89.3 KPCC: “Long Beach police and U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents raided seven medical marijuana dispensaries Wednesday in what officials said was the beginning of a crackdown on pot shops in the city. ‘We started with this first seven, and it is our intent to continue targeting each of these locations until we reach every single one of them,’ said police spokeswoman Nancy Pratt. . . . Police arrested 40 people in Wednesday’s raid”
Los Angeles Times: “In an unprecedented civil complaint, the city of Oakland is suing federal prosecutors to stop them from seizing property leased by the nation’s largest medical marijuana dispensary. The complaint seeks to ‘restrain and declare unlawful’ a July federal forfeiture action against Harborside Health Center’s landlords in Oakland and San Jose.”
The Daily Courier: “When officers with the multi-agency Partners Against Narcotics Trafficking (PANT) task force arrested four people in connection with selling pot-laced candy bars last month, it was the culmination of an investigation that began in April and led them to Phoenix and back to Prescott. Christopher Lee Martin, 37, and Andrea Lyn Martin, 33, both of Prescott, were arrested along with Todd James, 40, and Christopher Goodrich, 39, both of Phoenix. They face various drug-related charges”
Arizona real estate attorney William A. Kozub wrote an article called “Civil & Criminal Issues with Commercial Leases in the Medical Marijuana Industry” published on the Arizona School of Real Estate & Business website. It’s recommended reading for landlords, real estate brokers, realtors and others who are involved with or considering becoming involved with a lease of Arizona land to a medical marijuana dispensary or a medical marijuana grow facility. Here are some statements made in the article:
“all owners, agents and property managers who have sought to reap the benefits of the medical marijuana industry must also be aware of the significant civil and criminal risks inherent in this industry, risks that arise from the fact that federal law does not recognize the medical use of marijuana. . . . While a criminal prosecution of the landlord may not occur, the landlord’s building may find that it is a named defendant in a forfeiture proceeding. Federal law clearly provides for the seizure of ‘all real property, including any right, title, and interest (including any leasehold interest) in the whole of any lot or tract of land and any appurtenances or improvements, which is used, or intended to be used, in any manner or part, to commit, or to facilitate the commission of, a violation of this subchapter punishable by more than one year’s imprisonment’.”
High Desert Daily Press: “The doors to one of the last remaining medical marijuana dispensaries in Hesperia are permanently locked, after owners of the High Desert Compassionate Collective were evicted. . . . Since 2005, 20 collectives have been closed, as the city began citing property owners for allowing collectives to operate without a business permit, certificate of occupancy or other city required documents.
Tahoe Daily Tribune: “Although the former Third Street site of the City of Angels 2 medical marijuana collective sat shuttered Friday, the fight over the marijuana dispensary appears far from over. . . . the dispensary’s owner, Gino DiMatteo . . . was arrested and charged with felony counts of bribery, possession of marijuana for sale, possession of a controlled substance and possession of ammunition by a convicted felon.
The following is the text of a press release by Americans for Safe Access on October 5, 2012.
For the first time in nearly 20 years, a United States Court of Appeals is set to hear oral arguments in a lawsuit challenging the federal government’s classification of marijuana as a dangerous drug with no medicinal value: Americans for Safe Access v. Drug Enforcement Administration. This historic case will force a federal court to finally review the scientific evidence regarding the therapeutic efficacy of marijuana.
During a press briefing Thursday, plaintiffs in the case, along with leading medical researchers and clinicians, spoke about the necessity of the federal government recognizing current scientific data supporting marijuana rescheduling. Marijuana is currently classified in the same category as heroin despite calls from scientists, medical professionals, and policy makers to reschedule marijuana for medical use.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit will hear opening arguments on the case the morning of October 16, 2012. “Medical marijuana patients are finally getting their day in court,” said Joe Elford, Chief Counsel with Americans for Safe Access (ASA), who will be arguing the case before the D.C. Circuit. “What’s at stake in this case is nothing less than our country’s scientific integrity and the imminent needs of millions of patients.”
On the call, Dr. Donald Abrams, Director of Clinical Programs at San Francisco General Hospital, described the effectiveness of medical marijuana in the treatment regimens of cancer and HIV/AIDS patients. “In my practice every day as a cancer specialist I see patients who have loss of appetite, nausea and vomiting from their chemotherapy, pain on and off of opiates, anxiety, depression, and insomnia,” conditions which Dr. Abrams said can be alleviated by medical marijuana.
Dr. Igor Grant, Executive Vice-Chair, Department of Psychiatry, University of California-San Diego School of Medicine, and director of the Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research, stated that multiple California state-supported studies have resulted in “very good evidence” that medical marijuana “is effective in treating muscle spasticity,” which is often experienced by patients with Multiple sclerosis and other painful disorders. He added that it is critical to separate out patients’ legitimate medical needs from other issues surrounding marijuana’s distribution and usage. Dr. Grant recently published a study in Open Neurology Journal concluding that marijuana’s current classification is “untenable.”
