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US: Wednesday's Pot Raids Prompt Protest In WeHo
CBS2
Thursday 18 Jan 2007 (CBS) WEST HOLLYWOOD, Calif. Advocates for medical marijuana will demonstrate outside West Hollywood City Hall in response to Drug Enforcement Administration raids that shut down 11 outlets around Los Angeles County. Federal authorities do not recognize the California law -- approved by voters in 1996 as Proposition 215 -- that allows some people to grow and smoke the weed. "The DEA continues to say that they are not going after patients," said Steph Sherer, executive director of Oakland-based Americans for Safe Access. "But every time they raid a medical cannabis dispensary, hundreds of the most seriously ill lose their access to medicine." West Hollywood city officials said Drug Enforcement Administration raids were carried out at dispensaries at 7828, 7825, 7901 and 8464 Santa Monica Blvd., and at a dispensary at 8921 Sunset Blvd. Around 50 protesters followed DEA agents, who wore body armor, helmets and face masks as they carted away evidence. Sarah Pullen of the DEA said six other dispensaries were searched, including four in the San Fernando Valley, one in Hollywood and one in Venice. As many as 20 people were detained, though no arrests were made. Pullen estimated that Los Angeles County has about 200 marijuana outlets. On Tuesday, the Los Angeles Police Commission voted to support a moratorium on new marijuana outlets. Police Chief William Bratton pledged to work with federal authorities to prosecute businesses that violate the law. The total amount of pot and cash seized was unavailable early today. Ralph Partridge, heads of the DEA office in Los Angeles, said the raids showed that the storefront operations are "nothing more than drug trafficking organizations bringing criminal activities to our neighborhoods and drugs near our children and schools." Agents seized some guns in the raids. West Hollywood politicians, who voted Tuesday night to impose restrictions on marijuana outlets, have sympathized with those who contend they need pot as medicine. "The city of West Hollywood has had a long-standing commitment to the compassionate use of medical marijuana for those persons who are facing catastrophic illnesses," City Manager Paul Arevalo said. Senate bill 420 took effect in 2004, clarifying Proposition 215. Together, both legislative acts legalized possession and cultivation of marijuana for qualified medical patients.
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