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AND, now that the fine regulatory folks have pushed you, your life savings, and your MMC into a big grow, are you ready to get FUCKED?
Obama administration warns Oakland on pot farms | California Watch
The Obama administration has warned Oakland over the licensing of four giant pot farms, saying the plan is in violation of state and federal law and could trigger multiple legal actions against the city.
Officials from the Justice Department??s civil division and the U.S. attorney??s office in San Francisco delivered the blunt message to Oakland City Attorney John Russo, according to two officials who asked not to be identified because they were not authorized to talk about the meetings.
??The warning is clear: These are illegal, large-scale pot growing operations, with Oakland planning to get a cut of the illicit profits,? said one official.
City Attorney Russo confirmed that Justice Department officials raised objections to Oakland??s marijuana cultivation ordinance in separate meetings last month.
??They've expressed their concerns that the path Oakland is taking is in violation of the law,? Russo said in a statement.
He declined to discuss details of the meetings or disclose the identities of the other participants. A spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office in San Francisco did not respond to phone messages.
At issue is a controversial ordinance, approved by the Oakland City Council last July, to license four ??industrial? facilities to cultivate and process marijuana and sell the product to medical marijuana dispensaries around the state. If Oakland issues permits and the facilities are built, they could be the largest of their kind in the world.
In November, Oakland voters approved a measure that imposes a 5-percent business tax on all medical marijuana operators, including future pot farms, opening a potentially lucrative revenue stream for the city.
Supporters say the plan is carefully crafted to comply with Proposition 215 and subsequent legislation, which allow for marijuana to be cultivated ??collectively or cooperatively? by patients with a doctor??s recommendation.
More recent guidelines drawn up by Attorney General Jerry Brown call for a closed-circuit cycle of ??marijuana cultivation and consumption with no purchases or sales to or from non-members.?
Even though pot remains illegal under federal law, the Obama Administration has taken a hands-off approach to California's medical marijuana operators so long as they are in unambiguous compliance with state law.
However, after closely studying the Oakland plan some federal officials have concluded the ordinance violates state law because it treats pot farms as distinct business entities for tax purposes, thus severing the direct connection between cultivator and patient that underpins the legal standing of a medical marijuana collective or cooperative.
??Oakland would be on the hook for violating state and federal law,? said one official who foresees possible civil and criminal litigation if the pot farms go into operation early next year as planned.
The Obama administration??s challenge to Oakland over large-scale marijuana cultivation appears to be part of a broader federal effort to bring order to California??s booming medical marijuana industry following last month??s defeat of Proposition 19, the initiative to legalize recreational pot.
Eight days after the vote California??s four U.S. attorneys met with DEA and Justice Department officials to develop a plan to deal with some of the loopholes and gray areas in the state??s medical marijuana program, according to two officials briefed on the discussions.
U.S. Attorney Benjamin Wagner said the Nov. 10 meeting focused on a "state-wide federal enforcement strategy" for marijuana but declined to provide details.
??My responsibility is not to enforce state law. But I do have a responsibility to enforce federal law, which means putting an end to people who use the cover of 215 to try to violate federal law. And there are efforts underway to try to tighten that up,? Wagner said.
Federal officials are particularly concerned about operators who are using medical marijuana as a cover for money laundering and illegal shipments to other states.
Wagner cited a recent case in which several Fresno-based growers are accused of cultivating thousands of pounds of pot under the state??s medical marijuana program, then shipping the product illegally to drug dealers in Boston.
??We are working hard to send a clear message to law enforcement authorities, federal and state and local, that we are determined to go after this kind of activity and bring more cases,? he said.
Wagner declined to say whether targeting Oakland??s pot farms was part of the new federal strategy. But two sources said the city ordinance was discussed in detail at the Nov. 10 meeting.
That's completely inline with the administrations stance, though. If you're in violation of state law they will come for you.
@ releaf: The feds have a long standing policy of going after grows 100+ plants. The feds do not recognize state law dude.
It is not the feds policy to recognize state mmj law. The feds won't even let you mention medical marijuana in federal court. The guideline is 100 plants, if you advertise the fact that you are growing in excess of this, then you are a damn fool.
