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Canada Lets Pot Grower’s License Expire, Raids, Cuts Off Power

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on December 21, 2010 Global, Growing, News

David Hodgkinson got the equivalent of a lump of coal in his Christmas stocking from the RCMP.

B.C. Man May Be Spending Christmas In The Dark

Medical marijuana grower David Hodgkinson may be having a dark Christmas after the Royal Canadian Mounted Police swooped in on his home Friday, busted up his grow operation and cut off his power, reports Robert Barron at the Nanaimo Daily News.

Hodgkinson has been growing medicinal cannabis for about a year under a government license from Health Canada, and was licensed to grow up to 49 plants. But his license expired in August, despite the fact that he applied for its renewal eight full weeks before its expiration date, as stipulated by the government.

But since Health Canada over the past year has experienced a “sharp rise” of applications to grow medical marijuana that have “slowed the process down,” according to a spokeswoman, Hodgkinson’s license wasn’t renewed in a timely manner.

Did that delay result in an apology for laggardliness from the government or its health ministry, especially since their slowness could impact the health of patients?

No, it got Hodgkinson, of Cedar, British Columbia, an armed police raid and his electrical power cut off.

San Jose Medical Marijuana Patients Want Police Raids To Stop

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on November 10, 2010 Medical, News

San Jose Patients Group

A crowd of about 60 patients and advocates came to the San Jose City Council meeting in San Jose, California on Tuesday afternoon to ask Mayor Chuck Reed and council members to put an end to raids on medical marijuana dispensaries carried out by a local multi-agency police force.

San Jose resident Michael Gammino, one of the protesters, said he uses medical marijuana for insomnia and for arthritis in his knees, but on Tuesday he said he’s considering buying pot on the streets because he fears getting it at dispensaries will get him in trouble with the police, reports KTVU.

“We’ve gone so far and now to take it away like this,” Gammino said. “I don’t want to break the law… so what’s my alternative? I have to break the law.”

The Santa Clara County Specialized Enforcement team has conducted citywide raids over the past month, with some claiming the police have been using aggressive and excessive force in a misguided effort to shut down facilities in the city which are complying with state law.

Libertarian Party Decries Nevada Medical Marijuana Raids

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 15, 2010 Dispensaries, Medical

Graphic: Las Vegas City Life

The Libertarian Party of Clark County, Nevada has issued a statement which says it is “outraged” at the recent medical marijuana raids in the county. “Voters spoke some time ago about this issue and agree that medical marijuana should be legal in our state,” the statement said.

“We support the rights of citizens of Nevada to decide and in conjunction with the Constitution of the United States; we hold emphatically this supersedes any federal law on this matter,” the statement said, according to the Independent Political Report.

“As a reminder, President Obama promised that states’ laws concerning this matter would be respected and that the federal attacks would end,” the statement said. “However, it seems that resources are still being wasted targeting patients and law-abiding Americans.”

“What occurred was nothing less than government-sponsored theft,” the statement said. “The fact that no arrests were made adds to the reasoning that no crimes have been committed. These businesses have been given no answers or reasons for the seizures and the Libertarian Party is stating that these raids are illegal and that the targets are innocent of any wrongdoing.”

DEA, DOJ Won’t Talk About Medical Marijuana Raids

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 14, 2010 Medical, News

Photo: Disinformation

Despite campaign promises to the contrary, the Department of Justice under President Barack Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder has continued raiding marijuana dispensaries in states where cannabis is legal for medical purposes. But the DOJ has changed one policy now that it’s under Democratic control: It has stopped publicizing medical marijuana raids, refusing to distribute press releases and requesting that more cases be sealed under court order.

After recent Drug Enforcement Administration and FBI raids of medical marijuana dispensaries in Las Vegas, Nevada (last week), Mendocino County and San Diego, California, and in Michigan (all in July), the DEA and U.S. Attorney’s offices issued no press releases and held no press conferences, reports Mike Riggs at The Daily Caller.

Judge Says No Marijuana For Patients Arrested In Raids

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on August 31, 2010 Dispensaries, Medical, News

Photo: Tim Thompson/The Oakland Press

Candi and Bill Teichman, owners of Everybody’s Café in Waterford Township, Mich., have lost their children, their bank accounts, and their dispensary.

Despite emotional pleas from several defense attorneys, a judge refused Tuesday to allow medical marijuana patients to use cannabis while out on bond — a decision met with low hisses in a courtroom packed with 13 defendants, their lawyers and supporters.

The 13 patients faced hearings following last week’s raids of a medical marijuana dispensary and a patients’ compassion club in Waterford, Michigan, reports Bill Laitner of the Detroit Free Press.

Waterford District Court Judge Richard Kuhn Jr. postponed the defendants’ pre-trial conferences, originally scheduled for Tuesday, until October.

Another four people arrested in the raid have not yet been arraigned, and therefore weren’t present Tuesday in court, according to officials.

