Mark Halperin was right.

The medical marijuana community has been holding its collective breath waiting for the Obama Justice Department's clarification of the 2009 Ogden memo. You may remember all the talk the President made during his candidacy about not harassing medical marijuana patients and respecting state's rights? Well it turned out to be just that, talk.

The clarification memo was leaked on wednesday. Written by Deputy Attorney General James M. Cole, the new policy is quite a departure from both the words of the President elect and his Attorney General Eric Holder.

It is designed to strike fear and terrorize not just medical marijuana patients and consumers but prosecute any state or municipal official who deigns to help them or enforce state or local laws.

Two years ago Deputy Attorney General David Ogden declared that federal law-enforcement officials shouldn't expend resources going after people who are in "clear and unambiguous compliance" with their state's medical-marijuana laws.

Cole's memo clarifies that Ogden was referring to "individuals with cancer or other serious illnesses," not to dispensaries or other commercial marijuana businesses. In other words, marijuana can be used, but good luck trying to procure or grow it legally.

“The Ogden Memorandum was never intended to shield such activities from federal enforcement action and prosecution, even where those activities purport to comply with state law. Persons who are in the business of cultivating, selling or distributing marijuana, and those who knowingly facilitate such activities, are in violation of the Controlled Substances Act, regardless of state law. Consistent with resource constraints and the discretion you may exercise in your district, such persons are subject to federal enforcement action, including potential prosecution. State laws or local ordinances are not a defense to civil or criminal enforcement of federal law with respect to such conduct, including enforcement of the CSA. Those who engage in transactions involving the proceeds of such activity may also be in violation of federal money laundering statutes and other federal financial laws.”

Let us look back at some of the administration and President's past statements on the cannabis scourge:

October 19, 2009 - "It will not be a priority to use federal resources to prosecute patients with serious illnesses or their caregivers who are complying with state laws on medical marijuana."  Eric Holder


Spring 2008, Candidate Obama - “I’m not going to be using Justice Department resources to try to circumvent state laws on this issue.”


“For those organizations that are doing so sanctioned by state law, and doing it in a way that is consistent with state law, and given the limited resources that we have, that will not be an emphasis for this administration.” Eric Holder, 2009

It is obvious to me that the President is once again alienating a huge population of his base, a base that is crying out for an end to this senseless war on this harmless herb and the draconian punishment he metes out for its use. He exhibits a stunning lack of intellectual integrity when he allows his administration to send such conflicting signals to the American people. We have missed a great opportunity for change in this administration, we were fooled into thinking that Barack Obama stood for something besides getting re-elected. Many people of the liberal persuasion will have a hard time making that mistake again.



June 29, 2011
MEMORANDUM FOR UNITED STATES ATTORNEYS
FROM: James M. Cole Deputy Attorney General
SUBJECT: Guidance Regarding the Ogden Memo in Jurisdictions Seeking to Authorize Marijuana for Medical Use
Over the last several months some of you have requested the Department's assistance in responding to inquiries from State and local governments seeking guidance about the Department's position on enforcement of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) in jurisdictions that have under consideration, or have implemented, legislation that would sanction and regulate the commercial cultivation and distribution of marijuana purportedly for medical use. Some of these jurisdictions have considered approving the cultivation of large quantities of marijuana, or broadening the regulation and taxation of the substance. You may have seen letters responding to these inquiries by several United States Attorneys. Those letters are entirely consistent with the October 2009 memorandum issued by Deputy Attorney General David Ogden to federal prosecutors in States that have enacted laws authorizing the medical use of marijuana (the "Ogden Memo").
The Department of Justice is committed to the enforcement of the Controlled Substances Act in all States. Congress has determined that marijuana is a dangerous drug and that the illegal distribution and sale of marijuana is a serious crime that provides a significant source of revenue to large scale criminal enterprises, gangs, and cartels. The Ogden Memorandum provides guidance to you in deploying your resources to enforce the CSA as part of the exercise of the broad discretion you are given to address federal criminal matters within your districts.
A number of states have enacted some form of legislation relating to the medical use of marijuana. Accordingly,the Ogden Memo reiterated to you that prosecution of significant traffickers of illegal drugs, including marijuana, remains a core priority, but advised that it is likely not an efficient use of federal resources to focus enforcement efforts on individuals with cancer or other serious illnesses who use marijuana as part of a recommended treatment regimen consistent with applicable state law, or their caregivers. The term "caregiver" as used in the memorandum meant just that: individuals providing care to individuals with cancer or other serious illnesses, not commercial operations cultivating, selling or distributing marijuana.
The Department's view of the efficient use of limited federal resources as articulated in the Ogden Memorandum has not changed. There has, however, been an increase in the scope of commercial cultivation, sale, distribution and use of marijuana for purported medical purposes. For example, within the past 12 months, several jurisdictions have considered or enacted legislation to authorize multiple large-scale, privately-operated industrial marijuana cultivation centers. Some of these planned facilities have revenue projections of millions of dollars based on the planned cultivation of tens of thousands of cannabis plants.
The Ogden Memorandum was never intended to shield such activities from federal enforcement action and prosecution, even where those activities purport to comply with state law. Persons who are in the business of cultivating, selling or distributing marijuana, and those who knowingly facilitate such activities, are in violation of the Controlled Substances Act, regardless of state law. Consistent with resource constraints and the discretion you may exercise in your district, such persons are subject to federal enforcement action, including potential prosecution. State laws or local ordinances are not a defense to civil or criminal enforcement of federal law with respect to such conduct, including enforcement of the CSA. Those who engage in transactions involving the proceeds of such activity may also be in violation of federal money laundering statutes and other federal financial laws.
The Department of Justice is tasked with enforcing existing federal criminal laws in all states, and enforcement of the CSA has long been and remains a core priority.
cc: Lanny A. Breuer Assistant Attorney General, Criminal Division
B. Todd Jones United States Attorney District of Minnesota Chair, AGAC
Michele M. Leonhart Administrator Drug Enforcement Administration
H. Marshall Jarrett Director Executive Office for United States Attorneys
Kevin L. Perkins Assistant Director Criminal Investigative Division Federal Bureau of Investigations

