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Former Organica operator Jeffrey Keith Joseph, who has been charged with 24 felony drug counts, says he's not a criminal but prosecutors say he sold marijuana for profit and laundered money.
He calls himself a healer unwittingly cast in the role of political scapegoat.
The government calls him a criminal.
Saint or sinner, Jeffrey Keith Joseph, 41, has been charged with 24 felony drug counts related to the operations of his Culver City medical marijuana dispensary, Organica Collective.
The charges include possession of marijuana for sale and money laundering. He pleaded not guilty to all charges in February.
"I was running the collective how I thought a collective should be run," Joseph said. "I was making [medical marijuana] available to people at a very good price. I was compassionate. I was doing what I was supposed to be doing...I don't have a criminal record."
In addition to the criminal case, the cities of Los Angeles and Culver City are suing Joseph for damages.
A move to Portland, OR, in his 20s introduced Joseph to the hemp plant's many uses. However, he didn't become fascinated with cannabis' medicinal properties until 1996, when his father lay dying of cancer in a Los Angeles hospital.
Proposition 215–the initiative that made medical marijuana legal in California–had passed months before, and Joseph watched, transfixed, as a nurse helped his father smoke a joint.
The drug began to take effect almost immediately.
"I saw it improved his mood," Joseph said. "I saw it improved his appetite. It helped him through his chemotherapy. I thought, 'Wow. It does all this? One plant?' "
Eleven years later, Joseph launched his own foray into the medical marijuana industry.
He liquidated his Venice Beach store where he had sold hemp-based products such as soap and T-shirts, and poured the funds into fulfilling his longtime dream of opening a dispensary.
After a citywide hunt, Joseph settled on a building at 13456 Washington Blvd. that had stood vacant for more than two years. The location, which straddles the border of Culver City and Los Angeles, suited the business perfectly, Joseph believed, and he set to work growing his first crop.
The day Organica opened its doors for the first time, he knew he had found his passion, Joseph said.
"It was really fulfilling to me. It was really a dream job," he said.
Organica quickly became wildly popular; at one point, the collective had more than 2,000 members, Joseph said.
For the first year, everything went as planned.
"We were operating pretty low key. We didn't have any signs up or anything," Joseph said.
That changed in July 2008 when authorities raided Organica.
Court documents state that the Drug Enforcement Administration opened an investigation into Organica after receiving a tip that marijuana was being sold there. Just days before the July raid, the DEA sent an undercover officer into Organica. Documents indicate Organica employees sold the officer an eighth of an ounce of "Larry OG marijuana," and a gram of "bubblegum OF" marijuana for $100. They reportedly threw a free marijuana cigarette into the deal.
According to court documents, during the raid authorities seized 102 marijuana plans, 8,970Gg of marijuana, various edible products spiked with hashish oil, and approximately 50Gg of psilocybin, or "magic mushrooms," from the dispensary rooftop, along with several thousand dollars in cash.
Joseph says the mushrooms did not belong to him, but to a resident who occupied an upstairs apartment in the building. However, court records indicate a Riverside police officer found a pill bottle filled with psilocybin inside Joseph's car during a traffic stop in April 2009.
Despite the seizures, authorities made no arrests. It's unclear why authorities didn't make any arrests, as DEA and Culver City investigators declined to comment on the open case.
The first raid didn't stop Organica's growing popularity. In fact, Joseph says, it fueled it. Membership grew exponentially, and for 13 months Organica seemed to have left its troubles behind.
But authorities returned in August 2009 to raid the collective a second time.
Court documents indicate undercover officers visited Organica five times between the first and second raids to purchase marijuana. According to court documents, several other incidents led up to the second raid, many of which took place in April 2009.
In one of those incidents, Culver City Police officers stopped a vehicle at Washinton and Sawtelle boulevards for a traffic violation. The driver reportedly had 97 immature marijuana plants in his car and claimed he had picked them up from Organica for transport to another dispensary.
That same day, police made another stop, this one on Venice Boulevard and Walgrove Avenue. The strong odor of marijuana eminating from the vehicle led police to question the passenger and driver. The passenger said he had bought an eighth of weed from Organica and produced a medical marijuana card. The driver, who reportedly had 2 Gg of marijuana, had no medical marijuana license or other authorization.
According to court documents, investigators seized marijuana and tens of thousands of dollars in cash during the second raid, but authorities never pressed charges, choosing instead to cite Joseph for a number of building code violations. Joseph spent months fixing the violations and reopened Organica for business in December 2009.
