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Waiting for President Obama when comes to the East Bay for a series of fundraisers this month will be a lot of protesters who ordinarily would be fans: Medical marijuana supporters.
They are ticked at Obama's duplicity on the medical cannabis issue, particularly after hearing about the feds plan to close Harborside Health Center — the nation's largest medical marijuana dispensary. The proposed closure has again turned the spotlight onto the Obama Administration's Justice Department and Attorney General Eric Holder.
It's not like Harborside was hiding anything. Remember, last fall we told you they were starring in a reality TV show about the biz.
"The President has the audacity to show up in the heart of the Oaksterdam District – at the Fox Theater – when this is going on," said Aaron Smith, executive director of the National Cannabis Industry Association, told us. The association represents about 100 businesses in the $3 billion industry, about 80 percent of which is in California. "The feds are going after dispensaries that are the pinnacle of compliance."
The political issue is the same as it was when we wrote about it last November: While Obama and Holder SAY they will not crack down on dispensaries that were following the law, California's federal prosecutors bringing the hammer down on Harborside, one of a series of dispensaries that have the reputation as good actors.
Last month, Holder told the House Judiciary Commitee that the DOJ "limits its medical cannabis "enforcement efforts to those individuals [or] organizations that are acting out of conformity with State laws, or, in the case of instances in Colorado."
But Comrade Kuruvila reports that Melinda Haag, the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of California called the Harborside "a superstore." Size, indeed, matters.
"The larger the operation, the greater the likelihood that there will be abuse of the state's medical marijuana laws and marijuana in the hands of individuals who do not have a demonstrated medical need," she said in a statement.
UPDATE:
Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, D-SF, just ripped the feds for attempting to close Harborside:
"Harborside is a model dispensary in terms of security and the number of patients it serves," Ammiano said. "The tactic of scaring landlords renting to well-controlled dispensaries only hurts patients in need of medical cannabis.
"First the federal authorities targeted facilities near schools and parks, but now the rules seem to be changing. The U.S. Attorney has been quoted as saying Harborside's size makes it more likely that laws have been broken. Is it good public policy to go after an operation just because it is highly successful at helping medical patients, with no evidence of criminal acts offered?
"It is especially ironic that the move comes just before today's news reports about recent medical cannabis research, which demonstrated it can be highly effective in pain relief, even beyond current prescription medicines," Ammiano said.
Adding to the DC-California disconnect: It seems like the Oakland P.D. wasn't even notified of the feds raid in April on Oaksterdam, according to these memos.
Remember, in 2007, then-candidate Obama said in New Hampshire that he "would not have the Justice Department prosecuting and raiding medical marijuana users. It's not a good use of our resources." A 2009 Justice Department memo seemed to confirm as much.
It was welcome news to many people in California, where voters passed a pioneering law in 1996 legalizing marijuana for medical use. After years of federal raids, many people in the state's medical cannabis community felt they had a friend in the White House.
But their perspective began to change in June 2011 when a Justice Department memorandum expressed concern about a recent "increase in the scope" of medical marijuana operations and warned industry leaders that they were in violation of the federal Controlled Substances Act, "regardless of state law."
News Hawk- TruthSeekr420 420 MAGAZINE
Source: sfgate.com
Author: Joe Garofoli
Contact: Contacts at San Francisco Chronicle - SFGate
Website: Medical marijuana advocates planning big protest of Obama's East Bay fundraising visit | Politics Blog | an SFGate.com blog
They are ticked at Obama's duplicity on the medical cannabis issue, particularly after hearing about the feds plan to close Harborside Health Center — the nation's largest medical marijuana dispensary. The proposed closure has again turned the spotlight onto the Obama Administration's Justice Department and Attorney General Eric Holder.
It's not like Harborside was hiding anything. Remember, last fall we told you they were starring in a reality TV show about the biz.
"The President has the audacity to show up in the heart of the Oaksterdam District – at the Fox Theater – when this is going on," said Aaron Smith, executive director of the National Cannabis Industry Association, told us. The association represents about 100 businesses in the $3 billion industry, about 80 percent of which is in California. "The feds are going after dispensaries that are the pinnacle of compliance."
The political issue is the same as it was when we wrote about it last November: While Obama and Holder SAY they will not crack down on dispensaries that were following the law, California's federal prosecutors bringing the hammer down on Harborside, one of a series of dispensaries that have the reputation as good actors.
Last month, Holder told the House Judiciary Commitee that the DOJ "limits its medical cannabis "enforcement efforts to those individuals [or] organizations that are acting out of conformity with State laws, or, in the case of instances in Colorado."
But Comrade Kuruvila reports that Melinda Haag, the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of California called the Harborside "a superstore." Size, indeed, matters.
"The larger the operation, the greater the likelihood that there will be abuse of the state's medical marijuana laws and marijuana in the hands of individuals who do not have a demonstrated medical need," she said in a statement.
UPDATE:
Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, D-SF, just ripped the feds for attempting to close Harborside:
"Harborside is a model dispensary in terms of security and the number of patients it serves," Ammiano said. "The tactic of scaring landlords renting to well-controlled dispensaries only hurts patients in need of medical cannabis.
"First the federal authorities targeted facilities near schools and parks, but now the rules seem to be changing. The U.S. Attorney has been quoted as saying Harborside's size makes it more likely that laws have been broken. Is it good public policy to go after an operation just because it is highly successful at helping medical patients, with no evidence of criminal acts offered?
"It is especially ironic that the move comes just before today's news reports about recent medical cannabis research, which demonstrated it can be highly effective in pain relief, even beyond current prescription medicines," Ammiano said.
Adding to the DC-California disconnect: It seems like the Oakland P.D. wasn't even notified of the feds raid in April on Oaksterdam, according to these memos.
Remember, in 2007, then-candidate Obama said in New Hampshire that he "would not have the Justice Department prosecuting and raiding medical marijuana users. It's not a good use of our resources." A 2009 Justice Department memo seemed to confirm as much.
It was welcome news to many people in California, where voters passed a pioneering law in 1996 legalizing marijuana for medical use. After years of federal raids, many people in the state's medical cannabis community felt they had a friend in the White House.
But their perspective began to change in June 2011 when a Justice Department memorandum expressed concern about a recent "increase in the scope" of medical marijuana operations and warned industry leaders that they were in violation of the federal Controlled Substances Act, "regardless of state law."
News Hawk- TruthSeekr420 420 MAGAZINE
Source: sfgate.com
Author: Joe Garofoli
Contact: Contacts at San Francisco Chronicle - SFGate
Website: Medical marijuana advocates planning big protest of Obama's East Bay fundraising visit | Politics Blog | an SFGate.com blog
