Ironic that Obama is now the Mexican Cartel's Enforcer.

[SunisinuS]

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Federal prosecutors have launched a crackdown on pot dispensaries in California, warning the stores they must shut down in 45 days or face criminal charges and confiscation of their property even if they are operating legally under the state's 15-year-old medical marijuana law.

In an escalation of the ongoing conflict between the U.S. government and the nation's burgeoning medical marijuana industry, California's four U.S. attorneys sent letters Wednesday and Thursday notifying at least 16 pot shops or their landlords that they are violating federal drug laws, even though medical marijuana is legal in California. The attorneys are scheduled to announce their coordinated crackdown at a Friday news conference.
Their offices refused to confirm the closure orders.

The Associated Press obtained copies of the letters that a prosecutor sent to 12 San Diego dispensaries. They state that federal law "takes precedence over state law and applies regardless of the particular uses for which a dispensary is selling and distributing marijuana."

"Under United States law, a dispensary's operations involving sales and distribution of marijuana are illegal and subject to criminal prosecution and civil enforcement actions," letters signed by U.S. Attorney Laura Duffy in San Diego read. "Real and personal property involved in such operations are subject to seizure by and forfeiture to the United States ... regardless of the purported purpose of the dispensary."

The move comes a little more than two months after the Obama administration toughened its stand on medical marijuana following a two-year period during which federal officials had indicated they would not move aggressively against dispensaries in compliance with laws in the 16 states where pot is legal for people with doctors' recommendations.

The Department of Justice issued a policy memo to federal prosecutors in late June stating that marijuana dispensaries and licensed growers in states with medical marijuana laws could face prosecution for violating federal drug and money-laundering laws. The effort to shutter California dispensaries appears to be the most far-reaching effort so far to put that guidance into action.

"This really shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone. The Administration is simply making good on multiple threats issued since President Obama took office," Kevin Sabet, a former adviser to the president's drug czar who is a fellow at the University of Pennsylvania's Center for Substance Abuse Solutions. "The challenge is to balance the scarcity of law enforcement resources and the sanctity of this country's medication approval process. It seems like the Administration is simply making good on multiple statements made previously to appropriately strike that balance."

Greg Anton, a lawyer who represents a Marin Alliance for Medical Marijuana, said the 14-year-old dispensary's landlord received an "extremely threatening" letter Wednesday invoking a federal law that imposes additional penalties for selling drugs within 1,000 feet of schools, parks and playgrounds.

The landlord was ordered to evict the pot club or risk imprisonment, plus forfeiture of the property and all the rent he has collected while the dispensary has been in business, Anton said.

The Marin Alliance's founder "has been paying state and federal taxes for 14 years, and they have cashed all the checks," he said. "All I hear from Obama is whining about his budget, but he has money to do this which will actually reduce revenues."

http://news.yahoo.com/apnewsbreak-fe...202853739.html


I am not registered with either Party. But Obama sure shit in his own nest here.

I know that he made some deals with Mexico in exchange for border control and help with the "Drug War"...but shooting at 16 states that have legalized it for medical use for some type of foreign policy bullshit......sorry.....the best way you can help keep out drug violence from Mexico is allow the very real medical usage.

Get fuckin bent. Enjoy your cataracts man.

[FORD]

Total fucking insanity....

Billions wasted in investigating, arresting, and prosecuting pot dealers.

More billions wasted keeping them in prison.

Even more billions wasted in the tax revenue which could be coming in from legal weed.

Aside from ending stupid needless wars and making the fucking rich pay their share of taxes, this would be the single easiest way to improve the economy. Not to mention all the industries that could get a boost from the NON-smokeable kind of cannabis.

And why aren't the "states rights" right wing lunatics up in arms about this shit?

[jhale667]

Total fucking insanity....

Billions wasted in investigating, arresting, and prosecuting pot dealers.

More billions wasted keeping them in prison.

Even more billions wasted in the tax revenue which could be coming in from legal weed.

Aside from ending stupid needless wars and making the fucking rich pay their share of taxes, this would be the single easiest way to improve the economy. Not to mention all the industries that could get a boost from the NON-smokeable kind of cannabis.

And why aren't the "states rights" right wing lunatics up in arms about this shit?

It's fucking retarded. My tax dollars at work, awesome.

[kwame k]

No shit......zero jobs being created here in Metro-Detroit and the one thing that is booming that they can tax, they want to shut down.