"They were basically trying to get me to stop running the collective," Joseph said of the second raid.
And that's what happened on Feb. 18, 2010, when law enforcement officers shut down the dispensary for good.
After the third raid, Joseph spent two weeks in jail before putting up $2 million bail to secure his release.
Joseph says authorities unfairly targeted his business and that he operated it in accordance with guidelines set by the state Attorney General's Office nearly two years ago.
"We had local people from the community supporting us," Joseph said. "We were really trying to run it as a collective in a collective spirit."
Investigators with the DEA, who worked the case alongside the Los Angeles and Culver City Police departments, said they couldn't speak about the Joseph matter until it was resolved.
Los Angeles District Attorney Steve Cooley's office has not singled out Joseph, spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons said.
"Once the law enforcement agency completes its investigation, evidence is presented to us for evaluation," she said. "We make our decisions on filing cases based on the filing standards followed by every district attorney in California. One of the main standards is proof beyond a reasonable doubt. It is a crime to sell medical marijuana over the counter for profit. Those are the cases that are prosecuted."
According to court documents, the case centers around whether Joseph profited from his business. Dispensaries must operate as self-sustaining entities in which collective members donate time, equipment or other resources in exchange for their medicine.
If money is exchanged at all, it must go directly back into the business.
Joseph argues that people who are too sick or otherwise unable to grow their own medicine have no choice but to pay for it. Start-up costs for a dispensary can run anywhere from $20,000 to $30,000 for seeds, potting equipment, soil and heat lamps. Rent, electric bills and recurring expenses must also be paid.
Dispensary owners could not afford to grow marijuana without getting reimbursed for these and other expenses, Joseph contends.
"If there's a need for the medicine, people have to supply it," Joseph said, insisting he's never made large profits off of the business. "I was making a living. Really there was no profit. All the money went back into the plants," he said, adding that he lived in an apartment just above the dispensary. "There was no profit."
Bruce Margolin, an attorney with the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, called the web of city ordinances and state laws that regulate medical marijuana dispensaries "contradictory," and "largely open to interpretation."
Margolin also alleges that Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley orchestrated a crackdown on dispensaries in order to appear tough on crime during his recent bid to become state attorney general.
"He's pandering to his supporters. He's making political football out of the medical marijuana cases," Margolin said of Cooley.
For its part, Cooley's office reiterated that it simply prosecutes criminal activity.
As for Joseph, his life has changed drastically since his arrest. He moved to Ventura to live with his mother, Audrey Joseph, and sister, Vikki Joseph. Shortly after the third raid, Audrey Joseph had a stroke that left her nearly incapacitated, and her son took over her care full time.
"It's a strange feeling to have your whole life taken away from you," Joseph said. "I put a lot of love and my entire life savings into it ... and I have nothing to show for it except for a couple of cases."
On a recent afternoon, Joseph carefully brushed his mother's hair. He touched off her look with a headband that complemented the lavender tracksuit she wore. Audrey Joseph appeared mostly unaware of the attention, wringing her manicured hands in rhythmic fashion, stopping occasionally to stare at the fire engine red polish on her nails.
If he goes to prison, Joseph said, he has no idea what will become of his mother. Vikki Joseph works full time and says she does not have the physical strength to lift her mother's 125 pound body.
"I'm the only one who can really take care of her. It's a very demanding, difficult, hard job. To even think about it breaks my heart," he said, sighing deeply. "I think she would pass away...where's the justice in that?"
Vikki Joseph says her brother has battled severe depression since Organica's shutdown and that she does her best to support him, but feels helpless to ease his pain.
"There are days that he doesn't even really want to live," she said. "And that's the truth. His life has been destroyed."
Girlfriend Kristen White, a fellow dispensary owner whom Joseph met a year ago at a Los Angeles City Council meeting, says she will continue to stand by her man, whom she called "a good operator and a role model within the medical marijuana industry."
"I know he's going to recover," she said. "It's just unfortunate that something like this happened to such a good person."
When asked if he fears the future, Joseph's gaze grew steely.
"No. What can they do to me? They've already done everything they can. There's nothing to be afraid of," he said. "I see myself being vindicated sooner or later."
Joseph returns to court Dec. 17 for a hearing to determine whether enough evidence exists to try him on the charges.
News Hawk: G-Dog
Source: CulverCityPatch
Author: Natalie Ragus
Contact: Culver City, CA Patch - News, Sports, Events, Businesses & Deals
Website: Dispensary Owner Says He's a Victim of Politics - Culver City, CA Patch
He calls himself a healer unwittingly cast in the role of political scapegoat.