There are plenty of grows with 100+ plants. Any state licensed MMC with a license class of 300-500 patients is openly admitting that, and that list is available currently on the DoR website. The directive is to leave those alone who abide by state law. Chris B couldn't produce paperwork at the time to prove he was state compliant. There are very few, if any, cases of patients or caregivers in CLEAR compliance with state law that are prosecuted federally. They make up a fraction of a percent of this community.Quote:
Originally Posted by MtnLionCO
The federal agent jeff sweetin SAID that dispensaries in compliance with state law would be subject to federal prosecution. What more do you need, a hammer to the head?
Chris B was not allowed to even mention mmj in fed court to prove that he was in compliance with state law. They didnt even have a search warrant, they just showed up at his house and he invited them in, they saw 100 + plants, boom arrest.Quote:
Originally Posted by TheReleafCenter
They didnt go thru his colorado mmj paperwork on the scene that is wrong.
You may want to read the complaint against Chris again, then: http://vvoice.vo.llnwd.net/e6/4444855.0.pdfQuote:
Originally Posted by MtnLionCO
Quote:
BARTKOWICZ stated that he had twenty marijuana care-giver certificates, but when asked to produce those certificates he was only able to produce twelve and informed law enforcement that he thought he had some that would be arriving by mail.
Chris B was in Fed court - why would he or anyone else think that a State law would be upheld Fed court. Again he and anyone else that thinks they have a right under Fed law to medicate or grow plants is an idiot. And then to slap the Fed's in their face by going on the news - well it must really suck to be that stupid. The day that news story ran, I remember as soon as I saw the trailer for the story later, I knew he was going to get a knock on the door within a week or so and I really expected the Feds to make a huge deal of it when they came knockin'. I've had local po-po visit me after the Chris B bust, check my paperwork & plants and be on their way. I asked them if they thought I would have anything to worry about from the Feds - what they told me was I was too small-time and it was pretty obvious I wasn't livin' large from selling (just FYI - it's been a long time since I've sold any meds. My patients usually just help with supplies or barter with me).
Hello people - it's not legal federally. Are the Feds going to waste their time on small growers or a patient who has just an ounce or two in their possession. No well at least I doubt it.
This is a really key distinction I think a lot of people are missing here. They simply don't have the resources to go after every medical patient in this country. MMC's and IPM's wear the targets.Quote:
Originally Posted by ThaiBuddhaMan
okay, so the rumor I heard the other day, as yet unconfirmed, is that the DOR is planning to fund, with $1Million, the CDPHE to go do "caregiver checks"
this came from a staff person at an mmj doc office.
I don't know what the heck they would have to check other than counts in a residential, private med grow for 5 or less people.
I seriously doubt if that's going to happen and if it does, it'll probably happen to those caregivers who haven't been keeping tabs on the news and still have 10 or 20 patients which may still be legal for them to do if patients are in a county/city with bans in place.
I had this clarified and this was communicated to an MMJ doc from the DOH.
the DOH has $1 million set aside for "investigating" caregivers. I guess they are not rolling on this yet, but its funded. I assume they'll actually need to have some hearings and come up with rules first, something they've not been effective in doing so far.
Of course, this was not communicated to me by the DOH, so take this info for what it is.
I don't understand this reasoning. The feds can only go after the largest growers, so that makes anyone who grows large stupid by definition and they deserve to be arrested and jailed? If anything we should at least thank those guys for being a sacrificial lamb.Quote:
Originally Posted by ThaiBuddhaMan
This State law where they seem to be Gaming the rules every chance they can is making me more nervous for my clients GM and others everyday. there has to be away to sit it out and prepare for their next move. They have made allot of the so-called conspiracy nuts fortune tellers. It's hard to understand their logic unless you go back to Romer's quote "our goal is to eliminate dispensaries" what was the number 80 or 90%. and here is where it seems rigged, we listen and follow what guidelines we are given so we may operate legally but it seems like every-time a client gets past that rule making board they make another to run more interference. who knew except 60% of the worlds leaders that the United States Government are so corrupt and treat their citizens this way, and now with wiki-leaks that percentage goes up also, way up!:stoned:Quote:
Originally Posted by MtnLionCO
Where did I say large growers need to be arrested & jailed?Quote:
Originally Posted by MtnLionCO
Feds can go after who ever they want but resources aren't infinite. They are going to go after the busts which are the best bang for the buck so to say. All that growers like Chris B are doing, is pissing off the general public along with the Feds. He's not a sacrificial lamb in any way, shape or form.