Patients Protest LA Dispensary Raids
January 29th, 2007 by Alex
With the LA dispensary raids still fresh in memory, I was able to locate a photoset of the protests that followed.
Medical marijuana patients brought signs and pill bottles to the downtown Federal Building on Monday, January 22nd. Even West Hollywood officials, where the majority of the raids took place, were disappointed that the DEA chose to execute search warrants instead of contact them directly.
More than 500 people demonstrated outside the federal building and later walked to the City Hall to thank the mayor for his support of patients rights so far. Let’s hope the protest has a lasting effect and will discourage the DEA from making a repeat visit anytime soon.
Two more pics after the jump.
Aftermath: Los Angeles DEA Dispensary Raids
January 22nd, 2007 by Alex
As many people in the Los Angeles are aware, the DEA raided 11 Los Angeles dispensaries on Wednesday, January 17th. Despite these co-operatives being legal in California under the Compassionate Use Act of 1996, they are not legal under federal law. This creates a see-saw of struggles between co-ops to stay open and the DEA to shut them down.
How exactly the DEA chooses it’s victims is still a mystery. Maybe they go after dispensaries with too large a client base, maybe they infiltrate all dispensaries and raid the ones they believe are breaking the law. We just don’t know. An anonymous patient who walked into a dispensary during the raids had this to say:
I went by H.I.P Sherman Oaks. They buzzed me in and I was greeted by a federal agent. He was in FULL GEAR, freaking mask and everything. He told me I could turn around and leave or come in and join them, what do think I did.This sucks…
After talking with one of the raided dispensaries, I learned that the DEA has Ok’d them to continue selling medical marijuana. The catch is that they can’t sell hash, pipes or pieces. Looks like the DEA believes just the plant is good enough and all the extras like edibles, hash and others aren’t part of the deal.
Dispensaries are now taking steps to increase their safety measures. In Van Nuys, one co-op has beefed up security with 2 full-time armed guards. Other effects of the raids are increased marijuana pricing across the board. Premium is now going for up to $85 an 1/8th while regs are hovering around the $60 - $65 mark. This is going to make it much harder for patients to afford their medicine.
Overall, these raids have delivered a serious blow to the Los Angeles medical marijuana community. I expect it will take at least a few months for everything to return to normal. In the meantime, let’s hope that attitudes and laws continue to progress so that this doesn’t happen again.
Read on to see more pictures from the DEA raids…
DEA: 2006 - A Year in Pictures
January 3rd, 2007 by Tim
“Not for Hide & Go Seek.”
“That tickles!”
With the New Year already upon us, plenty of organizations are looking back to the year of 2006. One of those organizations (that we especially like to keep tabs on) is the DEA.
They have just released ‘The Year in Pictures 2006‘ and it gives some pretty interesting views into the many different areas of drug trafficking.
From Tickle-Me-Elmo’s to homemade submarines, the DEA encounters strange happenings on a consistent basis.
[via Crime Sift]
Flickr User: DEA Man
December 23rd, 2006 by Alex
Here’s some photos from a Flickr user called DEA Man.
His user profile says, “DEA Superman, keeping drugs out of our high schools… you’re welcome.” I guess a thanks is in order?
Above are some choice photos of pot that was confiscated from a Hawaiian medical marijuana clinic.
Or, you can check out his photo sets - here, here and here.
MarijuanaBusiness.com
December 12th, 2006 by Alex
Is this a future Fortune 500 CEO?
Even though it’s guaranteed to make you a local celebrity, landing in the tFS Arrests section isn’t as fun as it sounds. Everyone knows growing pot can be one dangerous occupation. Still, with the risk comes the profit, and that will always attract people to try their hand at cultivating weed.
MarijuanaBusiness.com, if you believe everything written on their site, is a company dedicated to teaching people how to grow & sell marijuana. They’ll also instruct you how to avoid getting arrested, hide your money from the IRS and do plenty of other things that will really piss off the US government.
Let’s check out some choice items from the ‘Table of Contents’:
- Step-by-step plans to starting a marijuana business
- How to establish grower/dealer relationships
- Local and federal POLICE/FBI/DEA investigation tactics
- How and where to set-up a distribution network
- How to hide your new found profits and make them work for you
- Liberal schools that are dealer friendly
- Conversations that will help you initiate a sale
Basically, this is a guide on how not to become a law-abiding citizen. If all the 42+ topics covered in the Table of Contents are accurate, MarijuanaBusiness.com might actually be one of the best available sources for a home grown pot business.