Plaintiff Michael Krawitz, a Gulf War veteran and medical marijuana patient, conveyed his struggle in managing his combat-related pain without relinquishing federally-mandated VA benefits under marijuana’s current classification. Without access to medical marijuana, he stated he is in danger of destabilizing his overall health condition, a situation Krawitz has faced multiple times due to federal policy.
“The time has come to address medical marijuana as a public health issue and for the federal government to prioritize science over politics,” Sherer said.
Listen to the audiotape of a teleconference briefing with researchers, legal counsel and lawsuit plaintiff.
Los Angeles Times: “The Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday voted 11-2 to repeal its recent ban on medical marijuana dispensaries, averting a March election on the explosive issue of storefront pot sales.”
Fox 12 Oregon: “Drug investigators from Washington County raided two locations in connection with an illegal medical marijuana growing operation. The dispensary, Human Collective, was the last standing dispensary in Washington County.”
Associated Press: “A jury on Thursday convicted a medical marijuana provider of drug trafficking and firearms charges, upholding the U.S. government’s raids of state-regulated pot dispensaries in its first test at trial. The provider, Chris Williams, was barred by the trial judge from making the case that he and Montana Cannabis followed the state medical marijuana law that voters approved in 2004. U.S. District Judge Dana Christensen ruled state laws were irrelevant in the case involving alleged violations of the federal Controlled Substances Act. . . . Williams’ case is the only one to go to trial after the government raided 26 medical marijuana provider homes, offices and business on March 14, 2011, in a crackdown on large Montana grow operations and dispensaries.”
Note to Arizona medical marijuana dispensary owners and their lawyers: Are you paying attention to what the Department of Justice is doing in other states?
East Valley Tribune: “The American Civil Liberties Union is asking a judge to rebuff efforts by Attorney General Tom Horne to block state licensing of medical marijuana dispensaries. In legal papers filed Thursday, attorneys for the group want Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Michael Gordon to rule [in the White Mountain Health Center lawsuit] that Arizona is constitutionally entitled to determine what it does and does not want to make a crime. 
They acknowledged the federal Controlled Substances Act makes possession, sale and transportation of marijuana a felony. But they told Gordon that none of that criminalizes the activities of state and local employees in processing the paperwork for everything from licenses to zoning permits, the reason Horne and Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery contend that part — if not all — of the state law is void.”
Daily Camera: “Veronica Carpio has heard all the rumors. . . . ‘There’s been a thought out there that I’m some big Mafioso drug boss or a ruthless drug dealer,’ Carpio said. ‘All of that, all those rumors, are completely untrue. I used to own a medical marijuana dispensary, that’s it. If you know me at all, you know all that other stuff is ludicrous’. . . . Last month, Carpio agreed to a deal with prosecutors, pleading guilty to felony marijuana possession”
KLAS TV Las Vegas: “Federal, state and local law enforcement around southern Nevada are cracking down on the marijuana trade in the Las Vegas valley. Two busts took place this week alone. One grow house was shut down in an upscale community, and a marijuana dispensary was shut down at a shopping center.”
Los Angeles Times: “Federal officials took their war on medical marijuana dispensaries to Los Angeles on Tuesday, raiding several shops and issuing warning letters to dozens more. Officials at the U.S. attorney’s office said it was the first large-scale federal action taken against cannabis shops in the city and said more would probably follow. . . . On Tuesday, prosecutors went to court to file civil asset forfeiture complaints against the owners of three Eagle Rock properties for allowing three commercial marijuana stores to operate: ‘Together for Change Collective,’ ‘House of Kush,’ and ‘ER Collective.’ The Drug Enforcement Administration also executed federal search warrants at three other locations in downtown, Boyle Heights and Silver Lake.”
See also “Feds Target LA in Medical Marijuana Crackdown.”
“Federal prosecutors looking to take out California’s medical marijuana shops have now set their sights on Los Angeles, where city officials have struggled to stop a blooming of dispensaries. . . . ‘As today’s operations make clear, the sale and distribution of marijuana violates federal law, and we intend to enforce the law,’ U.S. Attorney Andre Birotte Jr. said.
Note to Arizona medical marijuana dispensary owners and their lawyers: Are you paying attention to what the Department of Justice is doing in other states?
Arizona Republic: “Police say a Glendale elementary school teacher and her husband are behind bars for participating in a conspiracy to sell marijuana.”
Eastern Arizona Courier: “Officers got more than they bargained for Friday morning when they discovered an illegal medical marijuana grow during a domestic call in a remote area of Graham County. . . . Based on the deputies’ observations, a search warrant was granted for the residence. Inside, officers discovered a sophisticated grow operation with more than 60 plants in various stages of development – from seedlings to about 20 mature plants about five feet tall in two rooms. Another 11 plants that were recently harvested were located in a tool box on a trailer in the driveway.”