Eugene Davidovich awaits his fate.

JUST IN - NOT GUILTY ON ALL COUNTS!

I guess I am lucky. My cancer history and other past medical problems have shielded me to some extent from the gestapo. I have a signed medical card from a physician that allows me to use medical marijuana legally, courtesy of California Proposition 215.

Eugene Davidovich also had such a card. He was set up by a cop who lied about his medical condition to a Doctor and fraudulently obtained a card. Davidovich worked at a cooperative that was caught up in District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis's perfidious web.

Eugene is sitting in a courtroom in San Diego right now while a jury decides his fate. The prosecution tried to disallow any reference to his stellar career in the armed forces, tried to exclude his medical defense and tried to exclude his expert witness. They claimed that they were not bound by the dictates of the State Attorney General and have spent a ton of taxpayer money on this stupid and expensive case. The judge wisely shot down all of their positions.

I hope the best for Eugene and hope that all of you do as well. He is a brave and articulate man who stands up for all of the marijuana community. It was interesting to me that my cooperative, Mother Earth, disclosed that 83% of their members were over the age of 50. Not exactly bomb throwing firebrands. More like normal people from every walk of life, using one of the safest and most effective substances available for pain relief and dare I say it, pleasure.

Eugene is on the front lines for people like you or me, who choose to use marijuana from our supposedly safe perches. People like him, people who have helped to make the medicine more readily available, are still being sentenced to lengthy prison terms in this state. Because of mealy mouthed double talk from Washington and draconian and sick actions from local prosecutors and police chiefs whose budgets are still funded by the senseless drug war. And dare I say it, inaction and laziness of users who would rather sit back and let someone else take all the heat and do all of the heavy lifting.

His expected acquittal will hopefully send a clear sign to the antediluvians to call off their dogs and stop wasting taxpayers money on prosecuting the sick. The County needs to look long and hard after this case.

***

Speaking of pot, I find that there is an interesting kerfuffle brewing in the marijuana community regarding the new legalization initiative in California. Jack Herer, a prominent activist and writer is reportedly against it. Norml may be for it. I need to figure out the scuttlebutt. I think that one of the objections is taxation, something I have no problem with. I do think that it is pot is plainly too expensive. I remember 10 dollar cans, than lids, 100 dollar ounces of fresh green buds in the mid seventies and then the 400 dollar quagmire we are in today. With legalization I would hope that there could be a little price softening. I guess I am with certain powers that be on this point. It costs too damn much!

Save Mother Earth

According to an article in today's North County Times, Mother Earth Alternative Healing Cooperative is no more.

Fallbrook's sole medical marijuana cooperative was apparently the victim of county code enforcement, who accused them of operating without a permit. And, shudder, building an interior wall without a permit.

They were gunning for them. I guess it was just a matter of time. God forbid that one store in this town was doing any business!

