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February 14, 2010 11:20 PM UTC

Jim Crow / McCarthyism Law Enforcement Pot Tactics

  • 7 Comments
  • by: Whiskey Lima Juliet

Why is law enforcement SOOOOOO upset at the idea of dispensaries?  

OK, I am not supporting the guy who was on TV bragging without “knowing” for sure if he was legal or not…  

But the fear mongering by DEA and AG Suthers is becoming a cross of Jim Crow and McCarthyism.

Asking neighbors to call the police if they THINK someone is growing pot in their hood.  What??? How many of you can tell if someone is growing pot? I guarantee none of you would know where the good ones are.  My evidence of that? They have been growing in your neighborhood for about 40 years and none of you know.

Is this going to be another way to intimidate Latino or Black families that move into your neighborhood, when most growers in Colorado are white guys?  

Go ahead and say I am off base.  And then let’s talk about why our grow house was raided.

According to the Adam’s County Sheriffs, we were investigated and raided because someone reported two Black guys (my husband and my brother) and a dog (my brother’s best friend) and the smell of pot at our warehouse.  The Adam’s County sheriffs assumed it was gang related and sent 10 – 15 SWAT Officers to break down our window are search for all things pot, guns, explosives and money.

Two middle aged Black guys, a dog and grow in a very nice, very public warehouse row at a time when dispensaries are booming is cause for possible gang activity? WOW!

Fear Mongering. Turning Neighbors on Neighbors.  Creating false fear.  AG Suthers, since you know so much about what the voters wanted, is this the America we all voted for? All for a plant that no one has ever died or overdosed from?

How do we intimidate the hell out of people to ensure they shut up and do not fight for their constitutional rights?  

1. We will stretch the bounds of law enforce to include dramatic public arrest, maybe on TV, if we can make that happen.  

2. We will call doctors and scare them into believing they are breaking the law and question them about their patients and their professional recommendations.  

3.  We will use our superior intellect to create fear among people who have never had a business, a lawyer or an accountant.  

4. We will decide the fate of the people no matter what those commie, pot smoking, cancer ridden, hippies voted for.  Amendment 20 and the White House be damned.

I don’t always agree with Rob Cory, but I believe his letter is right on.

Robert J. Corry, Jr.

Attorney at Law

~

VIA FACSIMILE 202-616-9881 AND

ELECTRONIC MAIL oig.hotline@usdoj.gov

February 13, 2010

Office of the Inspector General

U.S. Department of Justice

Investigations Division

950 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.

Room 4706

Washington, DC 20530

Re: Rogue DEA Agents Violation of Justice Department Formal

Guidelines on Medical Marijuana

Dear Office of Inspector General:

Please treat this as a formal complaint of waste, fraud, abuse, and misconduct against U.S. Department of Justice/Drug Enforcement Administration employees, agents, contractors, grantees, and others who executed an armed raid on or about February 12, 2010 in the Denver, Colorado area targeted against Medical Marijuana patients and caregivers.

These actions are in direct violation of the formal guidelines issued by the Department on October 19, 2009. http://blogs.usdoj.gov/blog/ar… The caregiver involved in the raid, Chris Bartkowicz, remains incarcerated after being arrested by armed DEA agents. The February 12 medical marijuana raid is reported in today’s Denver Post. http://www.denverpost.com/ci_1…

Rogue DEA agent Jeffrey Sweetin is quoted in the newspaper as opining “It’s not medicine.” Sweetin probably is not trained or educated as a physician, and his opinion is directly contrary to the will of Colorado’s citizens, a majority of whom decided in 2000 that marijuana is, in fact, medicine. Sweetin further comments in the article:

“We’re still going to continue to investigate and arrest people. Technically, every dispensary in the state is in blatant violation of federal law,” he said. “The time is coming when we go into a dispensary, we find out what their profit is, we seize the building and

we arrest everybody. They’re violating federal law; they’re at risk of arrest and imprisonment.”

Sweetin’s comments confirm that the individual involved was in compliance with the law, and confirm Sweetin’s attitude that compliance with the law and the Main Justice October 19, 2009 guidelines is impossible.

Sweetin’s purpose in making these provocative and irresponsible comments that “we arrest everybody,” is to strike fear and panic in Colorado’s vulnerable and suffering medical marijuana patients.

The United States Government should stand for what is right and good; and must not be in the business of using assault rifles and jailhouse bars to intimidate powerless Coloradans suffering from debilitating medical conditions.

The rogue DEA agents involved with the raid seized medical marijuana grown for and intended for patients suffering from debilitating medical conditions such as cancer, glaucoma, acquired immune deficiency syndrome, and other debilitating medical conditions as provided in the Colorado Constitution, Article XVIII § 14.

