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Federal authorities target 'marijuana industry' in California

Jetboogieman

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(CNN) -- Federal prosecutors in California announced a series of actions Friday targeting what they characterized as the "large, for-profit marijuana industry" that has developed since the state legalized medical marijuana for select patients 15 years ago.

Four U.S. attorneys -- Benjamin Wanger, Andre Birotte Jr., Laura Duffy and Melinda Haag -- detailed in a joint press release and later press conference in Sacramento some steps that have been taken in conjunction with federal law enforcement and local officials in California.

They include letters of warning to landlords and lien holders of places in which marijuana is being sold illegally, "civil forfeiture lawsuits against properties involved in drug trafficking activity" and numerous criminal cases. The latter refers to arrests in recent weeks related to cases filed in federal courts in Los Angeles, San Diego, Sacramento and Fresno, all part of an effort that Wagner claimed has resulted in the seizure of hundreds of pounds of marijuana, tens of thousands of plants and hundreds of thousands in cash.

"The actions taken today in California ... are consistent with the (Justice) Department's commitment to enforcing existing federal laws, including the Controlled Substances Act, in all states," U.S. Deputy Attorney General James Cole said in a news release.

In 1996, California voters approved Proposition 215 to exempt doctors and seriously ill patients from marijuana laws and allow them to grow and use it in treatment. The bill didn't legalize marijuana for all, but it did lead to the emergence of hundreds of dispensaries where people -- legally only those with medical conditions and a doctor's authorization -- could get the drug.

Wagner, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of California, told reporters Friday that federal authorities "are not focused on backyard grows with small amounts of marijuana by seriously ill people. We are targeting commercial operations, which profit from growing and distributing ... and often use the trappings of state law for cover, but in fact are abusing state law."

Federal authorities target 'marijuana industry' in California - CNN.com

Absolute waste of time and money, just legalize it for christ sake, this isn't going to do ****. People are still going to get it, smoke it, watch family guy, eat cookies and go to sleep. And if they last long enough watch Robot Chicken (Which was tailor made for stoners).

How long does the war on drugs have to continue before someone gets the ****ing message that it ain't working.
 
I thought Obama said he wouldn't use Federal resorces against American pot. Is he a liar or did I misunderstand? Its had to tell with all these pro word-smiths running the country.
 
I thought Obama said he wouldn't use Federal resorces against American pot. Is he a liar or did I misunderstand? Its had to tell with all these pro word-smiths running the country.[/QUOTE]

You are not wrong Obama is a damn liar.

This was bound to happen sooner or later but I never figured a druggie like Obama would be behind it.

obama-weed-5-29-10.jpg
 
I thought Obama said he wouldn't use Federal resorces against American pot. Is he a liar or did I misunderstand? Its had to tell with all these pro word-smiths running the country.

They're abusing state law by giving a prescription to literally anyone who asks for one. Pretty sure that's not what Obama, or the state of California for that matter, had in mind.
 
They're abusing state law by giving a prescription to literally anyone who asks for one. Pretty sure that's not what Obama, or the state of California for that matter, had in mind.
If they go to a doctor and say they are hurt and that doctors deems medical pot can be used then too bad, so sad. Hes still a lair.

I wonder if they sacked legitimate caregiver grow-ops. (by the wording of the article it appears thats exactly what they targeted and all they targeted[and also the dispensaries], but you can be sure with the news and what really happened.) If so I feel very sorry for all the people who (for whatever reason) cant grow for themselves, and are about to miss out on their dued part of the crop. Go through the government to get approved then have the government storm in and take it all away. Totally hypocritical in nautre.
 
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Federal authorities target 'marijuana industry' in California - CNN.com

Absolute waste of time and money, just legalize it for christ sake, this isn't going to do ****. People are still going to get it, smoke it, watch family guy, eat cookies and go to sleep. And if they last long enough watch Robot Chicken (Which was tailor made for stoners).