The cooperative, of which I am a member, had always been open about its operating intentions with the county of San Diego. But code enforcement says that pot dispensaries are not legally permittable because their use is not mentioned in county codes as currently written. Even though the permit was applied for before any moratoriums were written.

Mother Earth was a member in good standing of the local Fallbrook Camber of Commerce. They had a float in the Christmas Parade. The local sheriff admits that they had no link to any rise in crimes. But he is glad to see them gone.


San Diego sheriff's Lt. Phil Brust, who runs the Fallbrook station, said there had been no increase in crime related to the shop since it opened, and he said Riedel had come into the station to share his plans and invite deputies to tour the place.
Still, Brust said, the shop "raised his eyebrows" and he was glad to see it shut down.
"I am leery of these establishments, even if their motives are good," Brust said. "I think people (some medical marijuana users) are getting carried away and it has become a free-for-all."


What the good sheriff and the county continue to fail to grasp is that medical marijuana is the law in California and has been since the passage of Proposition 215 in 1996. It is a matter between a patient and a doctor and believe it or not, the law is scrupulously adhered to by the clinics I have visited. The County of San Diego has lost on this issue at the United States Supreme Court not once but twice. Oh ya, why was I there anyway? I lost a kidney and ureter and a piece of bladder to cancer in May of last year. Marijuana kept me off of narcotics and helped me to recover.

The Federal government has stated that they will respect state laws in respect to medical marijuana, which currently exist in 14 states. Yet the will and plurality of the people apparently means nothing to our tin horn Board of Supervisors and our vengeful District Attorney, Bonnie Dumanis.

Of what purpose are propositions if they can so easily be thwarted by elected officials who choose to so selectively follow their edicts?  Guess sick people can't get their medicine if we refuse to permit any dispensaries.  The county is even taking the position that any sale of marijuana is illegal even though the two pot propositions clearly state that reasonable fees can be charged to recover costs.

I for one, hope that someone with deep pockets will file a massive lawsuit to hold the county's feet to the fire until they adopt a reasonable policy and start permitting medical marijuana dispensaries. Or better yet start taking names and throw the scallywags out of office.

D.A. Doldrums

What is it about San Diego County and District Attorneys? It seems like it has been so long since we have had a normal one. Witness Bonnie Dumanis, who has declared war not just on medical marijuana patients, but apparently the County Judiciary and the Public Defender's Office as well.

Now the D.A. is trying to get respected Superior Court Judge Harry Elias to recuse himself from a case, saying that he has made '"highly critical and accusatory statements" about the Prosecutor's office. The judge has been a little bit miffed lately about the D.A.'s office illegal conduct in not sharing evidence with the defense, in one case not turning over exculpatory fingerprint evidence. In another case, they failed to share evidence of a bloody knife that could have helped the defense. The judge apparently chastised them for encouraging witnesses to give false testimony.  The prosecutor says that they don't need to "go back in history, or cite other cases in other contexts," preferring not to answer for their malfeasance.

This is on the heels of a contretemps with Judge John Einhorn, another popular jurist who was boycotted by Dumanis office in the last several months for reasons that were never publicly divulged. Her office had a peremptory blanket challenge against the justice. Einhorn is widely respected and was voted Judge of the Year but has sat idly by of late in a crowded docket because he wouldn't step in line with our District Attorney.

Judge Elias is a former prosecutor who is somehow being characterized by the D.A. as being hostile to the prosecution side. The D.A. is being accused of trying to bully the bench. Elias cautioned in a hearing yesterday that the Prosecutor's office's reputation is not good among either judicial officers or the defense bar.

Now the California Supreme Court has dismissed the charges against the five defendants in the pension case, another cause celebre for Dumanis in 2005. Another costly prosecution case goes down the drain. She has repeatedly refused to charge policemen in officer shootings like Officer Frank White.

Dumanis has reportedly increased the budget for her office by over 65%, hiring five public affairs officers to her predecessor's two and even installing an office historian. On our dime. She outspends the Defender's office by 47%. She built a snazzy gym at the Hall of Justice. The office deflects criticism regarding her largesse by claiming that the improvements were funded with forfeitures. A good reason for them to want to continue the war on pot. So she can decorate.

The one thing she has not done is to try cases like her predecessor, who implemented rigorous performance standards and had a much more productive tenure.  Makes you long for the days of Paul Pfingst. Bonnie Dumanis has been an unmitigated disaster. The citizens of San Diego County need to send her packing.

Mr. President?

