Jacob Bell
New Member
LAKE FOREST — Orange County NORML and OC Americans for Safe Access plan to protest at Tuesday night's City Council meeting against the city's recent partnership with the U.S. Attorney General's Office and a crackdown on eight medical-marijuana dispensaries in a strip mall on Raymond Way.
Many local residents and patients and supporters of the dispensaries are upset that the Lake Forest City Council and City Attorney Scott Smith called the federal government for assistance after not prevailing in state court, said Kandice Hawes, executive director of Orange County NORML.
The rally, expected to draw more than 200 people, is planned for 6 p.m. in front of the council chambers at 25550 Commercentre Drive. At 7 p.m., protesters will join the council meeting and speak during public comment, Hawes said. Several of the collectives at 26402 Raymond Way are expected to participate, she said.
"We're expecting a huge turnout from patients all across the county and beyond," Hawes said. "Everyone needs to stand up for this because our rights are being trampled on."
The protest follows Friday's efforts by Raymond Way building owner Yousef Ibrahim to order the eight dispensaries in his building to shut down following federal seizure of his bank account. Ibrahim, who found out about the seizure from an article in The Orange County Register, issued a three-day abatement notice to avoid federal prosecution, said his attorney, Garfield Logan.
"He doesn't want to fight the federal government," Logan said.
Federal agents Saturday delivered asset-forfeiture summonses to some of the dispensaries, including the Independent Collective of Orange County and Cannabis Permanente, said attorney Damian Nassiri, who had defended them in their efforts to fight closure by the city of Lake Forest.
According to Logan, five of the eight dispensaries closed Tuesday morning. The others are expected to close by early afternoon, he said.
"They've been very cooperative," Logan said.
The dispensaries — Lake Forest Patients Group at Suite 201, Pharmers' Choice at 202, Cannabis Permanente at 203, Evergreen Holistic at 206, Cooperative 207 at 207, Florentina Organic at 208, Independent Collective of Orange County at 209 and The Health Collective at 210 — were targeted Oct. 7 by the U.S. attorney general after efforts by the city to remove them continued to be tied up in legal battles.
Andre Birotte, the U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, said his office targeted the Lake Forest dispensaries because the city had spent nearly $600,000 in legal fees trying to remove them. The city contends the dispensaries violate the local zoning ordinance.
On Oct. 6, federal prosecutors filed a forfeiture action against the eight storefronts in the two-story strip mall, alleging that eight of 11 suites on the second floor are occupied by marijuana stores. The property is across the street from a school that serves preschoolers and kindergartners.
The attorneys repeated several times that their targets are large-scale operations, but they would not guarantee that sick people will be able to continue getting medical marijuana or that pot dispensaries not receiving warning letters are off the hook. Despite state laws allowing the use of marijuana for medical purposes, federal law has a blanket prohibition on marijuana, making it illegal for all uses.
The federal crackdown is focused on commercial growers, retail stores and mobile delivery services. Birotte said he used the term "commercial marijuana business" because that is what has developed in California since Proposition 215, an initiative approved by California voters in 1996 that legalized use of marijuana to treat pain and other medical issues through nonprofit distribution of the drug. The U.S. attorneys maintain that overtly commercial marijuana enterprises have proliferated, producing millions of dollars in profits for people who have no role in helping the sick or infirm.
Meanwhile, Nassiri and at least 10 other attorneys representing hundreds of medical-marijuana dispensaries in California met in Costa Mesa on Monday to rebut the federal government's planned crackdown. Nassiri said the attorneys' effort was meant to ensure the government would not be able to take away the rights of citizens to receive medical cannabis.
Strategies discussed include demonstrations in Los Angeles and Riverside counties with patients calling for their right to medical marijuana. Nassiri said those protests are planned for next Monday.
Ultimately, more than 100,000 patients are expected to rally at the National Mall in Washington, D.C., he said.
In addition, the attorneys will pursue a legal theory known as judicial estoppel, in which they will argue that the federal government has retracted its position from the 2009 Augden Memo, which stated that federal resources should not be used to prosecute those in "clear and unambiguous" compliance with state medical-marijuana laws.
