From: baudmax <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: January 19, 2007 5:57:54 AM PST
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: [smashthestate] DEA Raids W.Hollywood Medpot Dispensaries
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
DEA RAIDS WEHO POT CLUBS
January, 18, 2007 – Ryan Gierach, West Hollywood
http://wehonews.com/z/wehonews/archive/page.php?articleID=1097
WeHo Sheriffs providing support for Federal Drug agents inside this
medical marijuana dispensary in West Hollywood, one of five pot clubs
raided on Jan. 17, 2007. Photo by Ryan Gierach.
Federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) officers conducted five
simultaneous raids on Medical Marijuana dispensaries operating inside
the City of West Hollywood at 3:00 p.m. on Wednesday, January 17,
2007.
“We were informed earlier today of a raid about to happen at 3
o’clock,”
Council Member Jeffrey Prang told WeHoNews. “West Hollywood Sheriffs
declined to participate in the raid, but have provided public
safety/crowd control and traffic support.”
The City of West Hollywood, just the night before, had strengthened
its
Medical Marijuana ordinance by creating a land use category and new
regulations for the dispensaries, which supply a commodity to which
the
City strongly supports safe access. For that story, click here...Pot
Clubs Limited, Regulated
Six clubs currently dispense Medicinal Cannabis under the State’s
Medical Use of Marijuana Initiative Statute, the legislative name for
1996’s voter-enacted Proposition 215.
“The City of West Hollywood has had a long-standing commitment to the
compassionate use of medical marijuana for those persons who are
facing
catastrophic illnesses,” said City Manager Paul Arevalo. The DEA’s
enforcement of federal drug laws against the dispensaries conflicts
with
Proposition 215, a ballot measure approved by the California voters in
1996 decriminalizing the use of medical marijuana.
Protesters holding a banner in front of a West Hollywood medical
marijuana club that was raided by DEA agents. Don Duncan, ASA
coordinator for Southern California, stands in the background on his
cell phone. Photo by Ryan Gierach.
Many clubs in the area were being raided, according to Americans For
Safe Access Southern California (ASA) coordinator Don Duncan,
“There are
between 11 and 13 dispensaries in Southern California being raided
right
now as we speak, five of them in West Hollywood.”
As of this writing, no arrests had been announced. Employees were
being
checked for outstanding warrants and released. Managers, according to
released employees, were being detained.
Employees of two clubs told WeHoNews what happened to them.
“I was in back and I heard a ruckus and yelling,” Mitch Duncan of
Fairfax Healing Services said. “I came out front to face bunch of
tactical weapons pointed at me. They told me to get on the ground. It
was real scary; I looked up into the barrel of a gun.”
Mike Combs told WeHoNews that the managers in the Farmacy, where he
works, were detained. “There were about nine employees working
today. We
all had to identify ourselves and state our names into a camera for
them.”
This door once secured the AHHS medical marijuana dispensary, until
DEA
agents raided the pot cluc in West Hollywood. Photo by Ryan Gierach.
He described chaos when the raid happened, too. “They were yelling
‘This
is a raid! Get on the floor! Don’t resist. This is a raid!’”
The clubs raided were 7828 Santa Monica - Alternative Herbal Health,
7825 Santa Monica - Medical Marijuana Pharmacy, 7901 Santa Monica -
West
Hollywood Caregivers, 8464 Santa Monica - California Cannabis Pharmacy
and 8921 Sunset - West Hollywood Center for Compassionate Healing.
The fact that a cluster of clubs exist near the corner of Fairfax and
Santa Monica: Fairfax, the Farmacy and Alternative Herbal Health
Services (AHHS), caused Orange Grove and SMB to become a protest spot,
with employees and supporters from across the city holding banners and
signs.
Eva O. an employee at the only club in the city not raided, Los
Angeles
Patients’ and Caregivers’ Group (LAPCG), expressed her displeasure.
“I’m
disappointed that they won’t even tell us why they’re doing this.”
Mike Combs, standing near to her, said the DEA agents told him “what
you’re doing is illegal and state law has nothing to do with what
we are
doing. We’re federal. We’re just doing our jobs.”
These protesters stood outside a West Hollywood medical marijuana
dispensary that had been raided by the DEA an hour earlier. Photo by
Ryan Gierach.
Also on Tues., the day before this raid, the Los Angeles Police
Commission voted to support a moratorium on new marijuana dispensaries
and institute tougher regulations of existing enterprises, even as
Police Chief William J. Bratton promised to work with federal
authorities to prosecute businesses found to be violating the law.
"It's
my intent to get rid of these places," Bratton said after the
commission
voted. 24 hours later this raid occurred.
The distribution of marijuana for medical purposes is allowed under
state law, but Bratton told the LA Times that he believed the majority
of people using the dispensaries were recreational drug users.
Don Duncan, who, when not acting as ASA spokesperson operates the
(LAPCG), told WeHoNews that he hoped LAPD was only involved in
support,
as were West Hollywood Sheriffs. “I’d hate to think that LAPD Chief
Bratton was in any way involved in this. That would disappoint me.”
Council member Prang told WeHoNews that he resented DEA’s presence in
the city. “We’re outraged that the DEA is once again meddling in
what we
believe to be local matters,” he said.”
“We work closely with the clubs; just last night we strengthened, with
the club’s help, our ordinance on them. We strongly support the
dispensary’s mission to relieve pain and suffering for people
suffering
from illness or disease.
“And this just shows how callous the Bush Administration is. The
federal
government and the DEA are too critical and don’t take human suffering
into account,” he said.
Advertise With WeHoNews - Reach Over 60,000 pairs of eyes each month
According to Ralph W. Partridge, head of the DEA in Los Angeles,
"Today's enforcement operations show that these establishments are
nothing more than drug-trafficking organizations bringing criminal
activities to our neighborhoods and drugs near our children and
schools.”
WeHoNews will bring you updates as they occur.
----------------------------------
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