Obama Imprisons 80% More Medical Marijuana Growers Than Bush

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Obama Imprisons 80% More Medical Marijuana Growers Than Bush

Medical marijuana users sent to prison under federal law, while complying with state law

Jul 8, 2013 byMary Noble





Growing marijuana plant with bud • lostcoastoutpost.com



Every month, medical marijuana growers are sent to federal prison despite having complied with state marijuana laws. And although in 2008 Obama promised to stop raids on medical marijuana growers, his Department of Justice has stepped them up.
"Obama is averaging 36 medical marijuana prosecutions a year, compared to 20 a year" under Bush, according to Reason.com, who base those numbers on a report published by pro-marijuana group NORML in June. "153 medical marijuana cases have been brought in the 4 ¼ years of the Obama administration, nearly as many as under the 8 years of the Bush administration (163)," according to NORML's report.
Some of those sentenced suffered from serious medical conditions for which they were themselves using the drug. Montanan grower Richard Flor died in August 2012 while serving a 5-year prison sentence in federal prison, after suffering two heart attacks and renal and kidney failure, according to Montana's Billings Gazette. Flor was using medical marijuana to treat conditions including depression, diabetes, and osteoporosis. He was a co-founder of Montana Cannabis, which provided marijuana for about 300 people with medical prescriptions for the drug. His attorneys argued that he had complied with all state laws.
Another grower sentenced to 10 years, Jerry Duval, was eventually allowed to serve his sentence in a prison that can treat his medical conditions, which include glaucoma and a kidney and pancreas transplant he required after suffering juvenile diabetes. "The DOJ originally sentenced Duval to standard federal prison despite a judge's recommendation that his medical condition be taken into account," according to the Huffington Post. Duval followed the marijuana laws in his home state of Michigan, according to court documents. He was sentenced along with 5 other Michigan growers.

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In marijuana policy, the confusing smoke signals continue to burn
In a city that hosts a pot expo, Tony Jalali thought renting space to medical marijuana outlets was perfectly legal. Guess again.

This Anaheim office building, owned by Tony Jalali and his wife, is targeted for seizure by the federal government. The reason: On two occasions Jalali rented one of the 12 office spaces to medical marijuana dispensaries, thinking such operations were perfectly legal in California.
By Steve Lopez

August 24, 2013, 9:00 a.m.

Marijuana policy, like immigration policy, is something the country just can't seem to get right.

For the latest evidence of how confusing pot laws can be, just take a look at Anaheim, where a property owner is fighting a federal government attempt to seize his two-story commercial building, which is worth about $1.5 million.

Tony Jalali's crime?

On two occasions he rented one of his 12 office spaces to medical marijuana dispensaries, thinking such operations were perfectly legal in California.

But the feds see things differently. After an undercover Anaheim police officer used a doctor's recommendation card to purchase $37 worth of marijuana from the tenant, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration swooped in, and Jalali was notified last year that the federal government had initiated proceedings to seize the entire building in which the sale had taken place.

It's not hard to understand why Jalali was confused by mixed signals on marijuana policy, or why he was unaware of an Anaheim ordinance prohibiting dispensaries in the city. For one thing, there were other dispensaries in town when he rented space to an operator. And at its convention center, Anaheim hosts an annual event billed as the "the world's biggest marijuana festival."

"I saw banners on Artesia Boulevard," said Jalali. "Kush Expo. City of Anaheim."

That's right. Anaheim is home to a gigantic annual pot emporium, with more smoke in the air than you get from the average California wildfire.

Last month's extravaganza featured a "Hot Kush Girl Contest" and awards for the "best strains" in Southern California. Festival attendees were informed they couldn't sample the goods without marijuana recommendations from doctors, but no worries.

"Doctors will be on site!"

After looking at photos of the Kush Expo, I'm guessing that nearby Disneyland is only the second-happiest place on earth. And I'm wondering why the feds didn't just seize the convention center.

Adding to Jalali's confusion is the fact that California voters approved medical cannabis in 1996. Even the U.S. attorney's office in recent years has sent confusing signals as to where it stands.

"I had no idea I was doing anything wrong," said Jalali, who kicked out his pot tenant as soon as he got the seizure notice last year. But that wasn't enough to call off the dogs, and Jalali is still fighting to save his property in federal court, with the next hearing scheduled for Monday.

"I have property rights in this country," said Jalali, a computer engineer married to a dentist, with two kids in college. "I pay my taxes. I obey the law. I have a spotless record."

