Our Fountain Valley medical marijuana criminal defense attorneys believe medical marijuana users who follow the law should be free of legalized harassment by law enforcement. So we were pleased to see recent reports about protests by the medical marijuana community of DEA raids on several people in California who are not accused of breaking any state law. Americans for Safe Access issued a press release July 21 about a protest in San Diego following multiple raids on dispensaries there two weeks earlier, as well as raids on a legal grower in Mendocino County and another in Saginaw, Mich. A similar protest was organized in Michigan. The protests came in the same week that medical marijuana activists called on the Obama administration to drop the nomination of Michele Leonhart, who they believe is leading and inspiring the raids, as head of the DEA.
According to the San Diego chapter of Americans for Safe Access, the San Diego raids were "aggressive SWAT-style raids" against the Green Kross, Kush Lounge and Unified Collective dispensaries. As many as 12 people were arrested, the chapter said, and the federal government seized marijuana, money and patient paperwork, which may be confidential under federal law. The raid in Mendocino County was on the Covelo home of Joy Greenfield, 68, who had Mendocino County's first cultivation permit. The Santa Rosa Press-Democrat said the DEA took 99 plants -- with county-issued zip ties showing they were legal -- as well as a computer and paperwork. Greenfield was not home. None of the dispensaries or people were accused of violating the state laws that allow and regulate medical marijuana use, but were accused of federal drug crimes.
Medical marijuana organizations oppose Leonhart's nomination in part because they believe she supports raids like these. Leonhart is a Bush appointee who once headed the DEA's Los Angeles office, and is currently acting administrator of the DEA. She is believed to have supported or ordered the recent raids, which are in defiance of an order from Attorney General Eric Holder. That order says the DEA will not raid medical marijuana patients, growers or organizations that are in compliance with the laws of their states. However, Leonhart is believed to be an enthusiastic proponent of raiding medical marijuana organizations, and was deputy administrator during more than 200 raids in California and other medical marijuana states. She also recently refused to allow expansion of research into therapeutic use of marijuana.
As Riverside County medical marijuana criminal defense lawyers, we're disappointed at this nomination, which is likely to endanger the lives and livelihoods of people in the medical marijuana community. Collectives, cooperatives and patients who do their best to follow state law may still be raided and brutally prosecuted by the federal government -- despite an explicit assurance from the Department of Justice and the president that they should not be. If Leonhart is defying administration policy on this issue, she should not be confirmed or allowed to continue in her current position of power. Raids on dispensaries treat medical marijuana growers and patients as if they were dangerous criminals and put them in danger of spending years in prison for actions that they had every reason to believe is legal.
HOWARD | NASSIRI PC has an active practice defending collectives, cooperatives, patients and others who find themselves accused of a crime because of their involvement with medical marijuana. Our clients are frequently people who have done everything they can to follow the law, including the attorney general's statement on what is legal and what's not and any appellate court decisions. Nonetheless, overzealous law enforcement officers at both the state and federal levels continue to treat medical marijuana users like dangerous criminals and threaten them with lengthy prison sentences. These practices take medicine away from sick people and destroy the lives of law-abiding, taxpaying people and their families. Our Ontario medical marijuana criminal defense attorneys defend medical marijuana patients and dispensaries, which can sometimes be a matter as simple as proving they followed the law. We can also defend people who stepped over the line, for example, by driving under the influence of medical marijuana.
If you're accused of a drug crime related to use, sale or cultivation of medical marijuana, you deserve a full, aggressive defense. To learn more or set up a free consultation with HOWARD | NASSIRI, contact us through our website or call 1-800-872-5925 today.