The government calls him a criminal.
Saint or sinner, Jeffrey Keith Joseph, 41, has been charged with 24 felony drug counts related to the operations of his Culver City medical marijuana dispensary, Organica Collective.
The charges include possession of marijuana for sale and money laundering. He pleaded not guilty to all charges in February.
"I was running the collective how I thought a collective should be run," Joseph said. "I was making [medical marijuana] available to people at a very good price. I was compassionate. I was doing what I was supposed to be doing...I don't have a criminal record."
In addition to the criminal case, the cities of Los Angeles and Culver City are suing Joseph for damages.
A move to Portland, OR, in his 20s introduced Joseph to the hemp plant's many uses. However, he didn't become fascinated with cannabis' medicinal properties until 1996, when his father lay dying of cancer in a Los Angeles hospital.
Proposition 215–the initiative that made medical marijuana legal in California–had passed months before, and Joseph watched, transfixed, as a nurse helped his father smoke a joint.
The drug began to take effect almost immediately.
"I saw it improved his mood," Joseph said. "I saw it improved his appetite. It helped him through his chemotherapy. I thought, 'Wow. It does all this? One plant?' "
Eleven years later, Joseph launched his own foray into the medical marijuana industry.
He liquidated his Venice Beach store where he had sold hemp-based products such as soap and T-shirts, and poured the funds into fulfilling his longtime dream of opening a dispensary.
After a citywide hunt, Joseph settled on a building at 13456 Washington Blvd. that had stood vacant for more than two years. The location, which straddles the border of Culver City and Los Angeles, suited the business perfectly, Joseph believed, and he set to work growing his first crop.
The day Organica opened its doors for the first time, he knew he had found his passion, Joseph said.
"It was really fulfilling to me. It was really a dream job," he said.
Organica quickly became wildly popular; at one point, the collective had more than 2,000 members, Joseph said.
For the first year, everything went as planned.
"We were operating pretty low key. We didn't have any signs up or anything," Joseph said.
That changed in July 2008 when authorities raided Organica.
Court documents state that the Drug Enforcement Administration opened an investigation into Organica after receiving a tip that marijuana was being sold there. Just days before the July raid, the DEA sent an undercover officer into Organica. Documents indicate Organica employees sold the officer an eighth of an ounce of "Larry OG marijuana," and a gram of "bubblegum OF" marijuana for $100. They reportedly threw a free marijuana cigarette into the deal.
According to court documents, during the raid authorities seized 102 marijuana plans, 8,970Gg of marijuana, various edible products spiked with hashish oil, and approximately 50Gg of psilocybin, or "magic mushrooms," from the dispensary rooftop, along with several thousand dollars in cash.
Joseph says the mushrooms did not belong to him, but to a resident who occupied an upstairs apartment in the building. However, court records indicate a Riverside police officer found a pill bottle filled with psilocybin inside Joseph's car during a traffic stop in April 2009.
Despite the seizures, authorities made no arrests. It's unclear why authorities didn't make any arrests, as DEA and Culver City investigators declined to comment on the open case.
The first raid didn't stop Organica's growing popularity. In fact, Joseph says, it fueled it. Membership grew exponentially, and for 13 months Organica seemed to have left its troubles behind.
But authorities returned in August 2009 to raid the collective a second time.
Court documents indicate undercover officers visited Organica five times between the first and second raids to purchase marijuana. According to court documents, several other incidents led up to the second raid, many of which took place in April 2009.
In one of those incidents, Culver City Police officers stopped a vehicle at Washinton and Sawtelle boulevards for a traffic violation. The driver reportedly had 97 immature marijuana plants in his car and claimed he had picked them up from Organica for transport to another dispensary.
That same day, police made another stop, this one on Venice Boulevard and Walgrove Avenue. The strong odor of marijuana eminating from the vehicle led police to question the passenger and driver. The passenger said he had bought an eighth of weed from Organica and produced a medical marijuana card. The driver, who reportedly had 2 Gg of marijuana, had no medical marijuana license or other authorization.
According to court documents, investigators seized marijuana and tens of thousands of dollars in cash during the second raid, but authorities never pressed charges, choosing instead to cite Joseph for a number of building code violations. Joseph spent months fixing the violations and reopened Organica for business in December 2009.
"They were basically trying to get me to stop running the collective," Joseph said of the second raid.