Jalali said he moved to the U.S. from Iran in 1978 to enjoy the benefits of country where rule of law prevails. He never dreamed the government could take his property without even accusing him of a crime. The city has claimed it sent two notices about problems with a dispensary to Jalali's home in Irvine, according to a Jalali attorney, but he denies receiving anything. As for the U.S. attorney's office, which initiated the seizure, it has admitted in court that it sent no warning to Jalali before moving to snatch property he bought in 2003 as a nest egg investment.

Not that it's any solace, but Jalali has lots of company. One of his attorneys, Matthew Pappas, represents four other Southern California clients with similar seizures. Another of Jalali's attorneys, Larry Salzman of the Institute for Justice, said the Los Angeles branch of the U.S. attorney's office has filed 30 civil forfeiture cases against Southern California landlords with marijuana dispensaries since 2011, and sent "threatening letters" to an additional 500 landlords.

This is happening in other states as well.

"But California is really ground zero for the use of forfeiture in states that have decriminalized marijuana," said Salzman, who added that state law prohibits forfeiture of property unless the owner is convicted of a crime.

Salzman suggested a motive other than cracking down on drug use. He said that under what's called "equitable sharing," federal and local agencies are sharing the proceeds from confiscating property.

"If they take Tony's building," said Salzman, "the money is split between the Drug Enforcement Administration and the city of Anaheim. That financial incentive has driven a literal explosion in civil forfeiture activity…."

A spokesman for the Anaheim city attorney told me there'd be no comment on the Jalali case while it's being litigated.

Thom Mrozek, a U.S. attorney spokesman, said the sale of marijuana is against federal law and the "vast majority" of California's medical dispensaries do not comply with state law, either because they are for-profit operations or because they do not serve as primary caregivers. He said most of the 30 cases have not resulted in seizures, but that landlords in 11 cases have forked over a total of $532,000 to settle. And he added that his office is responding to an explosion of dispensaries that led to lots of problems for cities and for neighbors of the pot shops.

No doubt, many shops used the medical cover to sell pot for recreational use. But why not stop with the mixed signals, end the winless and costly war on drugs, and legalize, regulate and tax marijuana, which is nowhere near as big a social or medical problem as perfectly legal alcohol?

And if we're not yet ready for that, can't the feds simply shut an "illegal" pot dispensary rather than steal an entire building from a law-abiding landlord?

steve.lopez@latimes.com

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Internal Justice Department Emails Shed New Light On Obama's Perplexing Potpocalypse
By NICK SCHOU Thursday, Aug 29 2013

Next month, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder is expected to testify on Capitol Hill at the invitation of Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) about the Obama administration's ineffable policy on medical marijuana. He'll have a lot to explain: When Obama ran for his first term as president, the former recreational pot smoker signaled he would not interfere with states such as California that allow sick residents to smoke cannabis. Yet in November 2011, the White House unleashed a major crackdown on the Golden State's biggest cash crop, threatening landlords and growers with criminal penalties and the seizure of their properties, as well as shuttering countless storefront pot dispensaries.

Despite the ongoing Potpocalypse, Holder as well as other Justice Department officials—including U.S. Attorney Andre Birotte Jr., who supervises drug-enforcement efforts in Southern California—have repeatedly stated they aren't going after marijuana collectives that obey state law, but rather targeting only organized-crime syndicates, such as the multicounty pot ring run by San Clemente resident John Walker, who last month earned a 22-year prison sentence in an Orange County federal courtroom. Yet internal department emails obtained by the Weekly suggest federal prosecutors are intent on eradicating all storefront dispensaries in California. In one email, for example, a Justice Department official announces that while there are still some clubs open in Santa Ana, this "handful of stragglers" would be dealt with "soon enough."

The feds are apparently so intent on eradicating California's medical-marijuana industry that it is threatening wheelchair-bound activists such as Marla James, the president of the Orange County chapter of Americans for Safe Access. On Aug. 7, DEA agents paid a visit to 17511 Griffin Lane, a building in an industrial neighborhood of Huntington Beach. The location is the most recent home of Med-Aid, a group of disabled, sick and terminally ill Orange County residents who collectively smoke cannabis.

Under threats from the DEA and city officials in Anaheim, where Med-Aid operated last year, the collective moved to Sunset Beach, until police parked a cruiser in front of the group's storefront, forcing it to move once again.

