|
Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
|
|
US: DEA Busts Pot Club Operation - Four Arrested
Margie Mason Associated Press
Tuesday 12 Feb 2002 Federal agents raided a medical marijuana club and arrested four people Tuesday amid an ongoing tug-of-war between local and federal officials over the sale of pot for medicinal purposes. Drug Enforcement Administration agents seized 630 pot plants from the Harm Reduction Center and arrested the group's executive director, Richard Watts, said David Witty, the marijuana club's chief of security. Kenneth Hayes of Petaluma was arrested in Canada and Edward Rosenthal of Oakland on charges of cultivating more than 100 pot plants and maintaining a place to grow it, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. Each face up to 40 years in prison if convicted. A fourth man, James Halloran, of Oakland was arrested in a separate case, and charged with growing more than 1,000 marijuana plants and also keeping a place to grow it. He faces life in prison if convicted. DEA spokesman Richard Meyer said the arrests were part of an investigation by the DEA, Customs Service and Internal Revenue Service targeting marijuana trafficking and smuggling. "They all are connected with marijuana smuggling," Meyer said. "We've said all along the cultivation and distribution of marijuana is illegal regardless of state or local law. Our job is to enforce federal law." San Francisco law enforcement officials have said their job is to enforce the laws of California, where voters overwhelmingly approved medical marijuana use. District Attorney Terence Hallinan has been outspoken in his support of the clubs, and Police Chief Fred Lau has said his officers wouldn't take part in any raids. Workers at the pot club raided Tuesday said they were questioned by DEA agents about their relationship with Hallinan. "They asked us if he was receiving monies from us or drugs," Witty said. "This is insane. What kind of city do you think we're operating here, to think that we're smugglers or involved in some other criminal activity?" The center serves about 200 patients a day, all with doctor's prescriptions to get the drug. Many suffer chronic pain from AIDS and cancer, Witty said. The raid coincided with President Bush's announcement Tuesday of a stepped-up war on drugs, with a goal of cutting drug abuse by 25 percent in five years, in part through improved law enforcement. The White House also launched an anti-drug advertising campaign, broadcast first during the Super Bowl, with the message that money used to buy drugs may benefit terrorists. Protests were planned Tuesday evening outside the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco, where DEA Administrator Asa Hutchinson was to speak.
After you have finished reading this article you can click here to go back.
|
This page was created by the Cannabis Campaigners' Guide.
Feel free to link to this page!