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DEA targets landlords of pot outlets
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| DEA targets landlords of pot outlets
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WoW good timing Bubba.
About 150 L.A. owners are told they could face jail and lose properties rented to dispensaries.
By Eric Bailey, Times Staff Writer
July 17, 2007
Raising the stakes in the federal government's war against medical marijuana, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has warned more than 150 Los Angeles landlords that they risk arrest and the loss of their properties if they continue renting to cannabis dispensaries.
The two-page letter sent last week by Timothy J. Landrum, DEA special agent in charge of the Los Angeles office, has whipped up worries among landlords and dispensary operators in a region that has seen a proliferation of the businesses in the last two years.
"I'm devastated," said Lisa Sawoya, who left her lucrative job selling high-tech hospital equipment to open a dispensary 18 months ago in Hollywood. "My landlord believes in cannabis as medicine. But they're taking the letter very seriously. So I'll be closing my doors at the end of this month."
Sarah Pullen, a DEA spokeswoman in Los Angeles, said the purpose of the letters was to "educate" property owners at risk because they were housing marijuana dispensaries.
"By renting their property to individuals violating fed drug laws, they are in and of themselves violating federal law," Pullen said. "These are definitely meant to serve as a notice. What might happen as to the continuing investigations, we'll just have to see."
The DEA move has focused entirely on Los Angeles. Activists suspect that the logistics and timing — more than a decade after state voters legalized medical marijuana with the passage of Proposition 215 — is intended to thin the ranks of Los Angeles dispensaries on the eve of new city regulations. A proposed city ordinance would cap and regulate the number of outlets, which now number more than 400.
Medical marijuana activists say most of the landlords take the threat seriously and have asked the dispensaries to move out.
"Raiding dispensaries and arresting patients hasn't worked to end medical marijuana, so the DEA is trying a new tactic and claiming a new victim in this war," said Steph Sherer of Americans for Safe Access, a group that supports medical marijuana.
Dale Gieringer of the National Organization for Reform of Marijuana Laws said the DEA crackdown won't stop patients' marijuana use. Instead, he said, they could be driven to find drugs in the illegal market, potentially putting themselves at risk.
In recent years, courts have upheld the federal government's ability to seize assets. After the DEA raided the Los Angeles Cannabis Resource Center in 2001, the federal government seized more than $300,000 that West Hollywood had loaned the center to purchase its building.
Gieringer said the most likely outcome of Landrum's letter would be numerous evictions and shutdowns followed by a few select forfeiture prosecutions "to scare remaining landlords."
Hap Kent, who runs Therapeutic Medicinal Health Resources in Sherman Oaks, said he hoped that the DEA would consider letting dispensaries operate for another six months, so patients weren't immediately pushed out on the streets.
"I don't want to put my landlord in jeopardy. I refuse to do that," said Kent, whose dispensary serves patients with AIDS, multiple sclerosis, spinal cord injuries and other serious afflictions. "All we want is an amicable amount of time."
Though the possibility of eviction looms for many of the dispensaries, Kent sees a possible silver lining — a political outcry that could get the state to finally respond to voters' wishes and take on the role of directly supplying medical marijuana.
"That's the way it should have been from the beginning," he said.
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| SA Motorsports |
| I guess the city officials have nothing better to do what with the gang, crack, heroin ect problems in LA....better go after the oh so terrible marijuana addicts in wheelchairs. Fucking idiots!!!! |
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| tbone420 |
Quote: Originally posted by SA Motorsports
I guess the city officials have nothing better to do what with the gang, crack, heroin ect problems in LA....better go after the oh so terrible marijuana addicts in wheelchairs. Fucking idiots!!!! |
Where does it say city officials? The State of California is not actively prosecuting medical marijuana facilities, the federal government is. The DEA is wasting their time and our resources. |
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| megamanfre |
Isnt this illegal? I thought having the medical use marijuana card granted you permission to grow, and use, marijuana for medical reasons. The ability to grow it, being solely for your own purposes, and not to sell, but arent they allowed to purchase marijuana, and in the ability to purchase it, arent there need for places to grow and sell it? I mean, I can understand them wanting to lower the amount of producers, but that shouldnt be in the hands of the DEA, it should be in the hands of the city or state. I mean, Im sure theyre being forced to pay taxes on it, especially since they arent exactly underground. Theyre out in the open, and the state can freely tax it.
Instead of wasting their money on shutting this shit down, they could be making money. Fucking ridiculous. |
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| jtheweirdo |
Quote: Originally posted by megamanfre
Isnt this illegal? I thought having the medical use marijuana card granted you permission to grow, and use, marijuana for medical reasons. The ability to grow it, being solely for your own purposes, and not to sell, but arent they allowed to purchase marijuana, and in the ability to purchase it, arent there need for places to grow and sell it? I mean, I can understand them wanting to lower the amount of producers, but that shouldnt be in the hands of the DEA, it should be in the hands of the city or state. I mean, Im sure theyre being forced to pay taxes on it, especially since they arent exactly underground. Theyre out in the open, and the state can freely tax it.
Instead of wasting their money on shutting this shit down, they could be making money. Fucking ridiculous. |
There was a Supreme Court ruling (that ignores the US Constitution by the way) that gave the DEA the power to say "FUCK YOU" to any and all states that legalize medical marijuana. Even if the state makes it legal, the DEA can still come in and bust people on the federal laws. Its all bullshit and ignores the US Constitution. But this is what happens when you appoint people to the Supreme Court based on political party affiliation, instead of based on their level of understanding of the US Constitution. |
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Quote: Originally posted by jtheweirdo
There was a Supreme Court ruling (that ignores the US Constitution by the way) that gave the DEA the power to say "FUCK YOU" to any and all states that legalize medical marijuana. Even if the state makes it legal, the DEA can still come in and bust people on the federal laws. Its all bullshit and ignores the US Constitution. But this is what happens when you appoint people to the Supreme Court based on political party affiliation, instead of based on their level of understanding of the US Constitution. |
Oh don't belive for a minute that they don't understand the constitution they do very well, they just choose to ignore it, they base there opinions on there beliefs god leads them, only problem is this god is make belive. State citizens voted to allow the Medical use of Marijuana, and most City officials around the state have made possession the lowest priority for Law Enforcement the Federal government has begun a campaign against Both people who use and sell Medical marijuana.
I am not a pothead, I don't smoke out, but I really can't imagine the waste of government funds on marijuana enforcement. Illegal aliens cross the border to rape kids rob and pillage yet that is a low priority for the feds.
California is a shitty place to live, it is getting worse every day. |
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| brokenspine |
| The D.E.A just raided a clinic in bakersfield ca also |
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| SA Motorsports |
Quote: Originally posted by SA Motorsports
I guess the city officials have nothing better to do what with the gang, crack, heroin ect problems in LA....better go after the oh so terrible marijuana addicts in wheelchairs. Fucking idiots!!!! |
Ooops...my bad. Please remove "city officials" and insert "federal officials"
I think my point was the same though! |
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| k9cop502 |
Quote: Originally posted by jtheweirdo
There was a Supreme Court ruling (that ignores the US Constitution by the way) that gave the DEA the power to say "FUCK YOU" to any and all states that legalize medical marijuana. Even if the state makes it legal, the DEA can still come in and bust people on the federal laws. Its all bullshit and ignores the US Constitution. But this is what happens when you appoint people to the Supreme Court based on political party affiliation, instead of based on their level of understanding of the US Constitution. |
Where is the constitution ignored? Federal law outweighs State law. Just saying. |
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