MAPTalk-Digest Monday, December 17 2007 Volume 07 : Number 132
001 A Counter Measure -- Re: DEA Alerts Pot-Store Landlords
From: R Givens <>
002 Laura Archera Huxley
From: Herb <>
003 Aurora Veteran Fights For Return Of Pot Plants
From: Herb <>
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Subj: 001 A Counter Measure -- Re: DEA Alerts Pot-Store Landlords
From: R Givens <>
Date: Sun, 16 Dec 2007 14:03:17 -0800
Here's a tactic that can stop pot club landlords from losing their property.
FIRST, have the landlord sign a long term lease BEFORE there is any DEA action.
When the DEA comes calling, the landlord says, "Yes sir, I'll kick
those pot dealers out right away."
The landlord then goes to court and tries to get an eviction order. A
California court has already ruled that a pot club cannot be evicted
because they are engaged in a legal activity as far as the State of
California is concerned. Therefore, an eviction will be denied.
After a California court refuses to grant eviction to what it sees as
a legitimate business, the landlord goes back to the DEA and says, "I
tried to throw them out, but the court won't let me!"
The DEA will have a hell of a time going after such property because
the owner is cooperating.
R Givens
>Newshawk: http://www.drugsense.org/donate.htm
>Pubdate: Sat, 15 Dec 2007
>Source: Sacramento Bee (CA)
>Webpage: http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/569154.html
>Copyright: 2007 The Sacramento Bee
>Contact:
>Website: http://www.sacbee.com/
>Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/376
>Note: Does not publish letters from outside its circulation area.
>Author: Christina Jewett
>
>DEA ALERTS POT-STORE LANDLORDS
>
>Letters Warn Of Penalties For Leasing To Marijuana Dispensaries.
>
>The Sacramento office of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration is
>turning to a new strategy against medical marijuana dispensaries:
>warning landlords they could be imprisoned or forced to forfeit their
>buildings if their tenants continue to peddle medical pot.
>
>Sacramento-based DEA agents have sent letters to dispensaries'
>landlords in recent weeks, viewing the mailings as a simple way to
>cut down on what federal officials consider illicit activity.
>
>However, medical marijuana advocates - who saw about 200 DEA letters
>go out in the Los Angeles area this summer - say federal officials
>are being too heavy-handed against such dispensaries, which
>California voters approved as legal more than a decade ago.
>
>Federal officials say U.S. law against such dispensaries pre-empts
>the California law, but medical marijuana advocates hope to resist
>the latest DEA effort.
>
>"This is one of the most insidious tactics we've seen them use so
>far," said Nathan Sands, a Sacramento-based communications director
>for the Compassionate Coalition, a medical marijuana education
>nonprofit. "I think they're going to see a backlash here."
>
>Gordon Taylor, the special agent in charge of the Sacramento division
>of the DEA, said the agency sent 11 letters early in November to
>dispensaries throughout the 34 noncoastal Northern California
>counties over which it has jurisdiction. Most, he said, were sent to
>Sacramento-area pot clubs.
>
>A spokeswoman in the San Francisco DEA office said 80 such letters
>were mailed to dispensaries in the Bay Area earlier this week.
>
>The letters explain to landlords that it is a violation of federal
>law to rent property that is used to distribute a controlled substance.
>
>Violations carry penalties of up to 20 years in jail or a fine of up
>to $500,000, the law says. Civil penalties of up to $250,000 can be assessed.
>
>The DEA's letter also refers to a law that says property used for the
>distribution of controlled substances is subject to forfeiture.
>
>In Sacramento, the letters have "definitely caused a panic," Sands said.
>
>One Sacramento-area medical marijuana dispensary manager, who spoke
>anonymously because he fears action by the DEA, said that as far as
>he knows his landlord got no letter.
>
>He said he knows several dispensary managers whose landlords got the
>letter. All are moving or shutting down, he said. Those who haven't
>yet been affected are nervous, he said.
>
>"There's definitely some apprehension," he said during an interview
>in the dispensary. "I mean, what can you do? There's nothing really
>you can do."