How long does the war on drugs have to continue before someone gets the ****ing message that it ain't working.

Probably as long as the war on poverty. Except, the war on drugs gives us more bang for our buck.
 
Probably as long as the war on poverty. Except, the war on drugs gives us more bang for our buck.

So true. If we weren't spending so much on stopping people from getting weed, just about anyone could easily get it. Trust me, we don't want to go back to the days when people could easily get stoned and post ironically hypocritical statements in online forums.
 
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Spending money to destroy plants that cure some conditions, help people deal with others, get pleasure out of, use for spiritual purposes, make an income and create jobs with, all instead of using it give much needed relief to struggling Americans. If our money should have anything to do with marijuana, it would be better off subsidizing it's production.
 
Also, join the Marijuana Party group I made!
 
They're abusing state law by giving a prescription to literally anyone who asks for one. Pretty sure that's not what Obama, or the state of California for that matter, had in mind.

I think that's entirely what the backers of 215 had in mind, when they wrote it.

They did not include any reasonable provisions to actually limit the use of “medical” marijuana to those with actual, diagnosed medical conditions for which any credible medical opinion indicated marijuana to be a realistic treatment. I think this omission was intentional; that they really wanted to simply legalize recreational use, knew that they could never get that to pass, so they wrote a measure that could easily be used to disguise just about any use of marijuana as a “medical” use.

I have mixed feelings about the entire controversy.

I am firmly convinced that marijuana does more harm than good to those who use it, and to those who are associated with and must depend in any way on those who use it. I think society would be much better off without it, and I wish nobody used it.

I consider it plausible that it may have some legitimate medical use, but I am very skeptical about nearly all claimed medical uses of it. Due to conflicting political agendas on every side of the controversies about marijuana, I very much doubt if we will ever have any credible consensus on what legitimate medical uses do or do not exist for it.

I tend to be in favor of keeping the use of marijuana illegal, except where it may be proven to be used in accordance with sound medical principles in the treatment of a properly-diagnosed medical condition.

I am, however, open to being convinced (not that I have yet been) that greater harm is caused to society in various was by efforts to enact and enforce laws against it than would be caused by the increased use and popularity that woudl result from marijuana being legal.


And here, I see a conflict being set up that I have long wanted to see fought out and resolved. I am convinced that the federal government has no legitimate authority whatsoever to enact or enforce any laws or regulations regarding the possession or use of marijuana, unless it happens across state or national borders. Per the Tenth Amendment, I believe that this authority belongs exclusively to the states. If any state wants to legalize the use and possession of marijuana within its borders, I believe it has the absolute right and authority to do so. If any state wishes to outlaw the possession and use for marijuana within its borders, then again, it has the absolute right and authority to do so. In neither case do I believe that the federal government has any authority to interfere.

I would point out that in the 1910s, when there was a strong movement that wanted to ban the sale of alcoholic beverages nationwide, it was clearly understood that no authority existed at the federal level to do so, and that the only way that it could legitimately be done was to amend the Constitution to explicitly give the federal government this authority—hence the Eighteenth Amendment. If we want to ban marijuana at the federal level, then the only way to legitimately do so is to amend the Constitution to give it that authority; until we do so, the federal govenment has no more authority over marijuana than it did over alcohol before the Eighteenth Amendment was ratified, or after it was repealed by the ratification of the Twenty-First Amendment.
 
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If a licensed medical professional prescribes someone for marijuana, it is not the job of the government or anyone else to step in and say they don't need it. You might not think they need it but you are not the one who should be calling the shots.
 
Just legalize pot, and get it over with. Conservatives who are worried about the deficit, how about making huge cuts in the DEA before we cut social programs that help feed kids, and send them to college?
 


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That was awesome!
 
People are still going to get it, smoke it, watch family guy, eat cookies and go to sleep.

quoted for truth.

people should be able to grow it right next to their tomatoes. it boggles the mind that one can buy alcohol and tobacco at a gas station, yet pot is somehow illegal.
 
