Feds Raid 13 San Diego-Area Marijuana Shops
The Associated Press



Federal agents raided 13 San Diego-area marijuana dispensaries Monday, seizing large quantities of the drug, computers and records in one of the largest crackdowns of its kind in California.

Authorities said the shops were selling marijuana to people who weren't using it for medicinal purposes. The home of one of the dispensaries' owners was raided along with the shops.

"These were nothing more than a front for distributing marijuana," said Drug Enforcement Administration agent John Fernandes.

One man, armed with a firearm, was arrested as he drove up to a dispensary with two pounds of marijuana he was trying to sell - apparently unaware of the raid taking place.

Steph Sherer of Americans for Safe Access, a medical marijuana advocacy group, called the raids outrageous and a cowardly act of an administration that was out of touch with voters.

In 1996, California voters passed a ballot initiative that decriminalized the use of medical marijuana under state law. However, under federal law, it is illegal to use pot even for medical purposes.

Authorities began investigating San Diego's dispensaries six months ago, prompted partly by complaints from neighbors. Instead of providing marijuana to seriously ill patients as voters had intended, dispensaries that were raided Monday sold marijuana to young adults, Fernandes said.

The combination of drugs and cash also has attracted armed robbers, he said.

Steph Sherer of Americans for Safe Access, a medical marijuana advocacy group, called the raids outrageous and a cowardly act of an administration that was out of touch with voters. In 1996, California voters passed a ballot initiative that decriminalized the use of medical marijuana under state law. However, under federal law, it is illegal to use pot even for medical purposes.

Authorities said the shops were selling marijuana to people who weren't using it for medicinal purposes

So what part of his own BS logic doesn't Mr. Sherer understand?

When voters think "Medical Marijuana" they think about AIDS and cancer patients.

When marijuana entusiasts think "medical marijuana" they think about headaches, back pain, anxiety, depression, sinus pressure, asthma.

It would be a better law if it specified what disease or conditions were really treated by namarijuana and users were required to carry a diagnoses of one of the approved conditions as proof.  The worst escuse i ever heard was a 35yo man who was smoking "medical marijuana" in the bar parking lots as treatment for a "traumatic skateboarding injury" he suffered when he was 15.

Guess the idiot journalist can not read nor does he pay attention to the US Supreme Court.  That Cali law was found unconstitutional last year because if violated Interstate Commerce.  It is illegal to sell Marijuana in Cali, there is no state legal protection.  THEY ARE ALL DRUG DEALERS!!!!!

How about just legalize it?  Then all the silly fights and arguments will be gone.

News flash... a lot of people smoke out.  They aren't crazed druggies, they don't "need to commit crimes to support their habit".  Marijuana doesn't make you act bizarre, see things, or fly into a rage.  Overall, it "stones" you less than alcohol, and nobody dies from smoking it, unlike cigarettes.

Quoted: How about just legalize it?  Then all the silly fights and arguments will be gone.

As well as a lot of criminal activity.

It's ironic that while one of gun owners' favorite arguments against gun control is the willingness of criminals to ignore prohibitions, so many gun owners remain staunchly attached to the (equally futile) outlawing of certain drugs.

I personally don't take drugs, nor do I ever plan to. I have no desire to do so and I can't think of anything that would change my mind and I really couldn't care less about the laws that concern it.

However, I do not feel anyone has the right to tell me or anyone else what they can or can not do based on how healthy or dangerous it may be for us. If I want to juggle chainsaws, that's my choice. If I want to drink bleech, that's my choice. I feel drugs should be the same way...to an extent. Drugs alter the way we act. Period. It is part of the definition of what a drug is. Cafeine alters the normal state of our heart, blood, etc. Alcohol alters coordination, reflexes, etc. I have seen people on drugs, especially acid and marijuana, get super paranoid and do some crazy shit. I was once with a guy who ended up sleeping in the middle of the local wash all night curled up in a ball because he though helicopters were chasing him. There was not a light in the sky: man made, star, or other. All it would take is someone with anger problems, or a violent streek, to just have a bad trip at the wrong time and someone innocent will end up getting seriously hurt. For that reason I believe Marijuana needs to be regulated. Should it be illegal all together, no. Not because I want it to be legal, I just feel no person has the right or power to do such a thing, and if someone does then the balance of power is out of wack.

On the same note though, I feel Alcohol is not regulated enough, or at least that the punishment for it's abuse is not strict enough and not nearly enforced enough. If you can get several DUIs and nothing serious happens to you then something is wrong.

Just my opinion on it.

Quoted: If you can get several DUIs and nothing serious happens to you then something is wrong. Just my opinion on it.

first DUI will mean a night in jain, towed car, $390.00 fine, probation, suspended license, auto insurance rate hike, AA meetings & MADD board.

Second DUI will include all that plus 10-30 days in jail.

Third will include all of that plus a 180 -360 days in jail.

More than 3 in 10 years and you go to prison.

You can get 100 weed tickets and never spend a minute in a jail cell.

Fine for smoking a hooter in the street (simple possession) = $40.

Fine for smoking a cigarette in a bar = $271.

Quoted: and nobody dies from smoking it, unlike cigarettes.

Quoted: Fine for smoking a hooter in the street (simple possession) = $40. Fine for smoking a cigarette in a bar = $271.

Fine for drinking a beer on the street = $370.00