>
>Sacramento DEA agent Taylor said he has gotten a favorable response
>so far from one landlord who said he did not know the activity was
>going on, and from others who said they had started the eviction process.
>
>"This could create a situation that, if pot clubs are dismantled, we
>don't have to do full-bore investigation," he said.
>
>The letter advises landlords that the DEA considers the activity on
>their property a crime, but does not tell them what to do about it.
>Taylor concedes as much, saying if he got the letter, he would
>consult a lawyer.
>
>Jose Martinez, a DEA spokesman at the Los Angeles division, said his
>office mailed 200 similar letters to landlords starting this summer,
>but has not taken action against anyone.
>
>When asked if enforcement action is imminent or just a possibility,
>he said it is "only possible."
>
>"What we're trying to do now is educate all of the property owners,"
>Martinez said.
>
>About three dozen dispensaries in the Los Angeles area shut down
>after getting the letters, said Kris Hermes, spokesman for Americans
>for Safe Access, a medical marijuana lobbying group.
>
>"We are trying to encourage against a sense of alarm," Hermes said.
>"We believe the Department of Justice has limited resources to go
>after landlords in this egregious manner."
>
>Hermes said the tactic is so extreme that it has galvanized some
>support for dispensaries and patients in Congress.
>
>U.S. Rep. John Conyers Jr., D-Mich., the chairman of the House
>Judiciary Committee, released a statement against the letters Dec. 7.
>
>In it, Conyers said the committee has questioned the DEA about its
>"efforts to undermine California law" and plans to continue to
>"sharply question" the DEA. The judiciary committee's spokeswoman did
>not return a call to The Bee.
>
>Brenda Grantland, a Mill Valley attorney who specializes in
>forfeiture law, said the strategy is clearly legal. But she believes
>it is an overzealous use of the government's power.
>
>"Whether it's fair or constitutional doesn't seem to matter," she said.
>
>Grantland said the strategy appears to be an intense effort to
>destroy California's medical marijuana supply network in the last
>months of the Bush administration.
>
>The strategy is one more episode in a decade-long dispute over
>federal vs. state power to regulate medical marijuana.
>
>California voters approved Proposition 215 in 1996, giving way to the
>legalized use of medical marijuana. However, since then, the DEA has
>raided dozens of dispensaries and prosecuted their owners.
>
>A court decision handed down this week provided a victory for federal
>officials.
>
>On Thursday the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld an
>injunction that forced three California cannabis clubs to stop
>distributing medical marijuana.
>>>>---
>MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom
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Attachment: http://mapinc.org/temp/16Mt2oxl0B_SM.html
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Subj: 002 Laura Archera Huxley
From: Herb <>
Date: Sun, 16 Dec 2007 23:07:28 -0800
Laura Archera Huxley
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hUfn4AcDMCrkMNbWDqgTMZvijDEwD8TI8NS
Psychedelics are extraordinary tools, when used with psychotherapy, because
in one day you can let go of so much, and have insight into so much.
Sometimes more than in a year of traditional psychotherapy. I think they
should be used in psychotherapy. But I don't know who should be entrusted
with the toolbox - priests or psychiatrists? That is the difficulty.
Laura Archera Huxley
Whoever uses psychedelics should treat them with greatest respect. When
Aldous and I used them, we prepared the ambience and ourselves the day
before. The day of the session was kept as a holy day, and there were
beautiful fruits and flowers around. The result was, that we had no
negative experiences.
Laura Archera Huxley
Psychedelics make you aware that everything is alive, sacred, and
connected.I presume and hope that everybody will ultimately come to that
conclusion; it cannot possibly be the privilege of the few. But i is
everyone's right to first be given the basic necessities of life:
nourishment, safety, and respect. After this, the psychedelic experience
can become available.
Laura Archera Huxley
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Subj: 003 Aurora Veteran Fights For Return Of Pot Plants
From: Herb <>
Date: Mon, 17 Dec 2007 18:32:15 -0800
Aurora Veteran Fights For Return Of Pot Plants
http://cbs4denver.com/seenon/Aurora.Colorado.Kevin.2.612142.html
note: video
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End of MAPTalk-Digest V07 #132
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