Pubdate: Thu, 18 Jan 2007
Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
Copyright: 2007 Los Angeles Times
Contact:  http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/248
Author: Tami Abdollah, Times Staff Writer
Cited: Americans for Safe Access http://www.safeaccessnow.org
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Marijuana - Medicinal)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?115 (Marijuana - California)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/Americans+for+Safe+Access

DEA RAIDS 11 MARIJUANA OUTLETS

Agents Seize Drugs, Guns and Cash, Prompting W. Hollywood Protests. 
Twenty Are Detained, but No Charges Are Filed.

Federal agents Wednesday raided 11 medical marijuana outlets in Los 
Angeles County, seizing several thousand pounds of processed drug, 
hundreds of marijuana plants, an array of guns and bagfuls of cash.

The simultaneous raids, part of an ongoing investigation by the U.S. 
Drug Enforcement Administration, were the largest such operation in 
the county in recent memory. Five dispensaries in West Hollywood were 
raided with the other six in Venice, Hollywood, Sherman Oaks and 
Woodland Hills.

The action by federal agents angered some local officials and was 
taken despite a state law permitting possession and cultivation of 
marijuana for qualified medical patients.

Officials said that more than 20 people were detained for questioning 
but no charges have been filed. Authorities would not release 
information about any other people possibly detained at the dispensaries.

Sarah Pullen, spokeswoman for the DEA's Los Angeles field division, 
said agents seized large quantities of marijuana-laced edibles that 
included "anything from ice cream bars to lollipops to cookies to 
candies and candy bars."

In West Hollywood, agents in bulletproof vests, sunglasses, gloves 
and face masks piled out of the stores -- four of which were on Santa 
Monica Boulevard -- with boxes and black trash bags full of seized 
evidence while protesters booed and shouted, "State's rights!" and 
"DEA go away!" among other slogans.

At the Farmacy, agents loaded three cars with bags as amateur 
documentary filmmakers and medical marijuana users pushed against 
police tape. The raid and protest clogged traffic, and motorists 
honked their horns to show support for the demonstrators.

In all, Pullen said, agents seized well over 100 boxes of evidence 
and continued their work past 10 p.m.

West Hollywood officials said they were taken by surprise, only 
learning of the raids as they occurred. West Hollywood has a 
"long-standing commitment" to the use of medical marijuana for people 
with such catastrophic illnesses as HIV and AIDS, city spokeswoman 
Helen Goss said.

"We've been fighting to support the access of medicinal marijuana for 
many, many years and there's just a great disconnect between the 
federal government and communities like West Hollywood," Councilman 
Jeffrey Prang said. "Medicinal marijuana provides comfort and relief 
to people who are seriously ill and seemingly they view those people 
as drug addicts who belong in jail as opposed to people who deserve 
compassion and assistance."

The West Hollywood sheriff's station was notified of the impending 
raids about 1:30 p.m., one hour before they began, Los Angeles County 
Sheriff's Lt. David Smith said. Deputies moved in to help control 
about 50 protesters who gathered in the 7800 block of Santa Monica 
Boulevard near three of the stores.

California voters approved Proposition 215, the Compassionate Use 
Act, in 1996, which made marijuana available by prescription for 
medicinal uses. SB 420, which took effect in 2004, clarified 
Proposition 215, and taken together legalized possession and 
cultivation of marijuana for qualified medical patients.

According to Pullen, neighboring businesses and residents had 
complained about a significant number of the dispensaries, and there 
had been increased reports of crime in the areas around the outlets.

"Anyone in possession, selling or distributing marijuana is in 
violation of federal law and subject to prosecution," she said.

"There are hundreds of thousands of patients in California who need 
safe and reliable access to a medication that their doctors recommend 
they use and these raids are an example of the federal government 
going out of its way to interfere with the lives of patients," 
countered Steph Sherer, founder of Americans for Safe Access, a 
national advocacy group for medical marijuana use, based in Oakland.

"I think if California has a problem with our law, that our courts 
and our law enforcement should handle it," she said. "We have no need 
for the federal government to come and interfere."

The group planned a protest at 8:30 a.m. today in front of West 
Hollywood City Hall, Sherer said.

The raids came on the heels of separate actions taken Tuesday by the 
West Hollywood City Council and the Los Angeles Police Commission.

The council Tuesday unanimously approved an ordinance establishing 
permanent regulations on medicinal marijuana dispensaries, capping 
the number in the city at four.

The Police Commission, meanwhile, voted to support a moratorium on 
new marijuana dispensaries in Los Angeles and for tougher regulations 
of existing enterprises. Los Angeles Police Chief William J. Bratton 
pledged to work with federal authorities to prosecute businesses 
found to be violating the law.

Richard Eastman, a pro-medical marijuana activist who said he was 
diagnosed with AIDS in 1995, said he was horrified by the raids. Some 
of the pills he takes to fight his illness, Eastman said, "take away 
my appetite, but the marijuana keeps me eating."

As a result of the raids, Eastman estimated that perhaps 2,000 people 
who ordinarily would buy marijuana for medical purposes "won't be 
able to get their medicine tomorrow. And it's not like they can go to 
Sav-On or Thrifty."

The owner of one of the raided dispensaries said Wednesday that she 
was saddened that people will not be able to have the freedom of 
choice to use medical marijuana.

"We abide by state and local ordinances, and state laws, in providing 
a service to patients because they have the legal right by state 
Legislature to be able to make the choice of having medical marijuana 
as their choice of therapy," the dispensary owner said, speaking on 
condition of anonymity. 
- ---
MAP posted-by: Richard Lake