Don't let San Diego's district attorney get away with hurting medical marijuana patients!

You won’t believe what’s happening on your dime!
San Diego law enforcement called in the DEA this month to assist with SWAT-style raids of 14 medical marijuana dispensaries. Local and federal authorities arrested dozens of people and physically accosted at least one patient.

We have to stop the district attorney behind this persecution campaign!

News footage even shows local police pulling a handcuffed patient out of his wheelchair.

Sign the petition calling for California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Attorney General Jerry Brown to rein in the district attorney who orchestrated the raids.

San Diego District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis has long defied California's medical marijuana law.

Now she's using federal resources to crack down on dispensaries and aid her re-election campaign.

Don’t let a rogue prosecutor and the DEA use any more of your tax dollars to hurt patients and harass the people who provide their medicine.

Join me in urging the governor and attorney general to hold Dumanis accountable.

Sincerely,

Bill Piper
Director, Office of National Affairs
Drug Policy Alliance Network

Movement in Action Collective - Federal Charges - Raids on 9/9/9 in San DIego

Movement in Action Collectibve Raided - 09/12/09

As you may know by now our MIA collective was raided on the 9th of September along with numerous other collectives throughout the San Diego area. Of the numerous collectives, only two owner operators were arrested under federal charges. Why these individuals where arrested under federal charges is unclear. Our very own James Stacy has been under federal custody with no communication and at one point he could not even be located for two days. The injustice and non-adherence of California Proposition 215 should not be tolerated. We were making so much progress. We would really appreciate if you please show your proactive support by doing one or more of the following to help James Stacy:

1. Call the White House at 202 456-1111 between the hours of 9am to 5 pm Eastern time or in other words 6:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. pacific time. Leave a message indicating for Barack Obama that the (DEA) is raiding legitimate medicinal marijuana collectives. Send him the letter addressed to President Obama from pg. 2.

2. Contact your local state assembly person Lori Saldana, at http://democrats.assembly.ca.gov/members/a76/,
You can attach the file we have prepared or write to her about the injustice the local city governments are carrying out by regarding federal laws over state laws.

3. e-mail all your friends and supporters, and inform them of James Stacy’s case, and ask them to please show their support as well

4. Contact Marti Emerald martiemerald@sandiego.gov,
Donna Frye donnafrye@sandiego.gov
Todd Gloria toddgloria@sandiego.gov
and attach the information file addressed accordingly to whom you are e-mailing.

Our only choice is to expose the illegal operation, to the public, of both the state and federal authorities in the hopes to have the charges dismissed. We can do so through the use of communicating the facts to our members and friends both online and through any other means of communication. Thank you for your support, and we hope that we can support all of you once again in the near future.

MIA
1050 S. Santa Fe Ave.
Vista, CA 92084
movementinaction@gmail.org

SAMPLE LETTERS TO OFFICIALS:
Hello Marti

On Wednesday September 9th, 2009 the DEA in cooperation with state, local and county authorities raided numerous collectives in the San Diego area. Two of the collective owner operators were charged federally while the others were charged by the state.

James Stacy, of the Movement in Action collective in Vista California, was one of the persons to be charged federally. Movement in Action was Proposition 215 and SB 420 compliant and should have fallen under state laws. Why he was arrested under federal charges is unclear. What is clear is that under federal jurisdiction he cannot submit the fact that he is a Medicinal Marijuana Patient.

It’s apparent why the state, county and local authorities have decided to allow the federal government to intervene. The authorities could not charge a collective that was in compliance with all state laws. This allowed the DEA to step in and harass James by using Draconian measures. It took friends and family two days to finally locate him after the raid. This is unjust and should not be tolerated by anyone.

In regards to James Stacy’s case could you please advocate for the dismissal of all federal charges against him?

Sincerely,


The White House
President, Barack Obama
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500


Dear President Obama

On Wednesday September 9th, 2009 the DEA in cooperation with state, local and county authorities raided numerous collectives in the San Diego area. Two of the collective owner operators were charged federally while the remainders were charged by the state.