One downside is how unbelievably shady that guy on the cover of the CD looks. Also, their website fits into all the usual stoner cliches with weed green coloring and a tiled, marijuana background image.
Overall, this site only leaves me with one unanswered question - does MarijuanaBusiness.com have a chapter on how to avoid the FBI/DEA tracking who purchases their CD’s online? Let’s hope so, because that’s data someone from Uncle Sam will be very interested in seeing.
Whosarat.com - Informant Database
December 1st, 2006 by Alex
Mr. Orange was the ultimate rat.
Are you a paranoid drug dealer or perhaps a syndicated crime member? Worried that the guy next to you might be giving info to the feds? Well, I have the product for you. It’s called whosarat.com and it’s a website that allows you to access information about people who are undercover agents or suspected witnesses for the prosecution.
Here’s a pretty amazing quote from the site’s so-called spokesperson:
If people got hurt or killed, it’s kind of on them. They knew the dangers of becoming an informant. We’d feel bad, don’t get me wrong, but things happen to people. If they decide to become an informant, with or without the Web site, that’s a possibility.
Wow, sounds like a lot of deep thought and legal research went into that statement. The ‘kind of on them’ defense is almost as impenetrable as the Chewbacca Defense.
The site was started in 2004 by a Boston DJ named Sean Bucci. At first it was free, but now charges people a small fee to become a member. It is responsible for blowing the cover of atleast 1 documented undercover DEA agent and probably responsible for countless more false assertions.
Interestingly enough, while doing some research, it appears the site gets re-directed to a suspended landing page. Looks like law enforcement officials might have finally won the battle to take the site down after all.
Update 12-3-06: The website is up and working properly.
[via CrimeSift]
Mississippi Drug Ring Busted by DEA
November 23rd, 2006 by Alex
In Mississippi, a large and extremely sophisticated drug ring has been busted by the DEA. Spanning from Mexico to Texas to Mississippi, Operation Central Hub made some concrete headway in linking Mexican cartels to legitimate, local business leaders in the Hattiesburg and Jackson areas.
So, what’s the score on this bust? Try $15 million in drugs and another $2.9 million in cash / assets. Not exactly the neighborhood dealer sellings grams to all the college kids. Every arrest was a result of nearly 2 years of coordinated work between multiple government agencies.
DEA Assistant Special Agent in Charge Stephen Luzinski had this to say about the operation:
Operation Central Hub targeted and successfully dismantled one of the largest drug trafficking operations ever known to operate in the State of Mississippi. It was especially significant in that agents were able to successfully trace the movement of both drugs and money from the hands of high level Mississippi traffickers into the hands of some of Mexico’s most powerful drug traffickers.
Not bad at all. The drugs were trafficked using either 18-wheelers or specially converted gooseneck trailers (pictured above). The trailers have a custom hydraulics system that lowers and raises the trailer bed, revealing thousands of pounds of narcotics.
Multiple indictments were handed out as a result of the investigation - criminal forfeiture of drug related assets, possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance and conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance. In other words, an all included, paid vacation at the nearest federal prison is in many guys’ futures.
Genius Calls 911 After DEA Confiscates Stash
November 21st, 2006 by Alex
It’s a well known fact that marijuana use is the most freely tolerated in San Francisco and its surrounding areas. They have a liberal mayor and supportive government. Well, those things can only take you so far when the big, bad federal watchdogs are around.
This one is almost too funny to be true, but some unlucky son of a bitch in San Francisco got a seriously raw deal. Walking near the Philip Burton Federal Building around 1PM, a 20 year old, un-identified man was carrying his baby - a box filled with 1.5 pounds of herb and 12 ounces of hash - to the local marijuana co-op. His plan was to sell the greenage for $4,000 a pound and use it to fund a snowboarding trip to Tahoe. Unfortunately, he never got that far.
DEA agents, also near the federal building, were going to lunch when they smelled the un-mistakable stank of buddha. Seeing this man carrying a box with a well known hydroponics logo on it, they asked him to show its contents. Figuring this was San Francisco, and everyone smoked, he showed them the greenery. Big mistake. The DEA agents flashed their badges and confiscated his crop. It wasn’t enough marijuana to prosecute under federal law, but the government still considers it contraband, so it was taken anyway.
Most people would curse their luck and go home, but not this dude. He followed the DEA agents back to the federal building and tried to go in through the employee entrance. When he finally got the picture that he wasn’t getting his herb back, he called 911 and tried to convince the police to come out and get it back for him. Which, of course, they didn’t do.
Sucks to be that guy. But, maybe this has taught him to be a little more low-profile with his crop in the future.
[via ContraCostaTimes]