WTF ever happened to the.......infringing on State's rights.

[SunisinuS]

http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/07/justic...html?hpt=hp_c1

Guess I am the old fogey now...


hellandahandbasket.

[sadaist]

Hey Ford. Down here in CA the feds just put all the legal dispensaries on notice that although they are operating legally under California law, federal law supersedes state law and they must cease & desist all operations immediately. Fucked up. The one thing CA has done at least somewhat correctly and the feds come in to shut it down.

[FORD]

Yeah, I heard about that. Fucking makes me sick. It's very obviously the PharmaNazis AND the private corporate prison industry who are putting the pressure on the government to keep this mindless fascist prohibition going. You can't patent a plant, so according to them, it's not "medicine".

This is another thing that needs to be discussed at all the public gatherings currently taking place all over the country (inspired by Occupy Wall Street) but of course then the Whore Media (which runs Big Pharma ads constantly) would try dismiss it as "rantings of dope smoking hippies".

Well, this hippie hasn't smoked dope in 10 years, so maybe I should do the press interviews?

[Blaze]

Yeah, I heard about that. Fucking makes me sick. It's very obviously the PharmaNazis AND the private corporate prison industry who are putting the pressure on the government to keep this mindless fascist prohibition going. You can't patent a plant, so according to them, it's not "medicine".

This is another thing that needs to be discussed at all the public gatherings currently taking place all over the country (inspired by Occupy Wall Street) but of course then the Whore Media (which runs Big Pharma ads constantly) would try dismiss it as "rantings of dope smoking hippies".

Well, this hippie hasn't smoked dope in 10 years, so maybe I should do the press interviews?

You are correct.

However, LEAP though leaning and posting corruption issues as of late. Has not stepped forward to make an appearance at an Occupation.

Please write and call Jack Cole.

Law Enforcement Against Prohibition
121 Mystic Ave.
Medford, MA 02155
(phone) (781) 393-6985 (fax) (781) 393-2964
info@leap.cc

Neill Franklin Executive Director (781) 393-6985

Roger Falcon Chief of Staff/ Development (781) 393-6985

Tom Angell tom.angell@leap.cc Media Relations Director (415) 488-6615

San Francisco, CA Media Relations Director (415) 488-6615

Kristin Daley Director of Outreach & Web Communications (781) 393-6985

Bill Fried Director of Programs & Financial Administration (781) 393-6985

Antoinette Hartung Office Manager (781) 393-6985

Shaleen Title Speakers Bureau Director (617) 955-9638

Aaron Moyer College Events Coordinator (717) 877.9920

Trase Rowland Technical Support tech@leap.cc


LEAP’s Board of Directors is made up of Jack Cole, who retired as a lieutenant after 26 years in the New Jersey state police—14 years in their narcotic bureau; Jerry Cameron, a retired Chief of two Florida towns

jackacole@leap.cc (617) 792-3877



Please copy and paste freely to many forums

[jhale667]

Yeah, I heard about that. Fucking makes me sick. It's very obviously the PharmaNazis AND the private corporate prison industry who are putting the pressure on the government to keep this mindless fascist prohibition going. You can't patent a plant, so according to them, it's not "medicine".

This is another thing that needs to be discussed at all the public gatherings currently taking place all over the country (inspired by Occupy Wall Street) but of course then the Whore Media (which runs Big Pharma ads constantly) would try dismiss it as "rantings of dope smoking hippies".

Well, this hippie hasn't smoked dope in 10 years, so maybe I should do the press interviews?

Where are all the state's rights people who should be flipping out on this one?

[FORD]

What marijuana needs is effective advertising. THIS works for me.......

[ThrillsNSpills]

Ya know.
I can always count on you drug addicts to have a propot thread on the site somewhere.

[FORD]

U.S. Drug Policy Would Be Imposed Globally By New House Bill


First Posted: 10/7/11 01:01 PM ET Updated: 10/8/11 05:15 PM ET


The House Judiciary Committee passed a bill yesterday that would make it a federal crime for U.S. residents to discuss or plan activities on foreign soil that, if carried out in the U.S., would violate the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) -- even if the planned activities are legal in the countries where they're carried out. The new law, sponsored by Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas) allows prosecutors to bring conspiracy charges against anyone who discusses, plans or advises someone else to engage in any activity that violates the CSA, the massive federal law that prohibits drugs like marijuana and strictly regulates prescription medication.