James Stacy of the Movement in Action collective in Vista, California was one of the persons to be charged federally. Movement in Action was Proposition 215 and SB 420 compliant and should have fallen under state laws. Why he was arrested under federal charges is unclear. Please investigate this injustice as it is a matter of great importance for both Medicinal Marijuana Patients and their medicinal need providers.

As listed in your memorandum dated May 20, 2009 “Preemption of state law by executive departments and agencies should be undertaken only with full consideration of the legitimate prerogatives of the states and with a sufficient legal basis for preemption”. The DEA has clearly in this case preempted California state laws by raiding legitimate medicinal marijuana collectives that are Proposition 215 and SB 420 compliant.

In our federal system, the citizens of the several states have distinctive circumstances and values, and that in many instances it is appropriate for them to apply to themselves rules and principles that reflect these circumstances and values such as Proposition 215 and SB 420. In regards to James Stacy’s case could you please intervene to dismiss all federal charges against him?

Sincerely,

Sebastian Maselli IRAQI WAR VETERAN ATTACKED IN DUMANIS WAR ON MEDICAL CANNABIS

- Another US War Veteran Attacked in Operation Green Rx!

My name is Sebastian Maselli, I am a legal medical marijuana patient in California, as well as a founding member of The Healing Dragon collective. I am also an Iraq war veteran that has honorably and voluntarily served our country in the United States Marine Corps for over seven years. I know the meaning of sacrifice. I understand struggles. Most importantly I have witnessed first-hand how the war on terrorism has affected our military members. I have seen what happens to my brothers and sisters in the military medical system, Marines, sailors, and soldiers get pumped full of prescription medications. One med is for this, the other is for that, and the other seven meds help to counteract the side-effects of the first few drugs. This is not to say that they are not getting the care that they need, but there are much better and natural alternatives. Unfortunately they will not be able to try the alternatives until they have completed their time in the service.

There are many reasons why I am a medical marijuana patient, mainly post-traumatic stress disorder (or PTSD), chronic back pain and knee and joint pain. This is all documented in my military medical records. The Marine Corps definitely kept me in good physical shape, but at a cost (think about what we do and how we train). While in Iraq, I was exposed to countless dangers and situations no human being should have to encounter. Medical marijuana has helped tremendously with my PTSD and it makes my back and knee pain tolerable. Also, during my last three years back on active duty I worked at the combat casualty reporting section for the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force (IMEF) and at the Wounded Warrior Battalion (WWBn) at Camp Pendleton. I was dealing with combat related injuries and deaths at IMEF, as well as injured Marines and their families after they came home to the WWBn. The most important lesson I learned was COMPASSION.

Unfortunately, San Diego District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis seems to think that I am nothing more than a "drug dealer" only out to make a huge profit (taken from her Sept. 10th, 2009 press conference).

I was arrested on September 9th, 2009 in front of my wife and one year-old son during the medical marijuana raids. I will say that the officer who arrested me was courteous, I immediately made it clear to him that I would not be resisting and that I understand that he is just doing his job just like I had a job to do in the military. I was then taken to jail, and processed like a common thug. This is the thanks I get for serving my country and trying to help other patients like myself? We followed all of the guidelines set forth by the California

Attorney General’s office, so it is inexplicable to me why we were arrested; WE DID NOTHING WRONG.

We are a non-profit collective; the members of our collective know that we are not rich, the D.A. claims that we were all in this for profit. Really? All non-profit organizations have to pay their employees or compensate their members in some form, and at the end of the day we all have bills to pay. Are we not entitled to make a living? Our mission statement clearly states this. So where does the money go? Besides the obvious expenses of starting and operating a storefront (rent, utilities, etc.) there were also internal improvements like: adding an air conditioner, insulated ceiling, floor, counter, website, etc... Additionally, in the six or seven weeks that we were open and operating, we donated money to seven different charities, including: Retired Sheriffs and Disabled Police Association, the San Diego Sheriff's Department D.A.R.E. (to keep kids off drugs) campaign, San Diego Firefighters Association for their children's fire safety program, Children's Charity Fund, and more (some of the names may be slightly off because the police confiscated all of our records).