Our president has disappointed me on several fronts. Nothing terminal yet but I think he has mishandled a few things. Continuing Bush era policies on civil liberties, including warrantless wiretapping. Backtracking on some environmental issues. Not repealing "Don't ask, don't tell." Several other matters that I don't need to broach.

He's still my guy and I support him, but I think he has kowtowed to an opposition that means to dismember him and he is playing their game.  Guess he won't get one republican house vote on health care.

Anyway, I salute him for trying to institute change in our inertial society. Can't be easy. But he does seem to be a bit of a pussy at times.

I have taken this president at his word on several issues.  I want to believe that he will treat Israel and the Palestinians in an even handed fashion. I hope that he will protect the sanctity of our environment and National Parks. One thing that the president stated early on was that the federal government would respect the state's marijuana laws including Proposition 215 in California.

Unfortunately there appears to be a disconnect between word and deed. The head of the DEA, in a turf guarding statement last week, said that law enforcement must be a player in any drug policy scenario or shift. Last week, James Dean Stacy, a marijuana cooperative owner in Vista, was federally indicted after conducting his business in a way that was precisely outlined in state's propositions 215 and 420.  Donna Lambert, Eugene Davidovich and many other innocent victims are facing draconian penalties while seemingly following state law in a letter perfect way.

Now Steve Cooley, District Attorney of Los Angeles, has joined the San Diego D.A., Bonnie Dumanis, in trying to outlaw cooperatives. The city of Fresno is also undertaking similar actions. The law says that cooperative owners can reasonably charge to recoup their costs. The D.A.'s say that any money exchanged is illegal. They are trying to zone  dispensaries out of existence. Dumanis says that patients need to grow their own. Who can take them at their word?

Now as a proud marijuana user who has been helped through kidney cancer, bladder cancer, ureter cancer, open heart surgery, etc. by the evil weed, which allowed me not to use any narcotics post surgery, I have to cry foul. I can't believe their intention is merely to lower the price of grass, which I agree is too high. Somehow, I don't think they care.

I smoked pot prior to being sick and I am honest enough to admit it. If Obama wants to do something positive and get his constituency engaged again, he will push for legalization now and stop this silly drug war. There was an article in the New York Times this week about how Mexican cartels are suffering financially because domestic marijuana growers are cutting into their turf. Time to BUY AMERICAN! If the president does not call off his dogs and turns out to be prevaricating on his intentions to respect state's rights on this issue, he will lose me. He needs to have the balls to set policy and to see it followed through by the ranks.

Californians need to draft a new proposition that these troglodytes can't dismember.  And they need to take names and remember during the next elections.  These tin horn sheriffs care about one thing and that is their own power. Time they start looking for new jobs.

San Diego's Finest.

San Diego police pull medical marijuana patient Paul Cody out of his wheelchair and into the squad car.

San Diego District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis has been getting a lot of negative publicity lately. Liberals and lesbians were upset when she failed to upbraid the deputy who forced himself into a gay couple's home during the Francine Busby fundraiser and manhandled one of the residents. The Sheriff's Association is p.o.'d because she failed to charge the woman.


There have been a string of very iffy officer involved shootings during her tenure, not surprisingly, none of the law enforcement officers were ever charged with any malfeasance. 


The D.A.'s office has been under fire for their  recent very publicized raids against medical marijuana patients and their care providers. The fellow in the video is a wheelchair bound practicing buddhist. Now I didn't title the video and I am not sure that it rises to the level of brutality.  But I wonder if the cops knew the nature of his malady before they yanked him out of the wheelchair.  If you had a spinal injury, it could be very damaging to get treated like that.


The District Attorney just can't deal with the fact that Proposition 215 has been the law in California for the last 13 years, can't shake her opposition to the evil weed, can't accept the will of the people.


After a flood of negative commentary, she has even shut her Facebook page off to comments.


This week she may have made a calculated move to repair her image.  In football mad San Diego, she may have found her constituency, Charger fans. She has decided not to bring charges against linebacker Shawn Merriman.  The guy who has had his share of trouble and allegedly abused his girlfriend, one Tila Tequila.  Now I don't know what really happened between them, all I know is that Daddy told me never to date a girl named after a cocktail, and I have tried to live my life like that.


Football fans probably have more juice than a bunch of sick potheads. Very smart.


Yesterday, D.A. spokesman Paul Levikow was asked in what way law enforcement had tried to educate dispensaries as to what would constitute proper compliance with the law and his smarmy reaction was telling. 


"I don't think that (law enforcement) sat down and said "This is how you sell dope." "I don't think that conversation was had." 


