fiscal capability and community support to form a new city.

The preliminary boundary of Emerald City, which LAFCO helped draw up, includes areas of Garberville, Redway and Benbow, including the Garberville Airport.

“They need to show where the money is going to come from because as a city, they would be responsible for a range of services and those services will need to be clearly defined,” said LAFCO Executive Officer George Williamson, who has the organization has already been in discussions with the Humbold Emerald City Organizing Group.

According to Williamson, who will be at Sunday’s event to answer questions on a panel, the initial study will only be the first of several the group will need to complete, and all fees associated with processing the application will need to be paid up front.

There will also be marijuana experts and speakers at the event on Sunday, including Julia Carrera, a medical marijuana inspector from Mendocino County.

If the group completes the required studies, which include an environmental analysis and a plan outlining how services would be provided, it will need to gather petition signatures from 25 percent of registered voters who are property owners within the defined area.

The group would also need to negotiate a tax revenue sharing agreement with Humboldt County, which indicates what services the new city would take on and how much of the county’s tax revenue it would take in order to have those services.

“It all has to be revenue neutral,” Williamson said. “They can’t ask for more than they need to provide, and they can’t leave the county with less.”

Lamport, who was one of the organizers of an attempt to make Southern Humboldt its own county 15 years ago, said the efforts are part of a longstanding sentiment over local control of services.

“We’ve had several meetings with LAFCO personnel and county officials,” Lamport said. “And, we’ve been pleased with their efforts to take us seriously, and they’ve certainly been encouraging.”

Sexism in the Marijuana Trade

I’ve been a part of the marijuana movement since I started working for High Times in 1989. Though High Times is predominately run by a number of women at the top, the magazine is a boy’s club, edited primarily by men. High Times caters to a predominately male readership. That’s why the magazine has featured photo spreads of Playmates, Penthouse Pets and porn stars. It’s a men’s magazine first, and the editors and bosses know how to play to their crowd.

While I worked at High Times (I left in 2007), several editors pursued these photo shoots, steering the magazine perilously in the porn direction. It all started with Jenna Jameson in 2001 for a “Pot & Sex” issue. The porn star was on top of her world at the time and the issue flew off newsstands.

High Times is no different than most publishing companies. When something works, the bosses say, “Do that again.” So the chase was on to find more Jennas. From that point, there was run of cheesecake covers – from Stoner Girls Next Door to Jenna (again) to more recent Miss High Times winners to yet another porn star, Tera Patrick. Do stoners really want porn with their pot?

I fought the good battle there and lost. When I was co-editor from 2004-2006, the dreaded sex issue came up. On one side of the editorial board, it was decided to pursue Jenna. On the other side, a few staffers contacted Penthouse. I stood in the middle. When push came to shove, I chose the Jenna cover.

I’m not a prude, I just don’t think it’s appropriate to fill up a pot magazine with images strictly for male readers, essentially turning off the female base. The few women on the staff would occasionally suggest that a sexy guy should be on the cover. Never happened. I’d regularly hear from women in the movement who’d distanced themselves from the magazine because of the racy content.

Another issue has long been the use of scantily-clad women in advertisements. Take a look at most marijuana mags and websites and you’ll inevitably be confronted by objectionable ads, like the legalbuds.com banners or the BC Bud Depot two-page spreads. These are tacky trade-magazine ads that diminish the overall quality of any publication that accepts them. But they also pay the bills.

Now that I’m a website publisher, I encounter the same issues High Times faces, just on a smaller scale. We’ve built CelebStoner as a counter to High Times and Skunk – a sexist-free environment where readers don’t have to be worried about being offended by salacious ads and editorial content. We’ve rejected numerous ad banners that were deemed offensive. High Times doesn’t turn any advertiser away.

Elsewhere on the web, you’ll find plenty of “buds & babes” sites, such as 420girls.com, Girls4ganja.com, ganjaporn.com, hailmaryjane.com and so on, featuring women smoking pot with little or no clothes on. Clearly, these are men’s sites. Just like with porn, if women allow themselves to be photographed nude for the purpose of male and (and certainly in some case) female arousal, that’s their choice. Let’s assume no one is being forced to do anything. The same goes for so-called bud babes. Still, these sites demean women who otherwise would not be featured if they didn’t play the part of sexy sirens.

Been to a cannabis trade show lately? The floors are crawling with barely-clothed women pitching products. People shrug and say that’s what happens at trade shows, but why does that have to be the case at our shows? Are we not different and better? At KushCon II in December, the NORML Woman’s Alliance (NWA) made a stink about the woman in question and a dress code was hastily ordered (and of course not followed).

These issues sparked the forming of the NWA last year. Women in the movement are tired of being harassed, bullied, taken for granted and advantage of, not considered for leadership positions, and objectified. The NWA got together for a tasteful photo shoot to show how they want to be seen – as elegant, powerful woman, not cheesecake girls flaunting their assets.

When I heard the MPP was returning to the Playboy Mansion for another one of their big fundraisers, I called for a boycott. At first, people wondered why. I reminded them that the organization’s co-founder and executive director Rob Kampia was suspended last year for having sex with a drunk female subordinate employee after work and other charges of sexual harassment. Many of the MPP’s most prominent employees quit in the wake of the scandal. In my opinion, Kampia should have been fired and replaced by a woman. Instead, he was reinstated after a three-month benching.

The MPP skipped the Playboy event in 2010 for obvious reasons, but apparently now it’s okay to head back to the Mansion. People sure have short memories.

This promises to be Kampia’s coming-out party. But it would be like giving a recently-stopped cigarette smoker a case of Camels. For someone who’s described himself as “hypersexualized” and went through many sessions of therapy, the Playboy Mansion is the last place he and his organization should be raising money.

I’m hoping that the cannabis community will support this event only if the MPP relocates it to another venue. If not – and if people show up in droves at the Playboy Mansion on July 7 – then we have a bigger problem than I ever imagined.

http://www.celebstoner.com/201103166186/blogs/steve-bloom/sexism-in-the-marijuana-trade.html