I would like to point out that while I was in hand-cuffs waiting to be processed at the jail, the Sherriff's deputies were ecstatic that they were finally making some "over-time" pay. Also, there seemed to be no clue as to what they had to do, many of the officers kept asking each other: who is in charge here? Where do we take this stuff?" The response from the other officers was: "I don't know, just toss it there for now." Needless to say, they were incredibly unorganized and more concerned about wasting tax-payer dollars with their "overtime pay" as they sat and checked their Yahoo! Homepage (I could see the reflection from the window behind them).
What happened on 09/09/09 was a complete travesty and violation of my civil rights, not to mention the civil rights of the other people like myself who were unjustly arrested, as well as the patients who do not have access to their medicine. The fear tactics that were used (and continue) as well as the SWAT style raids that were conducted definitely triggered major PTSD buttons inside of me to the point where I felt like I was back in a warzone because I couldn’t believe that this was happening here in the USA. I do not drink alcohol (possibly on a special occasion) and I do not smoke cigarettes, but I had a drink that night after my wife told me she had exhausted all of our funds and maxed out our credit cards to bail me out of prison.

I can’t even imagine the suffering that this is causing our members as well as all of the medical marijuana patients in San Diego. We have members that have been diagnosed with terminal cancer, AIDS, depression, anxiety, PTSD, and countless other illnesses that are greatly alleviated with the use of medical cannabis. What are these patients supposed to do? "They can grow their own" says D.A. Bonnie Dumanis. This is real compassion (sarcasm). Is that what we should tell patients who need Tramadol, Vicodin, or Paxil? Make it yourselves! You would think that as the first woman to serve as San Diego County’s District Attorney she would understand our struggle because she must have had to cross many barriers herself.

Why is it so difficult for the leaders of this county to understand the laws of our state? Why do they turn a blind eye to the proven benefits of this medication? Why do they continue to terrorize our community instead of serving it like they swore to do when they were elected? I don’t know, but I intend to find out.

I really believe that this is the beginning of a new movement in San Diego County for the reason that local law-enforcement and the District Attorney refuse to follow state laws. I hope the local medical marijuana community has had enough and makes its voice heard loud and clear: "WE ARE NOT GOING TO TAKE IT ANYMORE!"

Sebastian Maselli

P.S. If you would like to help our cause, we ask that you please help spread the word about what is happening here. Write your representatives in congress, the Whitehouse, contact your local news agencies, and show up to support our movement. Furthermore, we understand that everyone has a busy life, so if you cannot support us with your time we would appreciate a small donation through PayPal to sdmaselli@bellsouth.net (even a single dollar) for our legal defense. We plan to fight this all the way because what they have done is not only wrong but ILLEGAL. We also plan to open up again once this is settled, so remember to keep the receipt from PayPal because we hope to thank those that supported us during these tough times. Thank you.

-- Sebastian Masellisebastian.maselli@gmail.com

Rally against San Diego Medical Cannabis Raids

Rally on Wednesday - 9/16/2009 @ noon

Meet at N Harbor Dr and W Broadway (downtown San Diego) SEE MAP

Come march on the DA's office in a demonstration against UNINFORMED, UNETHICAL and SELFISH attacks against the medical cannabis community and the District Attorney's raids against medical cannabis facilities in San Diego.

Bonnie Dumanis has repeatedly shown that she opposes medical cannabis, and designed the raids to have the greatest possible shock value for the medical community.

While operating under the guise of stopping some "bad apple" dispensaries, she has aimed a deliberate attack on the medical cannabis community as a whole.

Don't just sit there and hope you don't get busted, come march and protest with us this Wednesday September 16th.

