Judge OK’s Medical Marijuana Crackdown in Fresno
It seems yet another California official refuses to recognize that state’s medical marijuana law, and instead wants to deny patients the treatment that’s recommended by their doctors and protected under state law. Barely a week after the police chief of Redding, California sent a warning to local dispensing collectives about their defiance of federal law, a superior court judge in Fresno County today issued a two-week restraining order that temporarily shuts down all nine medical marijuana collectives that have opened in Fresno this year.
Judge Alan M. Simpson sided with city officials, who since August have been trying to shut down the collectives through a nonsensical zoning ordinance that requires the businesses to obey both state law (under which they’re legal) and federal law (under which they’re not). Such an ordinance is essentially impossible for the collectives to obey as long as medical marijuana remains illegal under federal law.
Lawyers for the collectives say they will argue at an Oct. 22 hearing that because state laws permit medical marijuana, local governments can’t use zoning ordinances to ban the collectives. Until then, medical marijuana patients in Fresno will be unable to safely or legally obtain their recommended treatment within city limits.
“The real winners in that will be the drug dealers and the drug cartels,” said Sean Dwyer, owner of California Herbal Relief Center, one of the closed collectives, which itself caters to 800 patients. “Because rather than being able to get their medication from us legally, they will be forced to buying it illegally off the street.”
When will California officials understand that their job is to enforce California’s laws, not the federal government’s? Medical marijuana has been legal in California since 1996. Sadly, as attorney William Logan told a local ABC affiliate, “here we are 13 years later, [still] trying to figure out how to get medicine to patients.”
Tagged with: California and collectives and dispensaries and Fresno and judge and law enforcement and Medical Marijuana by the author
26 comments
yes another rogue elected offical that thinks their own personal ethical principals are more important than the whole state of Ca. im so sick of these people who fly in the face of true democracy. lets burn some books while were imposing dictated justice you f@%ing nazi.
Mike:
Is this judge elected or appointed?
JUDGES ARE APPOINTED BY A JUDICARY COMITTEE.
Elected DarthNole. I read some of the comments on the link and one of them said they won’t be voting for this judge.
When will we peasents learn we the people have the power at the
voting booth and the jury box it is time that we start using it talk to your friends it is time we the people stand up for our selfs
This is really upsetting. Here we have MPP and NORML trying to push new resolutions for medicinal marijuana in other states while these local officials are undermining the laws that have already been passed. What and who gives them the right?
If this judge can neglect the state law which allows medicinal marijuana out of her personal agenda then who’s got the right to stop us from ignoring federal laws for same personal agenda.
I guess these soo called officials forget who signs their paycheck and who are they supposed to serve.
Shouldn’t this type of dictatorship be illegal in itself?
Free The Weed. Free The People.
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What a crock of fascist sh*t.
This is going down a really bad road. If officials are allowed to manipulate like this with impunity, it won’t be long before patients really are forced to buy from black market sources again. Patients could loose complete access to their medicine once again. Ultimately, this could become an attack on the patients themselves who are trying to exercise their rights to medicate with marijuana. There needs to be restraints put upon officials who defy the laws and the will of the people they serve.
By nature of the whole medical aspect of this issue, it’s pretty common knowledge (if not verifiable fact) who the medical marijuana patients are now. I don’t believe we should have any expectation of privacy in the USA anymore whatsoever – too many of our civil liberties have been eroded by the Wars on Drugs and Terror to expect otherwise. I doubt acts like HIPPA would even apply to law enforcement?
How long before police, citing some obscure civil ordinance, start raiding the homes of patients who are legally growing marijuana for personal consumption? There are already reports of county councils banning outdoor grows because of the smell. How long would it be before police starting surveiling medical marijuana patients to bust their illegal sources? Sources would dry up fast. When would the crosshairs be put on doctors? How long would they continue to prescribe amidst this type of crackdown? Once again, sick people could be completely denied their medicine.
If the people of California have any hope whatsoever of maintaining their freedom, they absolutely must stop this type of blatant tyranny from becoming a precedent. They voted for these laws. I understand that most people believe that our officials should be focusing on bigger issues at the moment than marijuana. What these people need to understand is that this is not about getting high – this is about your rights, as people of the state, to affect the laws that you must live by. This is about your right to vote and what that is worth. Don’t let corporate interest and political sellouts steal your rights. No one wants to live in a police state, but thats what it’s been looking like lately.
Yes. I feel unpleasant about this. This whole nonsense about dispensaries having to obey state and federal laws in order to operate…hold on…where’s my bong?……….Ahhhhhhhhhhh….ok so federal laws. We’ve got to work on taking the power away from the central government on this issue, and for that matter a whole shit load of issues, but on this issue. I mean, I’m no legal expert what so ever, but wasn’t the whole idea, the frame work for the constitution designed to limit the power of the central government? Then why does it seem, and from all my years of walking around America, that the central government has become so powerful, so complex and layered, and utterly fucked up that is has been allowed to strip our freedoms away right beneath our noses, and do so in that very name. Freedom? How did we as Americans buy into their bullshit? And now look what we’ve got. Two wars, a record deficit, no jobs, living on life support from China. I mean fuck man. All in eight years of work. When are we gonna take the power back? When are we gonna say enough is enough? This is our country. This is our bodies. This is our American lives and as Americans we are free to live it the way we choose so long as it doesn’t trample on the rights of our fellow Americans.
