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Legislator asks DEA to explain pot club raids |
According to UK Home Secretary Jacqui Smith, and Prime Minister Gordon Brown, cannabis is "lethal", which means according to any dictionary you may care to read, that it can kill you. If this is truly the case (as millions of people around the world know it NOT to be), why then is a prominent US legislator hounding the Drug Enforcement Agency regarding what he calls "paramilitary-style enforcement raids" against medical marijuana patients and suppliers in California? The fact is Gordon Brwn has lied to the UK public in a bid to further his own ailing political career, and today, in 2008, that shouldn't be allowed to happen. | A congressional leader, citing complaints from Bay Area mayors and lawmakers, wants the Drug Enforcement Administration to explain its increased use of "paramilitary-style enforcement raids" and property forfeiture orders against medical marijuana patients and suppliers in California.
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| With drug trafficking and violence from international cartels on the rise, "do you think the DEA's limited resources are best utilized conducting enforcement raids on individuals and their caregivers who are conducting themselves legally under California law?" House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, D-Mich., said in a letter to the agency. | 
| He also noted the DEA's recent tactic of sending letters to hundreds of property owners who rent to medical marijuana dispensaries, advising them that they could be prosecuted and lose their property under federal law.
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| Property forfeitures, Conyers said, have typically been reserved for "the worst drug traffickers and kingpins" and might have the unintended effect of driving medical marijuana distribution underground.
| Medical marijuana advocacy groups say the letters have led to evictions and closures of dozens of supply shops that had been operating with state and local approval.
The congressman also asked how much the DEA was spending on the raids.
The letter, dated April 29, was addressed to the DEA's acting administrator, Michele Leonhart. Agency spokeswoman Rogene Waite declined to comment on the questions Wednesday, saying only that "the federal government does not recognize medical marijuana. ... The DEA, of course, would be part of the federal government."
Conyers attached a copy of a resolution approved by San Francisco supervisors in February, attacking the DEA for "its irrational policy and hysteria" and calling on the city attorney to support property owners facing prosecution or forfeiture for renting to medical marijuana dispensaries. The Los Angeles City Council also has condemned the federal agency's actions.
Conyers also cited statements by San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums criticizing the DEA, and a resolution introduced by state Sen. Carole Migden, D-San Francisco, urging that Congress pass a law ending federal raids and prosecutions in states that have legalized medical marijuana.
http://www.sfgate.com
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