We will meet at the corner of N Harbor and W Broadway @ noon, and march to the DA's office from there.

THIS WILL BE A SIDEWALK MARCH. We will NOT be blocking the streets or traffic. If cars need to use driveways, please allow them. THIS IS A LAWFUL AND PEACEFULL PROTEST

Please keep any medicating discreet and away from the protest itself, as we don't want to send the wrong image to the public, and we are expecting media attention.

If there are any police there, please let the protest organizers handle them.

Lastly, please bring signs!
You don't have to, but they're a great way to display your message and feelings about Bonnie Dumanis' actions that people can see from afar.
Please also Sign the Petition to Stop Medical Marijuana Raids in San Diego! http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/san-diego-medical-marijuana
Stop Operation Green Rx and the continued war on Medical Cannabis Patients in San Diego!

Steve Kubby: An Open Letter to San Diego District Attorney Bonnie M. Dumanis

AMERICAN MEDICAL MARIJUANA ASSOCIATION
1017 Portola Drive, San Francisco, CA 94127
http://www.americanmarijuana.org/

September 12, 2009

Bonnie M. Dumanis
San Diego District Attorney
330 W. Broadway
, San Diego
CA 92101
 619-531-4040 619-531-4040 

FAX: 619-237-1351

Dear District Attorney Bonnie M. Dumanis,
Everyone is entitled to their own opinion about medical marijuana. However they are not entitled to their own facts. As someone who played a key role in the Prop. 215 campaign, I must correct several false and misleading statements issued by you recently.


Ms. Dumanis, we want to look up to our District Attorneys and believe what they tell us. When opinions are being passed off as facts on an official DA website, such actions are viewed as a direct threat to public health and safety by the patients, physicians, nurses, lawyers, and scientists who support The American Medical Marijuana Association (AMMA).

For example, you insist on misquoting Prop. 215, with respect to Caregivers. What the Compassionate Use Act actually says is health "OR" safety, not "AND" safety yet you continue to create a strawman argument, based upon this misrepresentation. Furthermore, you use this phony standard to raid and arrest collective members which is completely unreleated.

Another example you have repeatedly asserted, “The pro-medicinal argument is reserved for SERIOUSLY ILL patients.” Then, you criticized those who use it for anything less serious than Cancer or AIDS, telling the public, “This isn’t what the voters voted for.”

Actually, that is exactly what the voters were told would happen if they voted “YES” for Prop. 215. If you refer to the official Analysis of Proposition 215 by the Legislative Analyst, the voters were told, “No prescriptions or other record-keeping is required by the measure.”
In addition, the voters were reminded by the Legislative Analyst that this initiative also covered, “any other illness for which marijuana provides relief.”
(Source: http://vote96.sos.ca.gov/BP/215analysis.htm)

In the ballot Argument Against Prop. 215, James P. Fox, President, California District Attorneys Association solemnly warned voters that if Prop. 215 passed, it would “legalize marijuana”:

“This initiative allows unlimited quantities of marijuana to be grown anywhere … in backyards or near schoolyards without any regulation or restrictions. This is not responsible medicine. It is marijuana legalization.”
(Source: http://vote96.sos.ca.gov/BP/215noarg.htm)

The fact is that when the People of California wrote and passed Proposition 215, the Compassionate Use Act, it was intended to fully exempt patients from criminal prosecution.
Attorney General Dan Lungren even said so when he wrote his official Title and Summary to Prop. 215 and told the voters in their 1996 Voter’s Handbook:

“Exempts patients and defined caregivers who possess or cultivate marijuana for medical treatment recommended by a physician from criminal laws which otherwise prohibit possession or cultivation of marijuana.”
(Source: http://vote96.sos.ca.gov/BP/215.htm

Nowhere in the official Title and Summary or in the text of the Compassionate Use Act does it say anything about an affirmative defense or any limits or restrictions.