I think all drugs should be legal. That would take the profit out of it and also the criminals that thrive on big profit. I don't use drugs, smoked tobacco and reefer 30 years or more ago, drank some, but don't even like legal drugs, That doesn't mean some are not beneficial, but it's just business making regulation and law, and regulation breeding more law and enforcement making jobs and all leeching off one another. A friggin' debacle that is dysfunctional is the drug war.
 
Just legalize pot, and get it over with. Conservatives who are worried about the deficit, how about making huge cuts in the DEA before we cut social programs that help feed kids, and send them to college?

Whatever one may think about what negative impact drug use may or may not have on society, I do think it is quite obvious that anyone who thinks that legalizing drug abuse will have a significant positive economic effect has been smoking too much of it as it is.
 
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Whatever one may think about what negative impact drug use may or may not have on society, I do think it is quite obvious that anyone who thinks that legalizing drug abuse will have a significant positive economic effect has been smoking too much of it as it is.

Who gives a ****. We all have free will and make our own choices. If people want to smoke and drink let them smoke or drink whatever the hell they want. Open up the hemp processing factories and SOW THEM FIELDS. If towns can decide to put industrial leftovers into our drinking water (The wonderful idustrail byproduct of flouride in its many forms :D.......... Why pay to get rid of it when they can just pump it into our water supply right? ) then at least let us smoke whatever the hell we want. (on the hazard pyramid flouride has a danger rating of 4 in the health quadrant. My refinery safety training taught me to stay the hell away from that btw. I think pot is nothing compared to that)

Floride can be used as a form of pest control. It kills rats and insects... Towns can force their populace to drink this yet we cant chose to partake of our chosen vice???
 
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Whatever one may think about what negative impact drug use may or may not have on society, I do think it is quite obvious that anyone who thinks that legalizing drug abuse will have a significant positive economic effect has been smoking too much of it as it is.

So you don't think the billions of dollars used on this drug war couldn't be used more effectively elsewhere? At the very least we could just stop spending that money, and reduce the deficit.
 
Whoaaaaaaaaaa duuuuuuuuuuuude
 
The feds need to target marijuana use. It's still illegal at the federal level and we shouldn't give people a pass when it comes to breaking the law. Lessen the punishment for marijuana use, but don't legalize it. The feds really need to step it up.
 
Not only did Obama lie (probably part of moving to the center for the election) this new 'Prohibition' is a great economic and social Debacle.

Billions spent buying foreign grass when
1. we could be growing and hiring a Million jobless/Currently non-taxpaying people along the supply chain.
2. we could save Tens of Billions of Law enforcement costs. Less Courts, Police, Judges, Jails, Prison Guards, Border Guards, etc etc, etxc, !!!
3. People get killed not because they're high on drugs, but because there's so much money in them BECAUSE.. they're illegal.
Thousands die in the Drug Wars, a good number from Marijuana alone.
ILLEGAL Marijuana kills. Legal doesn't
4. You can't stop an item where there's demand. It's estimated 90% of the Pot gets through. 90%.
5. Stop exporting dollars/actually positive effect our Trade balance. We might even export it.

All for what?
For the PRUDISH jerkoffs who don't want people enjoying themselves and nothing else.
Heaven also Forbid those medical MJ patients might secretly enjoy it as well.
Digsbe, maybe we can give medical users Depressant-Treated MJ to make sure there's no pleasurable high.
Legal pot would be like sex without procreation in mind.
How dare you enjoy it.
 
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What I want to know is, what about marijuana makes it a substance that should be illegal, vs, say, alcohol?
 
What I want to know is, what about marijuana makes it a substance that should be illegal, vs, say, alcohol?

Alcohol..is...safer....oh man, I couldn't type it with a straight face. I never took marijuana either :-D



Seriously, com on.
 
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