About Medical Marijuana » law enforcement

420 Times: Cops Turn To Marijuana Busts For Cash

Don Duncan — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 20:36:36 +0000

Sheriff Bosenko

Joe Klare writing for 420 Times reports:

“There it is, in black and white. The reason we see so many marijuana busts in the news. We all knew it to be true, but to see a sheriff admit that police use marijuana busts to pump up their budgets is a little startling just the same. Sheriff Tom Bosenko of Shasta County, CA says he’s cutting back on all operations because of budget cuts, except one – marijuana busts…”

Read the entire post with links at 420 Times.

ASA Blog: Implementation, Not Eradication

Don Duncan — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 17:41:38 +0000

From the ASA blog – Medical Cannabis: Voices from the Front Lines

“You might think the job of law enforcement is enforcing the law, but that’s not the way some California officers and organizations see it when it comes to the state’s medical cannabis statute. The latest disturbing evidence of this is an upcoming “training luncheon” on “The Eradication of Medical Marijuana Dispensaries in the City of Los Angeles and Los Angeles County,” hosted by the California Narcotic Officers Association (CNOA)...”

Read the entire post with links on the ASA blog.

Download the CNOA invitation from the ASA website.

Cross winds in medical cannabis

Don Duncan — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 18:32:16 +0000

Two recent media reports illustrate the political cross winds in which medical cannabis advocates find themselves. In Los Angeles, community members continue to call for sensible regulations, while anti-drug crusaders in the Inland Empire seem fixated on rolling back safe access. Community members who support medical cannabis must be vigilant and vocal right now. A persistent culture of resistance among police officers, indecision among elected officials, and a resurgent anti-medical cannabis element all pose risks to patients’ rights.

“Taking a hard line on compassion: L.A. needs to regulate pot dispensaries, but this proposal goes too far.

She didn’t know whether she’d have the nerve to speak. But Judy Bowen signed the list and took a seat amid the pot smokers and growers, the lawyers and doctors, the Rastafarians and AIDS patients crowded into the Los Angeles City Council hearing room.

And when her turn came, she gripped her cane, made her way to the microphone and joined a chorus of would-be lawbreakers, there to fight a proposed ordinance that would ban the sale in Los Angeles of medical marijuana…”

Read the entire story by Sandy Banks in the LA Times.

—

“Coalition Discusses Ways to Fight Marijuana Dispensaries

ONTARIO – Fighting back against marijuana dispensaries was the topic of discussion at the Coalition for a Drug Free California’s daylong planning conference on Friday.

More than 20 community leaders, elected officials and law enforcement officials met at the Ayres Hotel to discuss the reality of shutting down or stopping dispensaries, co-ops, collectives from opening…”

Read the entire story by Liset Marquez in the Daily Bulletin.

NY Times: Breathing Easier in West Hollywood

Don Duncan — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 18:54:47 +0000

On Friday, the New York Times ran an article featuring the Los Angeles Patients and Caregivers Group (LAPCG) in West Hollywood and me, discussing the reaction in the medical cannabis community to US Attorney General Eric Holder’s latest statement about federal policy. I told the reporter that we were breathing a little easier, but still worried about federal interference and rouge law enforcement. I also reminded him that there are still dozens of people facing trial, awaiting sentencing, or serving time. Holder’s “new American policy” must not forget people like Charles C. Lynch, who is to be sentenced to 5 to 20 years in Los Angeles tomorrow.

“Dispensers of Marijuana Find Relief in Policy Shift” New York Times, March 19, 2009

Patients and staff at LAPCG worry that local police and federal agents have little experince distinguishing who is and who is not obeying state law. Under the previous Administartion, obeying the letetr and the spirit of California law still left you at risk of prosecution and jail. It is our hope that law enforcement will rise to the challenge and learn to tell who is doing it right. It should not be too difficult to see that a legal, tax-paying, nonprofit patients’ association like LAPCG, which has operated in West Hollywood since 2004, is off limits to the DEA under Holder’s new policy. Time will tell; but until we change federal law to allow states to choose and regulate medical cannabis as they see fit, there will always be a risk.