News Hawk- Jacob Ebel 420 MAGAZINE
Source: ocregister.com
Author: Erika I. Ritchie
Contact: Contact Us
Copyright: Orange County Register Communications
Website: Pot shops close; protest planned tonight at Lake Forest council
Many local residents and patients and supporters of the dispensaries are upset that the Lake Forest City Council and City Attorney Scott Smith called the federal government for assistance after not prevailing in state court, said Kandice Hawes, executive director of Orange County NORML.
The rally, expected to draw more than 200 people, is planned for 6 p.m. in front of the council chambers at 25550 Commercentre Drive. At 7 p.m., protesters will join the council meeting and speak during public comment, Hawes said. Several of the collectives at 26402 Raymond Way are expected to participate, she said.
"We're expecting a huge turnout from patients all across the county and beyond," Hawes said. "Everyone needs to stand up for this because our rights are being trampled on."
The protest follows Friday's efforts by Raymond Way building owner Yousef Ibrahim to order the eight dispensaries in his building to shut down following federal seizure of his bank account. Ibrahim, who found out about the seizure from an article in The Orange County Register, issued a three-day abatement notice to avoid federal prosecution, said his attorney, Garfield Logan.
"He doesn't want to fight the federal government," Logan said.
Federal agents Saturday delivered asset-forfeiture summonses to some of the dispensaries, including the Independent Collective of Orange County and Cannabis Permanente, said attorney Damian Nassiri, who had defended them in their efforts to fight closure by the city of Lake Forest.
According to Logan, five of the eight dispensaries closed Tuesday morning. The others are expected to close by early afternoon, he said.
"They've been very cooperative," Logan said.
The dispensaries — Lake Forest Patients Group at Suite 201, Pharmers' Choice at 202, Cannabis Permanente at 203, Evergreen Holistic at 206, Cooperative 207 at 207, Florentina Organic at 208, Independent Collective of Orange County at 209 and The Health Collective at 210 — were targeted Oct. 7 by the U.S. attorney general after efforts by the city to remove them continued to be tied up in legal battles.
Andre Birotte, the U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, said his office targeted the Lake Forest dispensaries because the city had spent nearly $600,000 in legal fees trying to remove them. The city contends the dispensaries violate the local zoning ordinance.
On Oct. 6, federal prosecutors filed a forfeiture action against the eight storefronts in the two-story strip mall, alleging that eight of 11 suites on the second floor are occupied by marijuana stores. The property is across the street from a school that serves preschoolers and kindergartners.
The attorneys repeated several times that their targets are large-scale operations, but they would not guarantee that sick people will be able to continue getting medical marijuana or that pot dispensaries not receiving warning letters are off the hook. Despite state laws allowing the use of marijuana for medical purposes, federal law has a blanket prohibition on marijuana, making it illegal for all uses.
The federal crackdown is focused on commercial growers, retail stores and mobile delivery services. Birotte said he used the term "commercial marijuana business" because that is what has developed in California since Proposition 215, an initiative approved by California voters in 1996 that legalized use of marijuana to treat pain and other medical issues through nonprofit distribution of the drug. The U.S. attorneys maintain that overtly commercial marijuana enterprises have proliferated, producing millions of dollars in profits for people who have no role in helping the sick or infirm.
Meanwhile, Nassiri and at least 10 other attorneys representing hundreds of medical-marijuana dispensaries in California met in Costa Mesa on Monday to rebut the federal government's planned crackdown. Nassiri said the attorneys' effort was meant to ensure the government would not be able to take away the rights of citizens to receive medical cannabis.
Strategies discussed include demonstrations in Los Angeles and Riverside counties with patients calling for their right to medical marijuana. Nassiri said those protests are planned for next Monday.
Ultimately, more than 100,000 patients are expected to rally at the National Mall in Washington, D.C., he said.
In addition, the attorneys will pursue a legal theory known as judicial estoppel, in which they will argue that the federal government has retracted its position from the 2009 Augden Memo, which stated that federal resources should not be used to prosecute those in "clear and unambiguous" compliance with state medical-marijuana laws.
News Hawk- Jacob Ebel 420 MAGAZINE
Source: ocregister.com
Author: Erika I. Ritchie
Contact: Contact Us
Copyright: Orange County Register Communications
Website: Pot shops close; protest planned tonight at Lake Forest council
