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Bush-era DEA raids on pot dispensary owners still face jail

Posted April 11, 2009

Nearly two dozen medical marijuana state owners and operators who were shut down by the Drug Enforcement Agency during the Bush administration still face prosecution, despite the new federal policy under the Obama administration of not interfering with dispensaries abiding by state law. Their fate is now up to federal attorneys who represent the regions where the raids took place.

The San Francisco Chronicle writes of one such case:

One involves the Compassionate Cooperative of Alameda County, whose headquarters in an unincorporated area near Hayward were raided by the DEA in October 2007.

The owners, brothers Winslow and Abraham Norton, had a county permit and had been paying taxes on their multimillion-dollar annual sales, their lawyers said.

The charges against them include drug distribution, money laundering and carrying guns during drug trafficking - firearms held by their licensed security guards, a charge that ratchets up the mandatory minimum sentence to 15 years.

Federal prosecutors seem to be moving towards seeing these cases through, especially with their cynical view of dispensary operators. Take for example Northern California’s top federal prosecutor, U.S. Attorney Joseph Russoniello. In an hourlong forum held on Wednesday between Russoniello and Joe Elford, chief counsel of Berkeley-based Americans for Safe Access, the prosecutor wasn’t shy about showing where he stands:

Russoniello acknowledged, “Local law enforcement may have its prejudices.”

“It may even have a cynical view of Proposition 215, and I share that cynical view — I make no bones about it,” the prosecutor said, making clear his opinion that the medical marijuana debate is nothing more than a stalking horse for decriminalizing recreational use of the drug.

Perhaps the most famous case that is set to be sentenced on April 30th is that of Charles Lynch, the dispensary owner from Morro Bay, CA who was raided by the DEA in 2007, even though he ran a state-sanctioned dispensary only for qualified patients and was in compliance with all state and local laws. Mr. Lynch was a respected businessman; members of city council and even the mayor showed up for the ribbon cutting for his new shop. He faces up to 20 years in federal prison, with a minimum of 5, though the federal judge sentencing him, George Wu of Los Angeles, has asked Attorney General Eric Holder to explain his policy on these prosecutions before then.

Americans For Safe Access write:

During his trial, Lynch was prevented from calling to the stand one of his patients in order to refute his charge of selling marijuana to someone under 21. Owen Beck, who was a 17-year old bone cancer survivor at the time of Lynch’s indictment, obtained medical marijuana from Lynch accompanied by his parents, a requirement of the Morro Bay business regulations. However, because of the 2005 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Gonzales v. Raich, federal medical marijuana defendants are prohibited from entering evidence related to medical marijuana or their compliance with local and state laws.

John Stossel did a great report for 20/20 on the Lynch case last month:

How is it fair for these guys to get prosecuted when those raids wouldn’t even happen today and they would still be in business?

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