The October 19, 2009 Department of Justice formal guidelines instruct federal agents to refrain from using any federal resources for the investigation and prosecution of individuals who are in compliance with state laws governing the medical use of marijuana. “As a general matter, pursuit of these priorities should not focus federal resources in your States on individuals who are in clear and unambiguous compliance with existing state laws providing for the medical use of marijuana.”  

The guidelines evidence an appropriate respect for the voters’ will in states that have legalized medical marijuana.

The rogue agents, led by Sweetin, have ignored and disrupted the guidelines and the chain of command, and operate outside of their lawful authority. This action cannot stand, and must not be ignored by the Inspector General or Main Justice. The formal guidelines must be given meaning and effect.

If these rogue actions are ignored, this reprehensible ultra vires campaign of fear and intimidation will only intensify, and people will needlessly suffer.  

The agents involved must be fired, suspended, or appropriately disciplined so the message is sent that formal guidelines must be respected. The federal government must focus its resources on real crime.

Please contact me if you have additional questions. Thank you for your prompt attention to this important matter.

Sincerely,

Rob Cory

Attorney at Law

cc: The Honorable John Conyers, Jr.

Chairman, U.S. House Judiciary Committee

Members, U.S. House Judiciary Committee

The Honorable Patrick J. Leahy

Chairman, U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee

Members, U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee

Colorado Congressional Delegation

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7 thoughts on “Jim Crow / McCarthyism Law Enforcement Pot Tactics”

  1. .

    In fact, there may not have even been a citizen complaint against you, just some vigilante law enforcement officer.  

    Tailed you to find your source, then phonied up a complaint to get a warrant.  

    I’m not as confident of the race angle, though.  

    .

  2. IIRC the Colorado DEA agent stated he would not follow Obama or DJ guidelines when Obama said he would not go after med pot growers. This shows the problem of not firing the Bush operatives at all levels of government.

    1. .

      Not the WH CofS, for example, whose impact suggests he’s a Bush holdover, defeating Obama’s efforts to follow through on nearly every campaign promise.

      .  

  3. I don’t have much sympathy for you.

    You decided to open a business based on a very risky, possibly the riskiest, business model available.

    You opened a dispensary knowing there were major regulations coming down the road soon.

    You chose to grow a bunch of pot, which, even though you and Rob Cory wish otherwise, is still illegal.

    And you are surprised that law enforcement is pushing back on the dispensaries and grow operations?!

    No surprise here…

    Law enforcement doesn’t like dispensaries because it is too easy to funnel criminal monies through them. Dispensaries are a blight in many neighborhoods, mine included, where literally ten exist in ten blocks and young adults are tromping in and out . Dispensaries are not legitimate businesses, they are one business model for providing medical marijuana to patients. This does not make them ‘right’ nor ‘protected’.

    If you, or any of your colleagues, believe that you have a green pass to do what you wish with your weed, wake up Whiskey Lima. You deal with a schedule I substance, whether you think it medicinal or not.

    You would like to have our culture accept pot for what it is, but our culture isn’t there yet.

    1. The DEA officer made a statement today completely contrary to his statements yesterday.  

      “The time is coming when we go into a dispensary, we find out what their profit is, we seize the building and

      we arrest everybody. They’re violating federal law; they’re at risk of arrest and imprisonment.”

      and today…

      Sweetin said he doesn’t believe dispensaries are allowed under Colorado’s law either but he’s not going to be going “door to door” investigating them because there are simply too many. It’s up to the state to decide what to do about them and lawmakers are trying to decide how to do that, he said.

      Read more: http://www.denverpost.com/news…

      And if we are operating within the guidelines of the law, helping people with a number of different aliments and helping to turn the tides on how cannabis is viewed, why should we have to give up our Constitutional Rights and be victim to intimidation?

    1. Under Jim Crow, the law gave Blacks the right to be equal and vote, but the laws were set up so that people could not take advantage of their Constitutional Rights.  That is what is happening here.  Yes, you can have MMJ. But you cannot grow it or sell it without possibly being arrested, according to the DEA.

      McCarthyism…

      The US Forest Service issued and then retracted a Labor Day warning advising hikers to “beware of campers in national forests drinking Tecate beer, eating tortillas and playing Spanish music” because “they could be armed marijuana growers.” A high-ranking Forest Service official in Colorado also identified people speaking Spanish and eating Spam or Tuna as “warning signs of possible drug trafficking.”

      What? If you are Mexican and drinking beer in the national forest you are a trafficker? …This is modern day McCarthyism.

      Asking neighbors to turn in neighbors they think are growing…This is modern day McCarthyism.

      Look, I get we part of a movement.  With that movement comes risk. We are willing to take the risk as long as all parties play by the rules.  

      My job is to stay on top of law enforcement and point out where their logic is flawed and history has shown us law enforcement WILL try and bend and sometimes break the rules.

      This is not new to our history.  This is how this country has made progress on most social issues including prohibition, the voting rights act, gay marriage and now pot.

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