Why would anyone want to buy from a dispensary anyway? I thought under a legal market the price of drugs would drop but it seems that these “not for profit” oganisations are selling their product at prices far higher than the black market. Why buy some Kush for $400 an ounce when on the black market, the same product is $250. Cannabis use has certainly not diminished my capacity to know a bad deal when i see one.
#11
Economics 101
The black market has more supply and a greater need to off load their goods, therefore their product is currently cheaper.
Those who grow for dispensaries have the government up their ass. They have to grow indoors = expensive and therefore have limited space = reduced supply. Plus they’re growing high quality medicinal strains that require TLC to bring them to full potential = increase in man hours = mo’ money fo medicine
meanwhile demand is getting greater
open up the channels for legalizaiton, medicine should get cheaper.
Seaweed, totally agree with you. It all comes back to supply and demand. Cartels have huge supplies and to undermine what is being done in US now with medicinal marijuana laws, these cartels are willing to drop the prices while our local growers simply cant afford to.
Again it seems that our government would rather support drug cartels than honest farmers, farmers who not only helping patients but also putting a huge dent in the income of those same cartels.
Everything is soo backasswards, and now with all these state officials literally going against the state laws, makes you wonder where is all of this going and when are we finally going to live in the free country that these officials are claiming to protect.
Free The Weed. Free The People.
as usual one must use their intellegence, and obey the laws that make sense and ignore the ones that dont
#9 Mike R. – These thugs are not going to win, I’m sure of it. MJ Reformers have their entire leg in the door now, we have leverage and we have facts that cannot be argued any longer.
These “officials” that are tooting their horns are just a pain in the neck and a speed bump along the road to change. Of course they have to be dealt with, however, they are nothing, absolutely nothing.
————–
We will win.
This is going to backfire on them, you watch.
This is priceless folks: Conan O’Brien just said Fresno has been selected as the Least Intelligent City in America. LOL …
Then a few jokes later he mentioned efforts to legalize marijuana in California. He only said they’d get to it after Scooby Do was over, or something to that effect.
I am surprised that there is not more police departments following their own agenda. The police are loosing a whole lot of money from not arresting pot smokers and stealing their property for auction. But then they have time now for real crime like rapes and property crimes. I will truely feel free when we all can have our own cannabis without paying someone else for it. Keep tokin and overgrow big bro.
This “appointed judge” and the DA has no business in taking out medicinal facilities. At this point, the DA is playing God! He thinks he is going to make a difference. Yes he will, he will make an ass out of himself!!! Can’t wait to watch the action. This DA is going DOWN!
Fresno is where I was working when I was electrocuted and developed neuropathy overnight. The doctor that was treating me said Medical Marijuana could help. I was talking to my neighbor and said my doctor suggested MM and the guy went inside and came back with some MM and said try this. I tried it that evening and the pain went way down. I actually slept through the night and was able to work most of the next day before the pain got so bad that I wanted to take my pain medicine. I waited until I got off work though and when I got home I tried some more MM instead. Once again the pain went away. These guys should be fired for going against state laws which they were hired to uphold. When I got back home to Kentucky I had to go back to taking pain drugs all the time and my life became one big blur of taking meds and sleeping. These laws need to change so I can have a normal life again.
Until then, medical marijuana patients in Fresno will be unable to safely or legally obtain their recommended treatment within city limits.
Is not this a sign of a police state?
The prestige of government has undoubtedly been lowered considerably by the prohibition law. For nothing is more destructive of respect for the government and the law of the land than passing laws which cannot be enforced. It is an open secret that the dangerous increase of crime in this country is closely connected with this.” – Albert Einstein
In the 80″s I was working at an aerospace company and smoking cannabis for recreational purposes.When the D.E.A. bullied us into urine tests I stopped as it was just a recreational drug to me.So I sat back and watched as mgt and employees enjoyed quaffing their beers together but like I said it was just a recreational drug to me.N ow i have to use it to fight a painful condition i suffer from. It’s no longer a recreational drug. It.s my health my being.since i switched from massive amount of perscription drugs and a life totally enshrouded in pain and misery my life has turned back to color. it’s now a matter of life and death.so give me cannabis or give me death. p.s. It,s obvious that the mafia has our federal govt in their pockets.We need new leadership.
Caregivers suffer as much as the patients. The government sees alcoholic beverages in a whole different light, yet it is damaging and destructive in every sense. They allow people to smoke poisonous tobacco and consume billions of dollars of designer drugs, which, by the way, end up on some commercial lawyer’s hyped-up television commercial as being thoroughly harmful.
Marijuana has so many healthy benefits. This is ludicrous, really. They are stuck in 1969, STILL TO THIS DAY calling marijuana a “gateway” drug. I’ve been smoking since I was 15 and am 53 today. Never went through that proverbial gateway. I cannot understand why they don’t just let it gooooooooooo….i’ve thought about it for decades and still can’t answer the question as to WHY?
I say if he does not want to follow the state agenda then FIRE HIS ASS. Put someone who will follow the state laws. I’ll bet he will go home and have a nice drink. I dont know about you but that makes me mad when there are 20 cops in the brush several helocopters and nunerous autos. just to look for POT. Well i think they should be out looking for killers. Amagine if they looked for killers like they do for POT there would be alot less killers on the streets. MAN PEOPLE THINK
Remember people our Government is not for the people or by the people it is now for the government and by the government. It amazes me how gulible our people is when it comes to our government. They will believe anything that they Utter. Most of the time it is not true. But they just cover it up with some peanut butter and jelly and everything is ok.
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