It was Lungren who fraudulently changed his official Attorney General’s interpretation after the election from, ”Exempts patients and defined caregivers” to his personal, “narrow interpretation” which told law enforcement they could go ahead and arrest anyone who had “too much for personal use.”


Lungren also immediately called a statewide “All-Zones Meeting” to discuss and coordinate how police could gut Proposition 215 and ignore the new law. The gist of his “narrow interpretation” was relayed to law enforcement officers throughout California by their professional associations and through official channels.


Lungren also met with and coordinated his attack on the CUA with federal officials. Finally, in the action plan he released on December 30, 1996, ONDCP “Drug Czar” Barry McCaffrey made Lungren’s policy explicit:


“State and local law enforcement officials will be encouraged to continue to execute state law to the fullest extent by having officers continue to make arrests and seizures under state law, leaving defendants to raise the medical-use provisions of the proposition only as a defense to state prosecution.”


The affirmative defense strategy allowed opponents of medical marijuana to achieve what they couldn’t on election day — a fraudulent interpretation that allowed LEOs to continue arresting and charging people as if Proposition 215 had never passed.
Regretably you have repeatedly and falsely stated you opinion that:“Federal law supersedes state law.” However, the fact is that the court has ruled against arguments that police are generally charged with enforcing "the law of the land," including federal laws. Here is what the 4th District Court of Appeals had to say about this matter:

We appreciate these considerations and understand police officers at all levels of government have an interest in the interdiction of illegal drugs," Bedsworth wrote. "But it must be remembered it is not the job of the local police to enforce the federal drug laws as such."
By complying with the court order to return Kha's pot, Bedsworth added, Garden Grove officers "will actually be facilitating a primary principle of federalism, which is to allow the states to innovate in areas bearing on the health and well-being of their citizens."


“The upshot of Raich is that the federal government and its agencies have the authority to enforce the federal drug laws, even in a state like California that has sanctioned the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes. However, we do not read Raich as extending beyond this particular point, into the realm of preemption. The Raich court merely examined the validity of the CSA under the Commerce Clause; it did not go further and examine the relationship between the CSA and the CUA…Raich “neither declared (the CUA) invalid on preemption or any other grounds nor gave any indication that California officials must assist in the enforcement of the CSA.”].) Consequently, the high court’s decision did not sound the death knell of the CUA in state court proceedings. (Cf. People v. Wright, supra, 40 Cal.4th at p. 89, fn. 5 [noting the parties in that case both agreed Raich is not implicated in deciding “the applicability of the CUA to state criminal charges”].)9

The fact is, “the structure and limitations of federalism . . . allow the States ‘“great latitude under their police powers to legislate as to the protection of the lives, limbs, health, comfort, and quiet of all persons.”’ [Citation.]” (Gonzales v. Oregon


This decision was challenged by varous law enforcement organizations who brought the matter before the California Supreme Court which refused to hear the case. LEO’s then appealed to the US Supreme Court, which also refused to hear the case, upholding this California decision as the law of the land.

Statements that federal law supercedes state law, also places you, and every other state official who uses this bogus argument to attempt to nullify the will of the People of California in direct conflict with our California Constitution, the highest law in our state.
According to the California Constitution such actions are clearly prohibited. Under Article 3, Section 3.5 (c):


“An administrative agency, including an administrative agency created by the Constitution or an initiative statute, has no power: “To declare a statute unenforceable, or to refuse to enforce a statute on the basis that federal law or federal regulations prohibit the enforcement of such statute unless an appellate court has made a determination that the enforcement of such statute is prohibited by federal law or federal regulations.”
(Source: http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/.const/.article_3)

The US Supreme Court has had three opportunities to declare the Compassionate Use Act unconstitutional yet they have not only refused to do so their legal decisions have clearly upheld that the People of California had every right to pass and enforce the CUA as a state law.
One more fact that everyone must understand about the Compassionate Use Act: The California Constitution also requires that any changes to a voter initiative must be submitted to the voters of the state and approved by them. Thus, no Board of Supervisors, nor Sheriff, nor District Attorney, nor San Diego District Attorney, nor Legislature, nor Attorney General, nor Governor has the legal right to change the state’s medical marijuana law. Only the voters can change or modify this law.


