Marianne
New Member
Last night, LAPD officers arrived at the Earth Collective medical cannabis dispensary in Hollywood claiming to be in search of a young kidnapping victim. The officers gained entry into the facility without a search warrant after threatening to break down the front door. The operator and staff were detained for hours, during which time officers searched the facility and changed their story about the alleged kidnapping on several occasions.
Several patients were briefly detained as they approached the facility.
Local patient advocates took the initiative to start calling supporters to come down to the Earth Collective and witness the LAPD action and show support for the detainees. As many as twenty supporters waiting outside police lines for hours as an equal number of LAPD officers continued to arrive on the scene. The officers were clearly nervous with the public scrutiny and repeatedly tried to intimidate onlookers into leaving.
The LAPD finally released the detainees just before midnight taking only only photocopies of the collectives tax registration certificate and seller's permit. No medicine or patient records were taken. Everyone on the scene was relieved to see the staff leave safely, but concern lingers that the LAPD may return and raid the dispensary at any time.
This is just the latest incident in the LAPD's increasing hostility towards collectives in Los Angeles. It seems that the police are accelerating their attack on dispensaries at the same time that the City Council is debating how best to regulate them.
The late night public show of support for Earth Collective illustrates that local patients and advocates are standing up to this intimidation.
Americans
for Safe Access (ASA) members are working to organize phone trees at dispensaries city-wide to be sure that the LAPD can not attack safe access without the public knowing. As the police escalate their campaign against collectives, ASA volunteers are gearing up to escalate their opposition to the raids, closures, and intimidation.
Newshawk: Happykid - 420 Magazine
Source: CA NORML
Pubdate: 22 August 2006
Author: Dale Gieringer
Copyright: 2006 NORML
Contact: canorml@igc.org]
Website: Adult Web Hosting Virtual Dedicated Colocation Streaming XXX Web Design Templates
Several patients were briefly detained as they approached the facility.
Local patient advocates took the initiative to start calling supporters to come down to the Earth Collective and witness the LAPD action and show support for the detainees. As many as twenty supporters waiting outside police lines for hours as an equal number of LAPD officers continued to arrive on the scene. The officers were clearly nervous with the public scrutiny and repeatedly tried to intimidate onlookers into leaving.
The LAPD finally released the detainees just before midnight taking only only photocopies of the collectives tax registration certificate and seller's permit. No medicine or patient records were taken. Everyone on the scene was relieved to see the staff leave safely, but concern lingers that the LAPD may return and raid the dispensary at any time.
This is just the latest incident in the LAPD's increasing hostility towards collectives in Los Angeles. It seems that the police are accelerating their attack on dispensaries at the same time that the City Council is debating how best to regulate them.
The late night public show of support for Earth Collective illustrates that local patients and advocates are standing up to this intimidation.
Americans
for Safe Access (ASA) members are working to organize phone trees at dispensaries city-wide to be sure that the LAPD can not attack safe access without the public knowing. As the police escalate their campaign against collectives, ASA volunteers are gearing up to escalate their opposition to the raids, closures, and intimidation.
Newshawk: Happykid - 420 Magazine
Source: CA NORML
Pubdate: 22 August 2006
Author: Dale Gieringer
Copyright: 2006 NORML
Contact: canorml@igc.org]
Website: Adult Web Hosting Virtual Dedicated Colocation Streaming XXX Web Design Templates
