Berkeley pushes back against federal medical marijuana crackdown

[Jesus Malverde]

We and other comrades have talked about federal prosecutors cracking down on medical marijuana dispensaries — even after President Obama said he wouldn’t spend time on such things. It ranks as one of Obama’s most egregious broken campaign promises.

Nevertheless, tons of outlets in California have closed over the past year or so, as local officials have done little more than throw up their hands. But pot activists are ticked, as the crackdown has included a lot of good actors — folks who played by the rules, as written — as we’ve reported.

On Wednesday, the city of Berkeley pushed back against the feds. In May, the feds began an effort to shut down Berkeley Patients Group, the city’s largest medical cannabis dispenser, by using federal asset forfeiture laws.

Oh, no you didn’t, Berkeley essentially said Wednesday. (We’ll spare you the legaleeze.)

The city filed a claim in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California Wednesday in defense of the Berkeley Patients Group . The city said its injury is both “concrete and particularized” to the city. OK, so we won’t spare you the legal stuff….from the filing:

“Claimant would suffer economic injury due to the substantial loss of tax revenue paid by Berkeley Patients Group. Indeed, the tax revenue generated by Berkeley Patients Group for Claimant is more than that of the two other permitted dispensaries in the City of Berkeley combined.”

Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates is ticked, saying “It is time for the federal government to wake up and stop these asset forfeiture actions. Berkeley Patients Group has complied with the rules and caused no problems in the City. The federal government should not use its scarce resources to harass local law-abiding businesses.”

http://blog.sfgate.com/nov05election/2013/07/03/berkeley-pushes-back-against-federal-medical-marijuana-crackdown/

[PoliticAverse]

1. If they are breaking federal law they aren't 'law abiding'.

Federal Law > State Law.

The Problem is federal law. Unless that is fixed these issues will continue.

[hobbit709]

3. A lot of FEDERAL banking laws were violated a few years ago.

you don't see the feds going after them. No, you see them going after somebody that can't afford to fight back.
Much less using the forfeiture laws against the owners of the buildings and not the proprietors of the businesses.

[PoliticAverse]

4. Holder will get to the banks after the last medical pot dispensary is gone...

I'm sure.

[truedelphi]

6. You are offered my prestigious "Cynical Laugh of the week award." n/t

[PoliticAverse]

7. I'll display it proudly next to my Fickle Finger of Fate award... n/t

[rhett o rick]

11. The executive branch decides on where their resources are spent. Pres Obama has choosen

to concentrate on persecuting medical marijuana users in lieu of bankers. Big Pharma probable helped him make the decision.

One of the most powerful tool of the executive branch is selective enthusiasm in prosecution of laws. Obama hates medical marijuana users.

[Life Long Dem]

2. It goes deeper than Holder or Obama

In March of 2011, federal agents in hazmat suits — guns brandished and sirens blaring — raided dozens of marijuana greenhouses and dispensaries in Montana, and arrested citizens who were growing pot in accordance with the state’s medical marijuana law.

Snip...

The top federal prosecutor in Montana — Mike Cotter, the U.S. attorney appointed by President Obama in 2009

Snip...

When Cotter charged these citizens in 2011, he gave no credence to a very basic protest that they all made: they’d been assured in writing, by Eric Holder, the U.S. attorney general, that they could grow medical marijuana and the feds wouldn’t prosecute them.

The defendants pointed to dozens of statements made by Holder and even the president, and specifically the now-infamous Ogden Memo. This was a publicly released document in 2009 document, written by David Ogden, Eric Holder’s deputy, that instructed federal law enforcement officers nationwide to leave medical marijuana growers alone as long as they were abiding by state law. This memo was reported in the national press, and local papers too, as a virtual ceding of jurisdiction by the federal government. “U.S. Won’t Prosecute in States that Have Medical Marijuana,” heralded a New York Times headline.

http://www.alternet.org/drugs/us-attorney-said-montana-medical-pot-growers-wouldnt-be-prosecuted-now-theyre-facing-life?paging=off

[bahrbearian]

5. This Mike Cotter guy was appointed by Obama, he seems to have gone Rogue , I'm assuming.

[Scuba]

8. Snort.

[truedelphi]

9. So I guess, once again, we have to all wish that Obama was President or something,

And had some actual power to do something about all this.

Or is it cajones he lacks???

My spouse keeps saying, "What does who have on him, that in any scenario, he can never do anything effective at all. (Except for the tax cut for the rich.)

[Life Long Dem]

10. I agree

I suspect Cotter is bought off and filling his pockets.

[rhett o rick]

13. Pres Obama can fire him. And his isnt the only state following Pres Obama's orders. The buck stops

with Obama.

[rhett o rick]

12. This is happening in more states than just Montana. The buck stops with Pres Obama. nm