The Daily Courier: “Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office, Partners Against Narcotics Trafficking (PANT), in conjunction with numerous local and Phoenix-area law enforcement agencies, conducted a lengthy investigation that resulted in the service of search warrants on 10 locations in Yavapai and Maricopa counties on Sept. 12 and 13. . . . agents have served search warrants on two Prescott businesses, Green Cross . . . and Hippie Village Emporium . . . . Christopher Martin and Andrea Lyn Martin, 33, both of Prescott, and Todd James, 40, and Christopher Goodrich, 39, both of Phoenix, have been charged in the alleged operation”
KVOA: “Wednesday’s bust of five medical marijuana businesses in Southern Arizona that resulted in the seizure of about 14 pounds of marijuana, 25 pounds of marijuana candy, and the arrests of 10 people. In August, the Counter Narcotics Alliance, a multi-jurisdictional drug task force, received information about marijuana sales from a business called ‘Shop 420’,”
The Missoulian: Tom Daubert was sentenced for his role in a medical marijuana dispensary called Montana Cannibis located in Helena. He was started the dispensary with two friends. At the time of the raid, however, he had cut ties with the business.
KTVB.com: “Police shut down and raided the 45th Parallel medical marijuana dispensary in Ontario Tuesday, alleging illegal activity on behalf of its members.”
Arizona Republic: “The Arizona Department of Health Services could revoke more than a dozen medical-marijuana cards, saying patients and caregivers have either violated the state’s new medical-marijuana law since receiving a card or lied about their histories when applying for one.”
Arizona Republic: “Arizona health officials will dip into a pot of money generated by medical-marijuana fees with the goal to improve the state’s controversial new program. The Arizona Department of Health Services will soon spend more than $1.2 million to weed out physicians who improperly recommend marijuana to patients, help train marijuana-dispensary staff, hire private accountants or auditors to examine dispensary financial statements, and hire private attorneys to assist the department with legal issues arising from the program.”
Los Angeles Times: “Under increased legal pressure, ‘Ricky’ closed his dispensaries and resumed selling marijuana — but only to those with a doctor’s recommendation. Ricky rants about a federal and local crackdown on medical marijuana that closed various dispensaries that he ran and forced him back to the streets, where he began as a teenager in the 1970s. (Except then, he was a dealer. Now he is a ‘mobile dispensary.’)”
Arizona Republic: “Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan told a Colorado television station that he thinks the federal government shouldn’t interfere with states that have legalized medical marijuana. . . . he said that states should have the right to choose whether to legalize the drug for medical purposes.”
The Register-Guard: “The owner of a medical cannabis ‘resource center’ in Eugene faces felony charges after police raided his business and two residential properties he owns while investigating allegations of illegal pot dealing and money laundering. Detectives with Lane County’s Interagency Narcotics Enforcement Team served a search warrant on Thursday night at Kannabosm, a business at 401 W. 11th Ave. that provides marijuana to people who are allowed to use the drug under the state’s voter-approved medical marijuana law. Kannabosm opened in June 2011.”
Woodland Hills Patch: “Two women were arrested Tuesday afternoon during a raid on medical marijuana dispensary in Woodland Hills” California.
azfamily.com: “When Arizona voters legalized medical marijuana in 2010 the intent was to help patients, but now some medical marijuana patients say parts of the law are doing more harm than good. First, there’s the portion of the law that requires the Arizona Department of Health to keep a database of everyone who has a medical marijuana card.”
Medical marijuana advocate Ryan Hurley wrote an article about the recent actions taken by Arizona’s Attorney General and Maricopa County Attorney. The article says:
“I can sum it up in one word: FEAR. When Mr. Montgomery held his press conference he said he would vigorously work towards the arrest and prosecution of anybody helping patients acquire their medicine. He even went so far as to say patients are NOT protected from arrest and prosecution! These words were intimidating, and completely without compassion for suffering patients, but most importantly there were not entirely true.”
Las Vegas Sun: “A ruling that Nevada’s medical marijuana law is unconstitutional has put the issue before the state Supreme Court and has lawmakers again pushing to clarify how patients can legally obtain the drug. After several medical marijuana dispensaries set up shop around Las Vegas in recent years, a task force from the Metro Police Department and the District Attorney’s Office began working with federal authorities on a series of high-profile raids. . . . Most of the medical marijuana dispensaries in Las Vegas have been shut down, he said. They were acting as for-profit entities and required a donation to belong”
The two Nevada cases involve the Jolly Green Meds dispensary and the Sin City Co-op dispensary.
Las Vegas Sun: “Two Henderson brothers accused of running a medical marijuana dispensary in Las Vegas and growing marijuana in a Henderson office complex pleaded guilty Thursday to conspiring to distribute more than 100 marijuana plants, federal authorities announced.”