Search Results: dea letters (97)

Opposing Views

The federal Drug Enforcement Administration sent three more letters to Seattle-area medical marijuana dispensaries last week, agency spokesperson Jodie Underwood has confirmed. The letters “strongly advised” the dispensaries to pay “prompt attention” that they are in violation of federal law, and directed them to close down with 30 days.

That brings the total to 29 Washington dispensaries which have received threatening letters so far from the feds, reports Nina Shapiro at Seattle Weekly. This includes 23 facilities which got letters sent on August 18, three more sent out on August 30, and three last week, according to Dr. Decrim of WA CANN, the Washington Cannabis Alert and News Network.

MyNorthwest.com
Seattle City Attorney Pete Holmes: Did he pull the trigger on Thursday’s DEA letters? Our source says yes.

Were medical marijuana dispensaries targeted for opposing I-502, which is sponsored by Seattle’s city attorney?

The Drug Enforcement Administration letters sent out to 23 Seattle-area medical marijuana access points on Thursday are already stinking to high heaven, just over 24 hours later, as allegations of improper influence cloud the air.

According to Toke of the Town‘s well-placed source in the Washington cannabis community, Seattle Attorney Pete Holmes saw, at Hempfest, the strong opposition to Washington state Initiative 502, the “legalization” measure with a strict and unscientific DUI provision that has torn the community asunder. And, according to this version of events, Pete decided he really didn’t like the medical marijuana industry very much.
Our source tells us that when Holmes got home from Hempfest, still smarting from public relations drubbing the No On 502 folks handed the Yes team at the protestival, he allegedly influenced his good friend U.S. Attorney Jenny Durkan to send the letters which went out to dispensaries on Thursday.

MMJ Truth

The Obama Administration’s medical marijuana crackdown came to Seattle in a big way today.

On Thursday, the Drug Enforcement Administration sent notification letters to the operators and property owners of 23 “marijuana store fronts,” as they called them, “located in school zones.” The letters informed the owner/operators that such enterprises “operating as ‘dispensaries’ ” within 1,000 feet of a school, playground or “other prohibited area,” “could result in the seizure and forfeiture of assets, as well as criminal prosecution.”

The seizure could include the property where the dispensary operates, any money received from the business, and potential criminal prosecution. The letter orders dispensary operators and property owners to cease the sale and distribution of marijuana “within 30 days.”
“We all work hard to create a safe zone for kids in school,” claimed U.S. Attorney Jenny A. Durkan of the Western District of Washington. “There is a reason that both federal and state laws prohibit the sale of marijuana in school zones. We need to enforce one message for our students: drugs have no place in or near our schools.”


The Massachusetts Department of Health are going after caregivers who are selling cannabis to more than one medical marijuana patient. According to officials, some 1,300 patients and 17 caregivers were sent letters last week gently reminding them that it is illegal under state law to do things like, say, post extra meds for sale on Cragislist.
But patients say that it is the only way they can legally access meds while the state drags their heels trying to get dispensaries up and open, likely not until the Fall.

Wikipedia commons.

Eleven Seattle-area medical marijuana shops were told to shut down by the Drug Enforcement Administration for being within 1,000 feet of schools. The letters take a similar tactic to one federal agents used in 2011 and 2012 in Washington and other states.
“The DEA enforces federal drug laws and these letters have nothing to do with any pending legislation or state law,” a DEA spokeswoman told the Seattle Times .

Opposing Views
Did the Feds think of the impact that their letters and raids have had on the patients who depend on places like the Berkeley Patients Group?

By Bob Starrett
He looked a bit suspicious, standing in front of the Blockbuster kiosk at the 7-11 talking on his cell phone. He wasn’t renting a movie so I asked him to move to the side. As I was perusing the latest releases, he walked into the store.
Just seconds later he was out and gone. As he streaked past me, I could hear the jingling of coins in a jar but by the time I realized what was happening he was too far gone for me to do anything about it.
An approaching woman told me that there was a car idling in the alley, apparently the getaway car. It was over so quickly. It was only then that I realized that all I would have had to do was lift up my right leg as he was accelerating by me and he would have done a faceplant onto the concrete.
A common thief. A street thief. Steal anything from anyone, without regret, without thought of consequence. He probably did not pick a particular charity jar to take. He likely took whatever was closest to the door. And then he was gone, just like that. No thought to the charity, no thought at all.

San Francisco Sentinel
California State Senator Mark Leno has been a consistent champion for medical marijuana patients’ rights

​Despite hundreds of letters urging California lawmakers to support legislation to improve California’s marijuana policies, two bills that would have done just that failed to advance out of their respective chambers by Tuesday’s deadline.
Although both proposals enjoy strong public support, both were pulled prior to a vote by their sponsors due to a lack of majority support in their respective chambers.
The first bill was AB 1017, introduced by Assemblymember Tom Ammiano. This bill proposed changing the penalty for marijuana cultivation from an automatic felony to a “wobbler” that could be charged as a misdemeanor. AB 1017 received a vote last spring, when it lost 24-36, but it did not garner enough support to pass if it was voted on again.

Anondora

​The head of Colorado’s Department of Revenue has written a letter to the director of the federal Drug Enforcement Administration asking that the U.S. government slightly loosen its strict controls on marijuana due to its “potential medical value.”

Colorado is the fourth state within the past few weeks to ask the DEA to reschedule cannabis from its current, most restrictive classification as Schedule I, which means the government regards pot as having a high potential for abuse and no valid medicinal uses. Heroin and LSD are also considered Schedule I substances under federal law.

Wussup Hater

​Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper apparently doesn’t plan to sign a petition from Govs. Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island and Chris Gregoire of Washington which asks the federal government to change the classification of marijuana, but Colorado will reportedly file its own request before the end of the year.

Gov. Hickenlooper’s spokesperson told Fox News that the governors have a valid point in pushing the petition, reports Scot Kersgaard at the Colorado Independent.

“The governors in Washington and Rhode Island raise a valid conflict that needs to be resolved,” said Eric Brown, a spokesman for Gov. Hickenlooper. “Colorado law requires that we make a similar ask of the federal government by Jan. 1. We will do that. We will also continue to consult with other governors on the issue and with Colorado’s attorney general before deciding whether anything else will be done.”

Photo: Denver Westword
Westword pot critic William Breathes tested nearly three times over the proposed legal limit — while completely sober

​The Colorado Senate voted on Monday night to kill HB 1261, the marijuana DUI bill, in its entirety, scoring a huge victory for the medical cannabis community.

In a crucial vote, lawmakers rejected a limit on the amount of THC — the main psychoactive ingredient in marijuana — that drivers are allowed to have in their systems above which they would be considered too high to drive, reports John Ingold at The Denver Post.
The Senate sided with medical marijuana advocates, who urged more study of the proposal, since THC lingers in the system and many patients would, in effect, be banned from legally driving.
The bill, proposed by Rep. Claire Levy, would have established a driving-under-the-influence level of five nanograms per milliliter of blood, reports Michael Roberts at Denver Westword. During House debate, Levy tried to change that number to eight nanograms, but her amendment failed.
Emblematic of the problem with a 5-ng (or an 8-ng) limit is the blood test of Westword cannabis critic William Breathes, who was tested while completely sober. Breathes’s reading while sober was approximately 13.5 nanograms.
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