A Veterans Plea

[User]

Hello,

My name is Sebastian Maselli, I am a legal medical marijuana patient in California, as well as a founding member of The Healing Dragon collective. I am also an Iraq war veteran that has honorably and voluntarily served our country in the United States Marine Corps for over seven years. I know the meaning of sacrifice. I understand struggles. Most importantly I have witnessed first-hand how the war on terrorism has affected our military members. I have seen what happens to my brothers and sisters in the military medical system, Marines, sailors, and soldiers get pumped full of prescription medications. One med is for this, the other is for that, and the other seven meds help to counteract the side-effects of the first few drugs. This is not to say that they are not getting the care that they need, but there are much better and natural alternatives. Unfortunately they will not be able to try the alternatives until they have completed their time in the service.

There are many reasons why I am a medical marijuana patient, mainly post-traumatic stress disorder (or PTSD), chronic back pain and knee and joint pain. This is all documented in my military medical records. The Marine Corps definitely kept me in good physical shape, but at a cost (think about what we do and how we train). While in Iraq, I was exposed to countless dangers and situations no human being should have to encounter. Medical marijuana has helped tremendously with my PTSD and it makes my back and knee pain tolerable. Also, during my last three years back on active duty I worked at the combat casualty reporting section for the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force (IMEF) and at the Wounded Warrior Battalion (WWBn) at Camp Pendleton. I was dealing with combat related injuries and deaths at IMEF, as well as injured Marines and their families after they came home to the WWBn. The most important lesson I learned was COMPASSION.

Unfortunately, San Diego District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis seems to think that I am nothing more than a "drug dealer" only out to make a huge profit
(taken from her Sept. 10th, 2009 press conference).

I was arrested on September 9th, 2009 in front of my wife and one year-old son during the medical marijuana raids. I will say that the officer who arrested me was courteous, I immediately made it clear to him that I would not be resisting and that I understand that he is just doing his job just like I had a job to do in the military. I was then taken to jail, and processed like a common thug. This is the thanks I get for serving my country and trying to help other patients like myself? We followed all of the guidelines set forth by the California Attorney General's office, so it is inexplicable to me why we were arrested; WE DID NOTHING WRONG.

We are a non-profit collective; the members of our collective know that we are not rich, the D. A. claims that we were all in this for profit. Really? All non-profit organizations have to pay their employees or compensate their members in some form, and at the end of the day we all have bills to pay. Are we not entitled to make a living? Our mission statement clearly states this. So where does the money go? Besides the obvious expenses of starting and operating a storefront (rent, utilities, etc.) there were also internal improvements like: adding an air conditioner, insulated ceiling, floor, counter, website, etc... Additionally, in the six or seven weeks that we were open and operating, we donated money to seven different charities, including: Retired Sheriffs and Disabled Police Association, the San Diego Sheriff's Department D. A. R. E. (to keep kids off drugs) campaign, San Diego Firefighters Association for their children's fire safety program, Children's Charity Fund, and more (some of the names may be slightly off because the police confiscated all of our records).

I would like to point out that while I was in hand-cuffs waiting to be processed at the jail, the Sherriff's deputies were ecstatic that they were finally making some "over-time" pay. Also, there seemed to be no clue as to what they had to do, many of the officers kept asking each other: who is in charge here? Where do we take this stuff?" The response from the other officers was: "I don't know, just toss it there for now." Needless to say, they were incredibly unorganized and more concerned about wasting tax-payer dollars with their "overtime pay" as they sat and checked their Yahoo! Homepage (I could see the reflection from the window behind them).

What happened on 09/09/09 was a complete travesty and violation of my civil rights, not to mention the civil rights of the other people like myself who were unjustly arrested, as well as the patients who do not have access to their medicine. The fear tactics that were used (and continue) as well as the SWAT style raids that were conducted definitely triggered major PTSD buttons inside of me to the point where I felt like I was back in a warzone because I couldn't believe that this was happening here in the USA. I do not drink alcohol (possibly on a special occasion) and I do not smoke cigarettes, but I had a drink that night after my wife told me she had exhausted all of our funds and maxed out our credit cards to bail me out of prison.

I can't even imagine the suffering that this is causing our members as well as all of the medical marijuana patients in San Diego. We have members that have been diagnosed with terminal cancer, AIDS, depression, anxiety, PTSD, and countless other illnesses that are greatly alleviated with the use of medical cannabis. What are these patients supposed to do? "They can grow their own" says D. A. Bonnie Dumanis. This is real compassion (sarcasm). Is that what we should tell patients who need Tramadol, Vicodin, or Paxil? Make it yourselves! You would think that as the first woman to serve as San Diego County's District Attorney she would understand our struggle because she must have had to cross many barriers herself.

Why is it so difficult for the leaders of this county to understand the laws of our state? Why do they turn a blind eye to the proven benefits of this medication? Why do they continue to terrorize our community instead of serving it like they swore to do when they were elected? I don't know, but I intend to find out.

I really believe that this is the beginning of a new movement in San Diego County for the reason that local law-enforcement and the District Attorney refuse to follow state laws. I hope the local medical marijuana community has had enough and makes its voice heard loud and clear: "WE ARE NOT GOING TO TAKE IT ANYMORE!"

Sebastian Maselli

P. S. If you would like to help our cause, we ask that you please help spread the word about what is happening here. Write your representatives in congress, the Whitehouse, contact your local news agencies, and show up to support our movement. Furthermore, we understand that everyone has a busy life, so if you cannot support us with your time we would appreciate a small donation through PayPal to sdmaselli@bellsouth.net
(even a single dollar) for our legal defense. We plan to fight this all the way because what they have done is not only wrong but ILLEGAL. We also plan to open up again once this is settled, so remember to keep the receipt from PayPal because we hope to thank those that supported us during these tough times. Thank you.

[User]

i only posted this. it came in an email from ASA. there is an email addy near the bottom of the post if you'd like to contact him.