And that's what happened on Feb. 18, 2010, when law enforcement officers shut down the dispensary for good.
After the third raid, Joseph spent two weeks in jail before putting up $2 million bail to secure his release.
Joseph says authorities unfairly targeted his business and that he operated it in accordance with guidelines set by the state Attorney General's Office nearly two years ago.
"We had local people from the community supporting us," Joseph said. "We were really trying to run it as a collective in a collective spirit."
Investigators with the DEA, who worked the case alongside the Los Angeles and Culver City Police departments, said they couldn't speak about the Joseph matter until it was resolved.
Los Angeles District Attorney Steve Cooley's office has not singled out Joseph, spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons said.
"Once the law enforcement agency completes its investigation, evidence is presented to us for evaluation," she said. "We make our decisions on filing cases based on the filing standards followed by every district attorney in California. One of the main standards is proof beyond a reasonable doubt. It is a crime to sell medical marijuana over the counter for profit. Those are the cases that are prosecuted."
According to court documents, the case centers around whether Joseph profited from his business. Dispensaries must operate as self-sustaining entities in which collective members donate time, equipment or other resources in exchange for their medicine.
If money is exchanged at all, it must go directly back into the business.
Joseph argues that people who are too sick or otherwise unable to grow their own medicine have no choice but to pay for it. Start-up costs for a dispensary can run anywhere from $20,000 to $30,000 for seeds, potting equipment, soil and heat lamps. Rent, electric bills and recurring expenses must also be paid.
Dispensary owners could not afford to grow marijuana without getting reimbursed for these and other expenses, Joseph contends.
"If there's a need for the medicine, people have to supply it," Joseph said, insisting he's never made large profits off of the business. "I was making a living. Really there was no profit. All the money went back into the plants," he said, adding that he lived in an apartment just above the dispensary. "There was no profit."
Bruce Margolin, an attorney with the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, called the web of city ordinances and state laws that regulate medical marijuana dispensaries "contradictory," and "largely open to interpretation."
Margolin also alleges that Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley orchestrated a crackdown on dispensaries in order to appear tough on crime during his recent bid to become state attorney general.
"He's pandering to his supporters. He's making political football out of the medical marijuana cases," Margolin said of Cooley.
For its part, Cooley's office reiterated that it simply prosecutes criminal activity.
As for Joseph, his life has changed drastically since his arrest. He moved to Ventura to live with his mother, Audrey Joseph, and sister, Vikki Joseph. Shortly after the third raid, Audrey Joseph had a stroke that left her nearly incapacitated, and her son took over her care full time.
"It's a strange feeling to have your whole life taken away from you," Joseph said. "I put a lot of love and my entire life savings into it ... and I have nothing to show for it except for a couple of cases."
On a recent afternoon, Joseph carefully brushed his mother's hair. He touched off her look with a headband that complemented the lavender tracksuit she wore. Audrey Joseph appeared mostly unaware of the attention, wringing her manicured hands in rhythmic fashion, stopping occasionally to stare at the fire engine red polish on her nails.
If he goes to prison, Joseph said, he has no idea what will become of his mother. Vikki Joseph works full time and says she does not have the physical strength to lift her mother's 125 pound body.
"I'm the only one who can really take care of her. It's a very demanding, difficult, hard job. To even think about it breaks my heart," he said, sighing deeply. "I think she would pass away...where's the justice in that?"
Vikki Joseph says her brother has battled severe depression since Organica's shutdown and that she does her best to support him, but feels helpless to ease his pain.
"There are days that he doesn't even really want to live," she said. "And that's the truth. His life has been destroyed."
Girlfriend Kristen White, a fellow dispensary owner whom Joseph met a year ago at a Los Angeles City Council meeting, says she will continue to stand by her man, whom she called "a good operator and a role model within the medical marijuana industry."
"I know he's going to recover," she said. "It's just unfortunate that something like this happened to such a good person."
When asked if he fears the future, Joseph's gaze grew steely.
"No. What can they do to me? They've already done everything they can. There's nothing to be afraid of," he said. "I see myself being vindicated sooner or later."
Joseph returns to court Dec. 17 for a hearing to determine whether enough evidence exists to try him on the charges.
News Hawk: G-Dog
Source: CulverCityPatch
Author: Natalie Ragus
Contact: Culver City, CA Patch - News, Sports, Events, Businesses & Deals
Website: Dispensary Owner Says He's a Victim of Politics - Culver City, CA Patch