Sick, disabled and dying patients throughout San Diego county are still being raided by SWAT teams, arrested, jailed, humiliated, treated like criminals, bankrupted, children abducted by CPS and made even sicker, because of those who are still deliberately opposing this law thirteen years after the People of California voted to exempt patients and caregivers from criminal penalties and sanctions.

It is time to separate opinion from fact and uphold the Compassionate Use Act as it was written and passed by the People of California.


District Attorney Dumanis, the lives of sick, disabled and dying patients are in the hands of dedicated and otherwise well-intentioned public officials like yourself. Those who read your words on an official DA website need to hear directly from you that the information you gave them was wrong and is actually part of an carefully crafted plan hatched by Attorney General Dan Lungren, under color of law, to subvert a law that prosecutors don’t like.
We hope you will do the right thing and publish a retraction to your unfortunate and harmful statements.

Let freedom grow,

Steve Kubby
AMMA Executive Director

SAN DIEGO RAIDS UPDATE - Councilmember Todd Gloria reaction to brutality against Medical Cannabis Patient Paul Cody

Paul Cody a wheelchair bound medical cannabis patient was dragged out of his wheelchair and stuffed into a police vehicle during the Operation Green Rx raids of 9/9/9 as can be viewed in this video: http://vimeo.com/6537468

Terrie Best, the Stop Operation Green Rx campaign manager reached out to Mr. Cody's representative on the San Diego City Council for a statement about his treatment. Here is what Councilmember Todd Gloria had to say:

Councilmember Gloria believes that every citizen should be treated with respect. People who believe they have been treated unfairly by the San Diego Police Department should contact the Citizens Review Board on Police Practices for an appropriate investigation. The Citizens Review Board on Police Practices can be reached at 619-236-6296.

Call the board and sign the Petition to Stop Operation Green Rx and the Raids and Continued bias directed at medical cannabis patients in San Diego.

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/san-diego-medical-marijuana

A Wheelchair bound patient is pulled from his wheel chair and stuffed into a police car

A Wheelchair bound patient is pulled from his wheel chair and stuffed into a police car.
SDPD Brutality on Wheel Chair Bound Patient as a Result:
http://vimeo.com/6537468

Sign the petition to Stop Medical Marijuana Raids in San Diego!http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/san-diego-medical-marijuana

Letter to San Diego DA

Dear Bonnie Dumanis,

I and many patients sincerely beleive that your actions and the actions of your office clearly prove that you do not beleive that medical marijuana is an important and very personal issue to many San Diegans. There have been multiple collective operators that have called your office asking for clarification and help in navigating these difficult laws.

Today in fact there were several that called your office specifically requesting help and were told that you would not help them or provide any clarification.

We have been begging and pleading with you for years. We are tired of the misrepresentation of the law and this continued environment of fear that your office has created in the Medical Marijuana community in San Diego.

I respectfully ask you to stop the raids and sit down with patients and collectives to explain to the what your interpretation of a proper collective or cooperative is.

Eugene Davidovich

Petition to Stop Medical Marijuana Raids in San Diego

SIGN THE PETITION TODAY!

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/san-diego-medical-marijuana

Stop Medical Marijuana Raids in San Diego

Target: Bonnie Dumanis, Karen Hewitt, William Sherman, Tami Steine

Sponsored by: San Diego Herbal Alternatives & American Medical Marijuana Association

Send a letter to District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis and all the other law enforcement officers responsible for the Medical Marijuana raids on September 9th 2009. Let them know that this type of action has not gone un-noticed and will not be tolerated.
This petition is a plea to their conscience as well as a notification that we, as a community, intend to stand up for what we believe in and not allow them to continue to raid, arrest and bully the people that are trying to make medical marijuana available to patients in need.

