DEA Raids Four Bay Area

[Tom]

SAN FRANCISCO -- Drug Enforcement Administration agents raided four Bay Area medical marijuana operations seizing 839 plants worth nearly $2 million, DEA Public Information Officer Casey McEnry said Wednesday.

 

The daylong enforcement operation kicked off Tuesday around 7 a.m. with two simultaneous crackdowns at a San Francisco home and a Penngrove, Sonoma County, barn, McEnry said.

 

During those raids, DEA agents confiscated about 339 pot plants, paperwork and a large amount of cash believed to be marijuana sales profits, McEnry said.

 

A midday raid of San Francisco's HopeNet, run by previously searched and detained homeowners Steve and Cathy Smith, was postponed until 6:30 p.m. Tuesday after nearly 100 demonstrators turned out to vehemently protest what some said was an uncalled assault on one of San Francisco's most patient-friendly co-ops.

 

Just hours after the protesters celebrated scaring away two DEA agents posted outside the business at 233 Ninth St., DEA raided HopeNet confiscating marijuana brownies and butter, McEnry said.

 

Shortly before the HopeNet raid, DEA agents also cracked down on a warehouse located near the Smiths' home in the 200 block of Clara Street, McEnry said. In that raid, DEA agents seized about 500 marijuana plants.

 

No arrests had been made as of Wednesday morning.

 

"I think it is very bizarre that this is happening to one of the best dispensers in the city," Hilary McQuie with Americans for Safe Access, a national coalition that works to protect the rights of medical marijuana users, said Tuesday. "This is a mean-spirited, cold-hearted act for the DEA to do right before the holiday season." She added today, "I think it was a very inefficient operation."

 

The enforcement operation stemmed from a two-year ongoing investigation launched by an anonymous tip that led investigators to the Penngrove barn near Redwood Highway.

 

"As the investigation continued at the residence in Penngrove, it led us to the residence in Clara Street," McEnry said.

 

She added that all the raids were related in some way, but wouldn't comment further as the investigation was still under way.

 

The DEA requested the search warrants for the homes first because that's where the investigation led, McEnry said, adding that the agents subsequently obtained information that prompted them to request the additional search warrants for the co-op and warehouse.

 

"(For the DEA) to take medicine away from those who need it at this time of the year is an outrage," said San Francisco Supervisor Chris Daly, who joined the demonstrators during an on-site news conference Tuesday.

 

Daly oversees District 6, which has one of the city's highest numbers of cannabis dispensaries. He said he had visited between eight and 12 cannabis facilities, out of which HopeNet ranked as the most community- and patient-oriented co-op.

 

California voters legalized pot use for medical purposes in 1996, but medical marijuana use remains against federal law. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June that California's medical marijuana law doesn't protect sick people using the drug from being prosecuted under federal law.

 

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors, which passed a moratorium on all new dispensaries on March 30, recently approved an ordinance regulating medical marijuana club permits.

 

According to Wayne Justmann, a longtime medical marijuana activist, San Francisco is home to nearly 35 medical marijuana dispensaries, more than any other place in the nation.

 

Tony Bowles, a HopeNet community liaison, also spoke out Tuesday against the pending raid and asked the DEA to acknowledge the legitimacy of medical marijuana.

 

But McEnry said Wednesday that the federal law prohibiting the use and sale of medical marijuana is very clear and that it is the duty of the DEA to uphold that law no matter what medical marijuana activists propose.

 

The DEA raided 13 dispensaries in San Diego last week, but hasn't raided a San Francisco pot club since June when three were raided.

 

Author:KTVU.com

Date:December 21, 2005

Source:www.ktvu.com

Copyright:Copyright 2005 by KTVU.com and Bay City News.

 

But McEnry said Wednesday that the federal law prohibiting the use and sale of medical marijuana is very clear and that it is the duty of the DEA to uphold that law no matter what medical marijuana activists propose.

And regardless of how much pain and suffering they are causing, it seems petty obvious that the US government doesn't give a shit about it though.

 

[dsyfer]

You watch Canada will be next, political pressure will win

[sydneyguy]

I saw this article that is on the same bust but a bit more info

 

 

Feds Raid Home, Growing Facility Of Pot Club Pair

Wyatt Buchanan | San Francisco Chronicle | 12/21/2005

 

Federal agents raided the home of a San Francisco couple who operate a South of Market medical marijuana club Tuesday, seizing 122 marijuana plants and at least $20,000 in assets, the couple said.

 

Agents later raided a nearby building where Steve and Catherine Smith grew marijuana for their Hope Net cooperative and club. But they ran into a crowd of protesters when they went to the club itself at 223 Ninth St.

 

Four Drug Enforcement Administration agents sat in vehicles in front of the club as the crowd, which eventually grew to about 60 people, surrounded them, waving signs and chanting slogans. After five hours, the agents left without raiding the club, and the crowd erupted in cheers.

 

A DEA spokeswoman would not say why the agents had decided not to go inside. The spokeswoman, Casey McEnry, said the agents had been sent to the club because of information gleaned from the raid of the Smiths' home on Clara Street and from a separate raid in the Sonoma County town of Penngrove.

 

"I can't confirm whether we will or will not take enforcement at that location in the future," McEnry said, though several medical marijuana activists speculated the government had been unable to obtain a search warrant for the club.

 

"I've never seen the DEA leave before. Never," said Catherine Smith. She said she felt "guardedly relieved."

 

No one was arrested in the raids. The Smiths said their club would be closed indefinitely. The couple kept all the club's marijuana at their home and their nearby growing facility.

 

In addition to marijuana plants, agents confiscated growing equipment, bulbs, utility bills, tax documents, financial records and photographs from the Smiths' home, the couple said. Steve Smith said he suspected the agents had taken some patient records as well.

 

"They beat on the door. They took me outside in my underwear and cuffed me and then searched the house," he said.

 

The Hope Net club has been open for about a year and distributes marijuana to about 100 patients for free in addition to its paying clients, Catherine Smith said.

 

Several medical marijuana proponents said the club had a reputation for distributing only to deserving patients and not causing problems in the neighborhood. "This is a good one," said Wayne Justmann, a longtime activist.

 

The raid was the first in the city since June, when federal agents seized marijuana and other items from two cannabis clubs on Ocean Avenue in the Ingleside district and a third on Judah Street in the Inner Sunset District. Nineteen people were accused of drug trafficking and money laundering.

 

Those raids were the first in the Bay Area since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled this summer that the federal government had the authority to prosecute people whose activities are legal under state law. The growing and use of medical marijuana were legalized by state voters in 1996, but are still prohibited under federal law.

 

San Francisco will put in place regulations for the city's 34 medical marijuana clubs starting Dec. 30. The new rules give the Planning Department the right to hold public hearings on the location of all clubs. Patients will be allowed to buy a maximum of one ounce of marijuana per visit to a club.