Pubdate: Tue, 19 Jan 2016
Source: Boston Globe (MA)
Copyright: 2016 Globe Newspaper Company
Contact: http://services.bostonglobe.com/news/opeds/letter.aspx?id=6340
Website: http://bostonglobe.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/52
Author: Milton J. Valencia

POLICE SEEK CHARGES AGAINST MARIJUANA ADVOCATE

Boston police are seeking criminal charges against Bill Downing, one 
of the state's most vocal marijuana legalization supporters, a move 
that his lawyer calls retaliation for his criticism of the state's 
regulation of the medical marijuana industry.

A magistrate judge is scheduled to consider whether to approve a 
complaint filed by the Boston Police Department at a hearing at 
Boston Municipal Court in Brighton Tuesday morning. The complaint 
seeks multiple charges of distribution of a Class C substance, which 
covers THC-based products that Downing admitted he sold, as well as 
distribution of marijuana, according to a copy of the document.

Downing's lawyer, John Swomley, said he would contest the charges at 
the hearing.

"This is pushback against the marijuana legislation movement," said 
Swomley, of Boston. "They are trying to silence the most vocal 
supporter of the legalization of marijuana."

Authorities alleged that Downing "is using medical marijuana laws to 
conceal his illegal activities of distribution of marijuana and its 
extracted by-products," according to a search warrant in the case 
that was provided to the Globe.

Authorities are seeking the charges at a time when the movement to 
legalize marijuana appears to be gaining traction, with voters 
possibly voting on the issue in November.

Downing also is the treasurer of Bay State Repeal, one of the groups 
that worked to put a marijuana legalization measure on the 2016 ballot.

This month, several state senators traveled to Colorado to learn more 
about the marijuana industry in that state.

Downing, 57, of Reading, has specifically advocated for patients to 
have better access to medical marijuana, citing its effective 
treatment of a range of illnesses. He has said he uses a 
cannabis-infused cream to treat his own case of gout.

Downing formerly operated Reading-based Yankee Care Givers, which he 
has admitted delivered cannabis products to roughly 1,000 patients. 
State officials forced him to shut down that business in 2014 because 
he was allowed to serve only as a "care giver" to one patient under 
regulations that were enacted when medical marijuana laws were first 
approved in 2012.

In the complaint to be considered in court Tuesday, authorities 
allege he continued to distribute marijuana when he knew it was in 
violation of state regulations.

Downing later opened CBD Please Allston in 2014, selling 
non-psychoactive cannabis products - such as sprays, salves, capsules 
and haircare items derived from hemp oil - that were, in his view, 
intended for medical reasons and legal.

"I know I'm doing the right thing, and I'm doing it for the right 
reasons," he told CBS Boston in an interview in 2014. "I'm doing it 
for the patients here in the state, and I really don't care about the 
bureaucracies trying to stop me because they're immoral. And because 
the public does not support them."

Swomley said that authorities sought to intimidate Downing by using a 
SWAT team armed with semiautomatic weapons to gain access to his 
home, while his wife and children were there.

"That's just way too overboard for who Bill Downing is," Swomley 
said. "They are trying to silence him."

A spokesman for the Boston Police Department could not be reached for 
comment Monday night.

Swomley said Monday that Downing's intention was to help people who 
need medical marijuana but were unable to obtain it because of the 
state's failure to enact proper regulations.

"If the state can't help the people who need this stuff, I'm going 
to," Swomley said, explaining Downing's perspective.

According to records filed in court and provided by Swomley, 
Downing's activities have been under scrutiny by authorities for some time.

Undercover investigators have regularly been buying products from CBD 
Please to build a case, according to the court documents.

Among the items that have been seized from Downing, according to the 
documents: bottles of hemp oil in pill and oil form, as well as hemp 
body wash and conditioner, and hemp oil balm.

Authorities are also seeking the forfeiture of $126,708 in cash that 
was seized from Downing's home.

According to court records, the investigation was based, in part, on 
Downing's own statements in published news reports and in a press 
release issued by the Massachusetts Cannabis Reform Coalition.

Downing is a member of the board of directors of that group.
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