Bonnie Dumanis Raids on Medical Cannabis

According to reports from multiple news sources in San Diego there are currently 14 search warrants that were executed. One of the search warrants was executed on Hilcrest Compassion Care, where a whelchairbound man was dragged from his wheelchair and stuffed into a police car with no regard for his injuries, ailments, or disabilities.

There are unconfirmed reports of more raids. Today several collectives reported undercover officers walking into the collective without a search warrant to look around.

In a USA today article William Welch writes that "Dumanis said none of the sellers was found to have sold to individuals lacking a proper physician's recommendation. She said the sellers had violated requirements for structuring and operating as collectives or cooperatives as laid out in law."

The San Diego District Attorney has turned on her supporters and is on a campaign to eradicate medical cannabis as well as the intent and will of the voters who passed proposition 215 in hopes of preventing this exact situation from happening.

It is absolutely critical for patients, supporters, and the community as a whole to unite and demand for an investigation into this outrageous waste of resources and subversion of state law.

Please help stop this bias driven, gun toting, hate filled District Attorney from destroying more lives.

HELP STOP OPERATION GREEN RX

Call The DA and demand a stop to the injustice. (please be as respectful as you can)
T: 619-531-4040
E: publicaffairs@sdcda.org

STOP OPERATION GREEN RX and BONNIE DUMANIS

It is time to direct all our efforts to letting her know how we feel about her "support for medical marijuana" and these continued raids fueled by hatred and bias.

Call Bonnie Dumanis and let her know how you feel about the raids!

619-531-4...040 E: publicaffairs@sdcda.org 330 W. Broadway San Diego, CA 92101

THE COMMUNITY IS OUTRAGED.
STOP OPERATION GREEN RX!!

DPA Press Release: SWAT-Style Raids on Medical Marijuana Dispensaries in San Diego Come Day After City Council Acts to Regulate Dispensaries

Drug Policy Alliance www.drugpolicy.org
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Dion Markgraaf (619) 518-0776 September 9, 2009 Margaret Dooley-Sammuli (213) 291-4190

SWAT-Style Raids on Medical Marijuana Dispensaries in San DiegoCome Day After City Council Acts to Regulate Dispensaries
Patients Condemn Tactics, Express Concern for Safe Access

SAN DIEGO – Several medical marijuana dispensaries were raided in San Diego today, after the City Council yesterday voted 6-1 to establish a taskforce to create dispensary regulations by early next year. Medical marijuana patients and advocates criticized the raids’ timing and tactics.

“These raids are unnecessary and unacceptable. Yesterday the City Council agreed to create local regulations for dispensaries. We could have those rules as early as January. So, why is law enforcement using SWAT-style tactics to try to strong arm dispensaries into closing today? Who’s running this place?” asked Dion Markgraaf, San Diego Coordinator of Americans for Safe Access. “District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis is behind this, and the only thing she’s interested in is shutting down as many dispensaries as she can before her next campaign cycle.”

The San Diego City Council voted 6-1 last night to establish a task force to create regulations governing the supply of medical marijuana in San Diego. The 11-member committee will be comprised of medical marijuana patients, social service providers and dispensary operators, as well as a legal professional, a physician, a community planner, a small business owner, a member of law enforcement and a land use professional.

According to San Diego’s Channel 10, “The panel… was directed to make preliminary recommendations by the start of the year. The panel will be tasked with reviewing guidelines for medical marijuana patients and caregivers, the operation of dispensaries and growing cooperatives and the ground rules for police enforcement.”

“Local law enforcement says dispensaries are breaking the rules. But the truth is that San Diego has avoided establishing rules. Now that a taskforce is finally in the works, San Diego will have rules as early as next year,” said Margaret Dooley-Sammuli, deputy state director for the Drug Policy Alliance. “For some local elected officials, that may be bad timing. But for the people of this county who voted to legalize medical marijuana in 1996, it’s long overdue.