"Under this bill, if a young couple plans a wedding in Amsterdam, and as part of the wedding, they plan to buy the bridal party some marijuana, they would be subject to prosecution," said Bill Piper, director of national affairs for the Drug Policy Alliance, which advocates for reforming the country's drug laws. "The strange thing is that the purchase of and smoking the marijuana while you're there wouldn't be illegal. But this law would make planning the wedding from the U.S. a federal crime."

The law could also potentially affect academics and medical professionals. For example, a U.S. doctor who works with overseas doctors or government officials on needle exchange programs could be subject to criminal prosecution. A U.S. resident who advises someone in another country on how to grow marijuana or how to run a medical marijuana dispensary would also be in violation of the new law, even if medical marijuana is legal in the country where the recipient of the advice resides. If interpreted broadly enough, a prosecutor could possibly even charge doctors, academics and policymakers from contributing their expertise to additional experiments like the drug decriminalization project Portugal, which has successfully reduced drug crime, addiction and overdose deaths.

The Controlled Substances Act also regulates the distribution of prescription drugs, so something as simple as emailing a friend vacationing in Tijuana some suggestions on where to buy prescription medication over the counter could subject a U.S. resident to criminal prosecution. "It could even be something like advising them where to buy cold medicine overseas that they'd have to show I.D. to get here in the U.S.," Piper says.

Civil libertarian attorney and author Harvey Silverglate says the bill raises several concerns. "Just when you think you can't get any more cynical, a bill like this comes along. I mean, it just sounds like an abomination. First, there's no intuitive reason for an American to think that planning an activity that's perfectly legal in another country would have any effect on America," Silverglate says. "So we're getting further away from the common law tradition that laws should be intuitive, and should include a mens rea component. Second, this is just an act of shameless cultural and legal imperialism. It's just outrageous."

Conspiracy laws in general are problematic when applied to the drug war. They give prosecutors extraordinary discretion to charge minor players, such as girlfriends or young siblings, with the crimes committed by major drug distributors. They're also easier convictions to win, and can allow prosecutors to navigate around restrictions like statutes of limitations, so long as the old offense can be loosely linked to a newer one. The Smith bill would expand those powers. Under the Amsterdam wedding scenario, anyone who participated in the planning of the wedding with knowledge of the planned pot purchase would be guilty of conspiracy, even if their particular role was limited to buying flowers or booking the hotel.

The law is a reaction to a 2007 case in which the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals threw out the convictions of two men who planned the transfer of cocaine from a Colombian drug cartel to a Saudi prince for distribution in Europe. Though the men planned the transaction from Miami, the court found that because the cocaine never reached the U.S. and was never intended to reach the U.S., the men hadn't committed any crime against the United States.

But the Smith bill goes farther than necessary to address that outcome in that case. "They could have limited this law to prohibiting the planning of activities that are illegal in the countries where they take place," Piper says. "That would have allowed them to convict the guys in the Miami case. There was an amendment proposed to do that and it was voted down on party lines. They intentionally made sure the bill includes activities that are legal in other countries. Which means this is an attempt to apply U.S. law all over the globe."

It wouldn't be the first time. Over the last several years, a number of executives from online gambling companies have been arrested in U.S. airports and charged with felony violations of U.S. gambling, racketeering and money laundering laws, even though the executives were citizens of and the companies were incorporated in countries where online gambling is legal.

Last May, one U.S. citizen saw how the policy can apply in reverse. Joe Gordon, a native of Thailand who has lived in America for 30 years, was arrested while visiting his native country for violating Thailand's lèse-majesté law, which bans criticism of the Thai royal family. Gordon had posted a link on his blog to a biography of Thailand's king that has been banned in Thailand.

In recent years, officials have also attempted to impose U.S. white collar crime policies on other countries as well, such as pressuring Switzerland to soften its privacy laws to help American officials to catch tax cheats and money launderers.

But Silverglate says the Smith bill breaks new ground. "I'm horrified by the pressure on Switzerland, and that's probably the libertarian in me, but at least there you have an argument that there's an American interest at stake. Here, I don't see any interest other than to a desire to impose our moral and cultural preferences on the rest of the world."

Link

[Hardrock69]

As always, I had hopes that perhaps under the Mobama administration, something might be done to end this crap. After all, Prohibition only lasted what, 13 years or so?

I have had it now. This administration is not going to do anything to remove pot from Schedule I. It is time to elect someone else in 2012.