About 60 people, including defendants, their lawyers, and medical marijuana supporters, gathered in front of the courthouse before Tuesday’s hearings to protest that their arrests were politically motivated by county law enforcement officials who are hostile to the Michigan Medical Marijuana Act.

Shirts reading “This is Michigan, not a Cheech and Chong movie!” were worn by about two dozen people in the crowd. The shirts were referring to a quote last week from Sheriff Michael Bouchard, who uttered those unfortunate words while criticizing medical marijuana establishments raided by his officers in Waterford and Ferndale.

Patients Held At Gunpoint In Michigan Medical Marijuana Raids

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on August 27, 2010 Dispensaries, News

Photo: Oakland County Daily Tribune

Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard: “This is Michigan, not some Cheech and Chong movie”

“This is Michigan, not some Cheech and Chong movie,” Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard bragged Thursday at a press conference where he proudly showed off seized items including bagged and candied marijuana he claimed was “worth $750,000,” hash oil, and growing equipment.

Two medical marijuana businesses were raided and 15 people were arrested in Michigan for allegedly making “illegal sales,” according to the sheriff’s department.

Bouchard, a publicity-loving Republican gubernatorial candidate, compared medical marijuana dispensary operators to “organized crime,” and is widely viewed as wanting a test case to curtail the pot shops’ activities.

The raids, during which cancer patients and elderly cardholders were forced to the ground at gunpoint, left many medical marijuana patients confused and angry, report Mike Martindale and Jennifer Chambers of The Detroit News.

“This is a very disturbing story,” said Michael Komorn of the Michigan Medical Marijuana Association, which has 16,000 members.

“Patients were held at gunpoint and dragged out,” Komorn said. “This law was designed to protect patients and caregivers — not expend our resources arresting patients and caregivers.”

Obama Sticks With DEA Nominee Despite Criticism Of Raids

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on August 18, 2010 Medical, News

Photo: daylife

Michele Leonhart, deputy administrator of the DEA, is a Bush-era drug warrior who has overseen raids of legal medical marijuana dispensaries — yet Obama wants to keep her on.

It often seems as if cannabis activists can’t agree on a lot of things. But one thing they all seem to agree upon is that President Obama should rescind the nomination of Bush holdover Michele Leonhart to head the Drug Enforcement Administration.

A number of progressive groups released a letter last month accusing Leonhart, a deputy administrator appointed by President George W. Bush and the acting administrator since Karen P. Tandy’s resignation in 2007, of ignoring a Justice Department directive that raiding dispensaries and growers operating legally in medical marijuana states is a “poor use of resources.”

Opposition To DEA Pot Raids Spreads Across Political Spectrum

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on July 30, 2010 Medical, News

Photo: Politico

Jane Hamsher of Firedoglake on DEA medical marijuana raids: “What part of ‘not a priority’ does Michele Leonhart not understand?”

Two ideologically diverse advocates on Wednesday echoed an earlier call by a coalition of drug-policy reform groups by condemning a series of recent raids by the Drug Enforcement Administration on medical marijuana collectives operating legally under state law.

The Tenth Amendment Center, a group that advocates for states’ rights, and Jane Hamsher, the publisher of Firedoglake.com, called on the DEA to respect duly adopted state medical marijuana laws and immediately end those raids.

“The federal government is only authorized to exercise those powers that ‘We The People’ delegated to it in the Constitution,” said Michael Boldin, founder of the Tenth Amendment Center. “It is especially egregious when these laws are used to justify raids in states where the use and distribution of cannabis is expressly allowed by law.”

Marijuana Advocates Protest DEA Raids In Michigan & California

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on July 22, 2010 Medical, News

Photo: NBC 25

Michigan protesters say Saginaw County Sheriff William Federspiel is targeting medical marijuana patients who speak out

Coordinated and lively protests were carried out Wednesday by medical marijuana patient advocates in both Saginaw, Michigan, and San Diego, California, against the Drug Enforcement Administration for raids it conducted earlier this month.

The raids were made despite an official Justice Department policy issued in October 2009 discouraging such enforcement.

The Michigan Medical Marijuana Association organized the Saginaw protest march, and Americans for Safe Access (ASA) organized a rally at the federal courthouse in San Diego.

DEA Raids Medical Marijuana Protest Organizer

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on July 7, 2010 Medical, News

Photo: Gus Burns/The Saginaw News

John Roberts, 48, said he and his fiancee, Stephanie Whisman, 38, were raided after he organized a medical marijuana protest last week. Roberts is holding a syringe of Rick Simpson hemp oil, a liquid cannabis extract ingested orally for pain and to induce sleep.

Perhaps as a warning to those who dare to speak out, federal Drug Enforcement Administration agents on Tuesday raided the home of a Michigan medical marijuana patient, activist and caregiver after he organized a protest outside the Saginaw County Courthouse last week.

John F. Roberts, 49, of Thomas Township, said he believes the raid was in retaliation because he organized last week’s protest accusing the Saginaw County Sheriff of raiding patients and caregivers, reports Kim Russell at NBC 25. Protesters had come from around the state, some holding signs reading, “Learn The Law.”

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