OC Sheriff's Department Says All Sales of Marijuana Illegal, Investigation Involving Belmont Shore Collective Ongoing
- Details
- By Greggory Moore Follow @greggory_moore
- | Friday, 02 December 2011 04:00
10:00am | The Orange County Sheriff's Department considers all sales of marijuana to be illegal -- whether or not they involve profit -- and says the investigation that led to the raid of Belmont Shore Natural Care and numerous other locations and individuals is ongoing, according to a department spokesperson.
In response to follow-up questions regarding the search warrant served on a half-dozen collectives and over a dozen other locations and persons on November 8, Lt. David Doyle has told the Long Beach Post that "the CUA and MMPA do not authorize sales of marijuana," and that therefore all cash-for-cannabis transactions are illegal.
Doyle also provided further details on the November 8 enforcement action, reporting that a total of approximately $492,000 was seized in the various searches. No cash was seized from Belmont Shore Natural Care; however, in addition to the collective's entire medicinal inventory, a variety of bookkeeping paperwork was seized, along with a computer.
Doyle noted while no arrests have been made thus far, the investigation centering around John Walker, whom the Sheriff's Department labels "a silent partner that heads … [a] criminal organization conspiring to illegally sell marijuana at several storefronts," is ongoing.
While many law-enforcement organizations view cash-for-cannabis transactions (such as typically take place at storefront dispensaries) as illegal, in August 2008, then-State Attorney General Jerry Brown released a set of guidelines based on his interpretation of the Compassionate Use Act (CUA) and the Medical Marijuana Program Act (MMPA), the legal foundations for California's allowance of the use of cannabis for medicinal purposes. In those guidelines, Brown states that "a properly organized and operated collective or cooperate that dispenses medical marijuana through a storefront may be lawful under California law," and that such operations can include marijuana being "[a]llocated based on fees that are reasonably calculated to cover overhead costs and operating expenses."
However, the Sheriff's Department alleges that some or all of the sales made at the collectives named in the warrant were made on a for-profit basis.
This is harassment, plain and simple, and will lose in court.
We and several other states have a hodgepodge collection of confused and conflicting state and local medpot laws specifically *because* maraijuana remains illegal at the federal level. Because this is true, states and localities have been twisting themselves into legalistic pretzels to try to get around the federal prohibition.
Deal with marijuana at the federal level, and we wont need medpot laws in California or Long Beach at all. If we remove marijuana from the CSA schedules, California can legalize it outright or limit access as it chooses.
Move marijuana to another Schedule and California medical professionals can legally prescribe it and licensed pharmacies can legally dispense it.
No more half-baked (sic) Doctor "recommendations." No more medpot collectives.
OCSD Lt. Doyle was quite specific in the reason for the raids. They feel that the CUA and MMPA do not authorize sales of marijuana," and that therefore all cash-for-cannabis transactions are illegal."
Correct this at the federal level and neither the CUA nor the MMPA are necessary at all.
As I said, we need to look deeper. The root (sic) of California's medpot challenge resides in federal law and no where else.
Marijuana was first domesticated over 6000 years ago, making it one of the first plants to have that honor. This country was founded by a couple of pot farmers named Washington and Jefferson. Pot is our human heritage and right.
It is not an accident that pot has so many medical indications, it was farmed by humans before corn or tomatoes, and humans and cannabis evolved together and interacted long before domestication. That is why scientists refer to the cannibinoid receptor system in humans! The Sheriff's bias against marijuana is unscientific and unconscionable. A real horror show against normal people doing what humans have always done. Sherrif, please, GET OVER IT and work on crimes of violence and corruption within the Department, or give us back our tax money!!!
"Okay...if its medicine tgen gve t to tge drug stores such as cvs or rite aid to sell...not these neighborhood retail shops....etc...etc"
Dumbass(es) that comment this here is your response.....
Have you forgotten that drug stores used to be small compassionate dime store tiny neighborhood shops??? Run by mom & pop "america"???
Yes, before the existence of behemoth BILLION dollar super stores it was mom and pop that dispensed drugs.
These collectives have a right to be a small mom and pop as most are and run this operation. Incidentally they can also dispense pharmaceuticals if they so chose to.
So shut up already those that give this real creative response regarding sales through big pharma outlets.
God forbid
LB
Arresting people for assaults, beatings and robberies doesn't bring money back to police departments, but drug cases do in a couple of ways. First, police departments across the country compete for a pool of federal anti-drug grants. The more arrests and drug seizures a department can claim, the stronger its application for those grants.
The most perverse policy may be asset forfeiture. Under civil asset forfeiture, police can seize property from people merely suspected of drug crimes.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/21/drug-war-incentives-police-violent-crime_n_1105701.html?page=1
The Nov 8th 'action' was straight-up smash&grab ROBBERY.
The police come in, STEAL all the cash, walk out saying "have a nice day".
The ONLY folks in it 'for profit' are the police agencies stealing the collectives' cash.
Unless/until the police bring in an accountant, they have NO business declaring the activities of a true 'non-profit' to be illegal.
I absolutely agree that a few (some) clubs are idiots, running their dispensaries 'loosely'. When THAT happens with alcohol, do you see the police raiding the owner's home&business, stealing all their cash?
It's about the money, folks. Period.
Most of us are aware by now that individuals who use illegal drugs are going to get high, 'no matter what.' So why do you not prefer they acquire them in stores that check IDs and pay taxes? Gifting the market in narcotics to ruthless criminals, foreign terrorists and corrupt law enforcement officials is seriously compromising our future. If you remotely believe that people will one day quit using any of these 'at present' illegal drugs, then you are exhibiting a degree of naivety parallel only with those poor deluded wretches who voluntarily drank the poisoned Kool-Aid in Jonestown.
Even if you cannot stand the thought of people using drugs, there is absolutely nothing you, or any government, can do to stop them. We have spent 40 years and over a trillion dollars on this dangerous farce. Practically everybody is now aware that Prohibition will not suddenly and miraculously start showing different results. So why do you wish to continue with a policy that has proven itself to be a poison in the veins of our once so proud & free nation? Do you actually think you may have something to lose If we were to start basing drug policy on science & logic instead of ignorance, hate and lies?
Maybe you're a police officer, a prison guard or a local politician. Possibly you're scared of losing employment, overtime-pay, the many kick-backs and those regular fat bribes. But what good will any of that do you once our society has followed Mexico over the dystopian abyss of dismembered bodies, vats of acid and marauding thugs carrying gold-plated AK-47s with leopard-skinned gunstocks?
Kindly allow us to forgo the next level of your sycophantic prohibition-engendered mayhem.
Prohibition Prevents Regulation : Legalize, Regulate and Tax!
Solution... get on a jury. And to quote Nancy Reagan... Just Say No.
I'm also saddened by recent politically motivated federal crackdowns on dispensaries that are complying with State law. They are using Federal money to reduce jobs and state/city tax income when we need more of both. State taxes on medical marijuana was estimated to be between 50 and 100 million dollars in 2010. See http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/11/24/BA0C1M32B1.DTL for more information on that.
The same search warrant authorized OCSD to seize the items that they seized.
Assuming that a responsible party from BSNC was present during the warrant service, that person has a copy of the warrant. Perhaps that person could provide LBPOST with that copy so that LBPOST can, in turn, publish it here for public review and discussion.