Levikow's reaction is at least honest and more indicative of the true attitude of the DA's office than the prevaricating, mealy mouth Dumanis.  They hate marijuana, have fought it for years and aren't about to let the people of California, the action of the rest of the county governments in California, or anyone else for that matter stand in their way. (even if you are in a wheelchair.)


The DA is trying to do damage control on the political front.  They are on a new media blitz talking about supposed rampant crime and lawlessness around dispensaries.  I have visited 5 or 6 in the county and saw none of that.  Well groomed, innocuous establishments, with no loitering.  Much less attendant hassles than your average local liquor store.  But they are trying to ratchet up their case by exploiting the fears of seeing dark men in trench coats selling weed to the children down at the elementary school.


I thought Mike Aguirre was the worst District Attorney San Diego County ever had.  Dumanis is determined to give him a run for his money.

Marijuana Chronicles

Donna Lambert




"Even if one takes every reefer madness allegation of the prohibitionists at face value, marijuana prohibition has done far more harm to far more people than marijuana ever could."
William F. Buckley, Jr.

San Diego seems to be the site of Custer's last stand for the individuals in county government who object to the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes. Even though the law, Proposition 215, which legalized medical marijuana was passed way back in 1996. Even though the federal government says that it will respect the law passed by a majority of California voters.

The San Diego County District Attorney, Bonnie Dumanis and her underlings like DDA Walters, are doing everything thing they can to obstruct the law and put up any available roadblock they can to thwart its rational implementation. They lost at the SCOTUS but want to keep fighting until the last pain sufferer is left unstanding.

Two unfortunate souls, are caught in their devious web, Donna Lambert and Eugene Davidovich. Lambert goes to trial this afternoon. They both sold marijuana, in legal accordance with the state law, to undercover operatives, who had duly issued medical cards and were feigning illness. The San Diego County DA is in the process of ruining these poor people's lives as collateral damage in their never ending war on pot. They are trying to not allow the submission of any medical defense presentation in court. Both of the aforementioned are medical marijuana patients, Eugene a decorated veteran.

The DA seems to be using the argument that any sales of grass for money are illegal even though Proposition 215 clearly states that legitimate costs for production and distribution can be recouped by collectives and cooperatives. Chris Conrad, an expert who helped draft Proposition 215, has testified that the initiative was followed properly in the defendant's actions in the San Diego cases going to trial. And never mind that every other county in California seems to be having no problem with following the intent and will of the statute.

So they are settling on a piddly subjective matter of minor bookkeeping to keep their draconian drug war alive. I guess it all comes down to what "reasonable" means in the statute. But Dumanis is surely taking the most prohibitive view possible, in my view quite unnecessarily.
Now, as a person who has a medical prescription and has been helped by it through several cancer bouts and heart surgery, I have to ask myself, how the pain suffering little old lady is supposed to procure the drug if not for dispensaries? Who doesn't have access to an illegal source. An elderly person, like a family member of mine with severe M.S. and is paraplegic and can't grow her own? They seem to have little regards for such people. Or would they prefer that drugs get sold by cartels to keep the criminal machine working and their own jobs buzzing along?

I pray that the judge sees their obfuscation and bullying for what it is and spanks the DA. Dumanis is just another lousy politician playing with people's lives. The will of the people is clear. Do our public servants choose to uphold the law only when it suits their own purposes? They need to get on board and create a format for the dispensaries to function legally and responsibly and not answer "that's their problem" like one of the DA's did several months ago when queried how their narrow and deluded take on the law would square with reality. The people have spoken. Is anyone listening?


First postscript: I have been thinking about how unfair the Davidovich and Lambert cases really are. These poor people are in the process of being criminalized when they were only following the guidelines and statutes of a thirteen year old law that had been accepted on its face by every other county in the state. These two victims of an overzealous DA are facing felony jail time after doing everything in a way that they believed to the best of their ability, was dictated by Proposition 215. It's wrong that they are now sacrificial lambs, after being ensnared in this deluded drug war.

Second Postscript: Today, 9/10/09, a day after the county and DEA went on another dispensary raid, Bonnie Dumanis had the audacity to say that she wasn't anti medical marijuana and that people should just grow it. Interesting.  Like everyone is capable or has the land to grow pot, or no fear of having it stolen.  Like people trust the county not to come swooping down in their helicopters during the next purge.  My mother in law in the wheelchair can't grow it - you want to start your own garden, Bonnie, and provide for the folks with M.S.?


You have managed to ensnare so many good people already Ms. D.A., because you disagree with the state law that explicitly states that reasonable costs can be recouped.  I don't trust you and I don't believe you.