Elders Tell Their Side of the Marijuana Raid

[kemp]

From here - //http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2008/10/07/18543312.php & //http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle_blog/2008/oct/13/police_steal_money_elderly_medic

There are an estimated 200,000 qualified cannabis patients in California with thousands of arrests and prosecutions over the past 12 years as we struggle to get law enforcement off our backs and into a court of law.

In Mendocino County, a centerpiece for the tug-of-war now playing itself out, hundreds of marijuana cases, medical and non-medical alike, have been thrown in together and prosecuted as criminal. After Sheriff Tony Craver retired and DA Norm Vroman died, the respectful "working relationship" with the patient community that both men had cultivated while in office ended. They achieved the respect of their constituents and the medical marijuana community for implementing the new law with fair-minded written guidelines arrived at with input from patients.

But since interim Sheriff Kevin Broin took over in 2006 followed by Sheriff Tom Allman in 2007 with Meredith Lintott as DA, we have regrettably returned to the prohibitionist mode of adversarial relations, where no one seems to be working together, where cops have become robbers and patients' rights are treated as a criminal nuisance.

Broin came and went but in that year, he mopped up the area pretty good, leaving hundreds of marijuana cases in his wake without regard to medical use. Sheriff Tom Allman has pretty much followed in Broin's footsteps with no accountability for his broken promises. Relative to the Craver-Vroman era, we estimate that medical marijuana arrests and prosecutions have increased 10-fold. Guestimates are that 20 prosecutions in that era amounts to as many as 200 now. This is clogging the Mendocino County courts with medical innocents along with the "guilty".

Many of these wrong-headed prosecutions, such as the cases of Laura Hamburg and Angie Pinches, both young women, are thrown out on motions to dismiss and bogus search warrants with judges angrily denouncing rogue police practices, such as "3am sneak and peek" and "intentional omission of material fact".

But most medical marijuana cases go through a harsh criminal justice process--where justice consists of intimidation, coercion, asset forfeiture, over-charging, seizure of kids and other threats where it hurts most--that brings many innocent people to their knees accepting some sort of guilt when what they did was legal--an innocent medical act.

Whereas many previous bogus cases have been brought against young people who are able to sustain a court fight, such as Laura Hamburg, there is a trend toward targeting the elderly as the most vulnerable of the low-hanging fruit--the poor, the ill and the elderly.

For example, the 90-year-old couple, Lester ("Smitty") and Mary Smith--who were raided at their Philo home last week (9.24.08) with law enforcement seizing their life savings and all their plants in the process--are qualified patients with doctors' approvals and did nothing wrong.

Smitty said, "I wasn't worried a bit. I knew it was legal. I planted six plants two years in a row and this year, I planted 17 for me and Mary. That's not too many is it? My wife is very ill, confined to a wheelchair or recliner. She likes the bud tea. She has severe arthritis. It makes it easier for her to get around. She walks easier; she can walk to the bathroom even by herself."

Smitty has health issues too. "I have heart problems, blood clots, stomach cramps, emphysema, bad hips. I've had a heart attack. I sometimes get strong chest pains and can't breathe right. I take nitroglycerine. That brings me back. My doctors want me to take more x-rays here locally but that would be a big expense. Usually, I go to the Veterans Hospital and they pay for it."

Mary Smith was forced to stay in the house by herself during the 5-hour raid while additional warrants for an adjoining parcel were telephoned in and delivered, allowing sheriff's deputies to enter all the residences.

The elderly Smiths were not arrested or charged with a crime, because there was none. Sheriff's deputies were apparently more interested in robbery than arrest (excuse my french). They seized the two things that mattered most to the ill couple--their medicine, all 17 plants, leaving nothing--and their life savings, $52,000 from Mary Smith's inheritance and $29,000 in cashed in CDs.

"As soon as the bail-out hit, I cashed in my CDs and put the money in a safe in my house. I did not sell pot to get it. But turns out my money was not safe. They stormed in here and turned our world upside down. I thought I was legal."

Armed with records and receipts and Keith Faulder as his attorney (707-548-7976), Smitty is confident of getting his money back, months up the road. Is this the kind of law enforcement treatment elderly patients must look forward to in their waning years? Stay tuned for net week's elder raid in Willits.
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This is just another in a LONG list of raids mostly going on in California. This one just stuck out to me as particularly saddening/maddening.
-kemp

[judih]

Sanity, where art thou?

[Stonehenge]

We had this under Clinton, under shrub and it will be the same under Obama. Don't look for any change, that's just a campaign slogan.