SDNN - Eugene Davidovich: Proving my medical marijuana case - September 1, 2009

By Eugene Davidovich, SDNN

This week, the campaign to Stop Operation Green Rx gained more supporters, including Margaret Dooley-Sammuli from the Drug Policy Alliance, Gretchen Bergman of A New Path and other prominent leaders in the non-profit sector of our community. The meeting, setup by Stop Operation Green Rx campaign manager Terrie Best, lasted several hours. We discussed my case, Operation Green Rx, the tactics of the detectives in this operation, and District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis’ declared “fierce fight” against medical cannabis. Everyone at the meeting left concerned and sealed their commitment to making San Diego safer for medical marijuana patients.

A few days after the meeting the Drug Policy Alliance sent out a nationwide email alert asking people to support Congressman Barney Frank’s federal medical cannabis legislation:

Congress has heard the evidence about the medicinal benefits of marijuana, but legislators still haven’t changed federal law to reflect scientific fact. Tell them to end the federal medical marijuana ban now!

While Congress ignores the science, patients like Eugene Davidovich, who operates a medical marijuana collective in San Diego, are criminalized. He complies with state law and the California attorney general’s medical marijuana guidelines, but the San Diego district attorney is threatening to throw him in prison anyway.

Bolstered by the federal ban on medical marijuana, the San Diego DA is systematically harassing patients, and Eugene now faces four felony charges. This is outrageous! Will you join me in asking Congress to end the federal medical marijuana ban?

Congressman Barney Frank (D-MA), chairman of the powerful House Financial Services Committee, has introduced legislation to make marijuana legal for medical use, but opponents are organizing to defeat it.

Our message to Congress is simple: Federal law enforcement should stop harassing and arresting people for medical marijuana. It’s cruel. It’s capricious. And it’s a waste of precious taxpayer dollars. Enough is enough!

Just like you and me, lawmakers know the truth about medical marijuana. Only you can hold your member of Congress accountable. Tell your representative to face the facts.

Sincerely,

Bill Piper
Director, Office of National Affairs
Drug Policy Alliance Network

The email from the Drug Policy Alliance and statements made against the operation by prominent leaders in our community are promising signs. The campaign to stop the illegal operation and harassment of medical cannabis patients in San Diego has drawn support from both sides of the political aisle and will continue to attract more supporters.

Operation Green Rx defendent Donna Lambert. (Photo by Steven Bartholow)

This week is the court date for another Operation Green Rx victim. Donna Lambert, is scheduled to appear in San Diego Superior Court on Thursday, September 3, 2009 at 1:30 pm in Department 53.

She writes:

“I am facing court very soon, I am very sick, and I am very scared. I have trouble sleeping and I would appreciate any public support on my behalf.

Today and anytime this week would be a very helpful time to call the district attorney’s office, Steve Walters at (619)531-3784. Please ask them to drop the Medical Marijuana case against Donna Lambert (ACL004).

I helped a valid qualified medical marijuana patient (also an undercover cop - who had lied to a doctor about his symptoms to obtain a valid recommendation) twice. Although, I have yet to see a signed copy of an arrest warrant, a swat style raid was conducted on my house, assault rifles pointed at me, I was taken to jail, my home destroyed, and I am now facing trial, even though the judge at my preliminary hearing ruled that I was ‘clearly not in it for profit.’”

Please support the victims of Operation Green Rx in court, tell your friends and colleagues about the details of this operation, and help us hold the responsible people accountable.

Stop Operation Green Rx.

Read more: http://www.sdnn.com/sandiego/2009-09-01/news/politics-city-county-government/eugene-davidovich-proving-my-medical-marijuana-case-6#ixzz0Pta4LDTU

For more information about Operation Green Rx please visit:

www.EugeneDavidovich.com

www.safeaccesssd.org

www.operationgreenrx.blogspot.com

www.sandiegomarijuana.com