James, a member of Med-Aid, says DEA agents served the group with a notice to close within 14 days or else face criminal prosecution—adding they were specifically looking for her. "I got a call from the collective saying, 'There are a bunch of feds looking for you,'" James says. "When I got home, there were six DEA agents waiting."

James, who had been attending a local Democratic Party meeting, wasn't even able to lower herself via her vehicle's wheelchair elevator before the feds surrounded the car and personally served her with a letter threatening to seize the building and to prosecute anyone who continues to operate a collective at the location. Med-Aid agreed to close its doors.

In one email shedding new light on the crackdown, Assistant U.S. Attorney Greg Parham bragged about his office's zeal in eradicating all dispensaries. "My old pal, Jay Williams, called me again this afternoon," Parham wrote in an Aug. 28, 2012, email. "As you probably recall, Williams is the potential operator for the [marijuana] store that was due to open at the above location [in Anaheim]. Williams told me that he had talked with a couple of lawyers, and they told him that if he followed the letter of the law '110 percent,' then he had nothing to worry about. I told Williams that the lawyers lied to him and completely disregarded federal law. Williams was again advised that we are enforcing federal law in this district and that all stores in our jurisdiction will be shut down."

According to Parham, Williams asked whether he could relocate to either Garden Grove or Santa Ana. "I made it clear that there was not a city in the area that he could safely move to," Parham wrote. "Keep your eyes open for Mr. Williams (if that is his true name). It seems like he is really conflicted about staying in the game."

Assistant U.S. Attorney David Kowal took delight in the California Supreme Court's ruling earlier this year that upheld the right of cities to ban dispensaries. "The Cal SCT decision has really had a positive impact," Kowal wrote in a June 13, 2013, email. "In addition to closing the final stores in Anaheim, I just spoke to Garden Grove, and they inform that they were able to shut down 50-plus stores in a few weeks and are down to 0. Still some in Santa Ana and a handful of other stragglers, but [Special Agent] Mertus will see to that soon enough."

Some of the most recent emails obtained by the Weekly show that federal prosecutors viewed as cause for celebration complaints from landlords and collectives who worried about sick people not being able to get access to their medicine. In a May 28 email, Parham revels in the news that a landlord, whose surname is Kinney, had authorized eviction of a marijuana collective. "Kinney talked to the tenant today, and he said he felt terrible for all the sick people who were unable to get their medicine," Parham wrote.

In a separate email sent to Parham just five minutes earlier, one of Parham's colleagues, Sandra Sagert, expressed glee over the eviction. "[H]opefully, we can resolve soon, so we can celebrate! Has been a little over a year since we started. . . . [smiley face]."

Other internal emails show that federal prosecutors used tactics to deliberately terrify landlords who had rented to cannabis collectives. In a Feb. 12 email, one federal agent described a conversation he'd had that morning with a landlord who had no idea he was in danger of losing his property. The landlord, the agent recalled, "said he is unaware that it was illegal for his tenants to sell marijuana from his property. He also said he was never contacted by the government in reference to this property being used to sell marijuana."

The agent then asked his colleagues whether they had any record of a letter being sent to the landlord. In response, another agent chimed in and claimed he'd just hand-delivered a letter to the landlord, stating it had been mailed the previous year. "He said he never got it, but the tenants moved out around the time the letter was dated."

Responding to that exchange, Greg Parham, who was supervising federal asset-forfeiture efforts earlier this year, thanks everyone for their hard work and bluntly states, "We have made a strategic decision not to send our warning letters out via certified or registered mail."

Why would the feds deliberately not make every effort to ensure landlords are notified in a timely and reliable manner their buildings are being targeted? For "shock value," Parham's replacement, Steven Welk, allegedly told attorney Matt J. Pappas in a courtroom conference earlier this year.

"Mr. Welk told me he intentionally did not send warning letters to [three of my clients] ahead of filing forfeiture actions against their properties," Pappas claimed in a July 23 letter to Birotte. "Just days after receiving the lis pendens and notice of the federal lawsuit to take her property, [one landlord] went to the hospital for cardiac issues because of the stress. Her husband . . . told me multiple times he wasn't breaking any laws when I first met him."

One client, Pappas wrote, cried during his first meeting with her, while another landlord was "inconsolable" after learning the feds planned to seize his building. After a couple of months and the immense stress, Pappas wrote, the man "looks like he's aged 20 years."