[JRL]

Stoney- This is off topic imho.

[Stonehenge]

Stoney- This is off topic imho.

"This" being what? Off topic for this forum or what is your problem?

[laughingwillow]

Brother JRL....

I read the thread and also wondered why stoney was talking presidential politics in a thread about a bust and the effect of new law enforcement coming into the county. The county/state police policies are the topic of conversation in the original article. Nobody mentioned the feds or the upcoming election until stoney decided to throw in his two cents.

However, brawh JRL, you are beating your head against an immovable object, imo. Some things never change. And this is one of them, imo. Crude, rude and in charge.

lw

[JRL]

Off topic for this thread is what I meant.

[Stonehenge]

Off topic for this thread is what I meant.

Oh really? Here we have a thread about law enforcement policies and the terrible effects thereof. The new president will have a major influence on those policies in the future. I can't think of much that is more relevant considering that the elections are less than 3 weeks away.

No, you weren't worried about relevance at all. You were miffed because you thought I tarnished the great man's halo by implying he would not change things for the better in this area. Isn't that right? If you have a different opinion, give your side with facts and figures to back it up. Don't whine about relevance. We all have a right to express our opinions.

First of all, it's not my job to keep his halo polished. I gave him my glowing endorsement of "lesser of the evils". What more do you want?

History shows that those who have been accused of being dopers are always super tough on drugs when they get in. Carter was the last who might be called 'soft' on drugs. Reagan was tougher simply because he was a repub. Clinton was accused of being a toker, mr "I never inhaled" and he cracked down like mad. He put away more dopers including pot smokers than anyone before him. He raided lots of medical pot dispensaries. Shrub, (Bush jr) was accused of snorting coke and being a drinker. He cracked down just as much as Clinton or even more.

Obama has been accused of being a doper and admitted using coke and pot in school. What do you think he will do? Same as the others.

Mc-oldfogey will crack down even more to show he is a real conservative. Obama is the lesser of the evils here too but don't look for any real reform or improvement. If we are really lucky we might see a tiny tiny bit of relaxation on the raids. Call me an incurable optimist but that's a possibility.

[JRL]

Well there are many threads on presidential politics currently.

Please don't put words in my mouth. I do think Mr. Obama is more than the lesser of 2 evils, maybe a decent politician, possibly a statesman like we haven't had in decades. Considering the alternative makes him look all the better. I do have missgivings on some of his stands, his view of gay marriage as articulated by Mr. Biden raises civil rights issues on my mind. I admit I haven't seen any statements about the War On Drug Users, can you provide some links?

[Stonehenge]

As you can see from the graph, in 1980 there were just over 500,000 arrests for all drug offenses. That went up during the Reagan years. In 92, at the start of the Clinton years, it stood at 1 million. In 2000, at the end of the Clinton years, it stood at about 1.6 million. Clinton not only didn't end the drug war, not only didn't relax enforcement, he stepped it up to levels unseen before. In 04 which is the last year available, it was nearly 2 mill. Thus proving what I said about Clinton and shrub.

http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/dcf/enforce.htm

[JRL]

No surprizes there. But what I was looking for was Mr. Obama's stand on drug policy.

I think we are all on the same page about the War On Drug Users.

[Glandmaster]

Until the issues with selecting a executive based on media portrayal and PR campaigns are solved we will continue to see horror stories like these. It has been clear for some decades now that the federal government is quite happy to walk over state law (in breach of the tenth amendment iirc) so initiatives like those in the article below are doomed. Its also relevant for non US peeps as US drug policy tends to be aggressively pushed in other countries. Its already been decided this time around (in reducing the choice to obama / mccain) so its another 4/8 year wait for some real change. When I look back to the other candidates, on both sides, it seems a shame that none of those who focused on real policies were able to get through.

This is not to say I dont think that those eligible to vote for the ballot initiatives shouldnt - I think its a good way to raise the profile of the disparity between the wishes of the people and sate law vs federal law and actions. However as dubya still hasnt been impeached for his illegal wars overseas I doubt we will see much action regarding an illegal war on US soil...

US drug policy ballot initiatives on November 4th

There's a lot more at stake on November the 4th than just the presidential vote, including some potentially seismic changes in US drug policy if key ballot initiatives are passed on that day. Many people outside the US are unaware that alongside the presidential decision, US voters will be voting on local representatives for the Senate and Congress and potentially a raft of local ballot initiatives. Read more