Cannabis Warriors of the Month - The Naulls Family

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A church-going family man who used medical marijuana to ease chronic pain from injuries sustained in a 2001 car accident, Ronald Naulls already had two successful careers – one as an IT consultant and another in real estate – when he established the Healing Nations Collective in Corona in 2006 to save fellow patients the hours-long drive to Los Angeles for medicine.

Healing Nations was widely considered a model medical marijuana collective. It followed state and local law. It maintained strict dress codes and professional standards for employees. It paid state taxes – amounting to several hundred thousand dollars a year – even when loose tax regulations allowed other dispensaries to slip through the cracks. Proceeds from the dispensary went to local and national cancer organizations.

Nevertheless, at 5:50 a.m., July 17, 2007, DEA agents invaded the Naulls family's home and the collective. Naulls was arrested and now faces federal prosecution for distribution of medical marijuana.

County child protective services also took Naulls' three daughters, ages 1, 3, and 5, and charged him and his wife with child endangerment, even though they weren't accused of breaking any state laws. The children were put in foster care for nearly a month before they were returned to their parents.

Because the DEA seized all of their property, assets, and accounts, the Naulls family has no way to properly defend themselves against the state and federal charges they face. Source