Months after bringing down Richard Lee’s Oaksterdam University, the Obama Administration has allowed federal prosecutors to shut down the world’s largest marijuana dispensary, Harborside Health Center (featured in “Weed Wars”). As noted before, this is a strategic effort on the part of Obama to show swing voters and maybe even conservatives that he is tough on drugs as the 2012 election approaches.
Melinda Haag, U.S. attorney for the Northern District of California, filed the lawsuits in U.S. District Court in San Francisco, seeking forfeiture of two properties—one in Oakland and the other in San Jose. Seizing property being used for the sale of medical marijuana is apparently the federal government’s latest tactic in shutting down dispensaries.
“The larger the operation, the greater the likelihood that there will be abuse of the state’s medical marijuana laws and marijuana in the hands of individuals who do not have a demonstrated medical need,” Haag said in a statement on Wednesday.” The filing of the civil forfeiture complaints against the two Harborside properties is part of our measured effort to address the proliferation of illegal marijuana businesses in the Northern District of California.”
Harborside is remaining upbeat about the lawsuits, though, stating on its website, “We look forward to our day in court, and are confident that justice is on our side. Come what may, we shall continue to care for our patients unless we are physically prevented from doing so.”
And in a wise move, Harborside is calling on its patients to volunteer to act as activists in their fight against the federal government’s overreach.
[Photo: Michael Short, San Francisco Chronicle]
July 12, 2012 at 8:58 pm, Victor Knowles said:
Stupid
July 13, 2012 at 8:24 am, Georgia Can Nabis said:
…and because they did this, everyone in the US stopped wanting to smoke cannabis…pssh.
July 13, 2012 at 8:30 am, 項麗玲 said:
Political gamesmanship…. That's almost redundant. =
July 14, 2012 at 11:27 pm, Jose Gonzales said:
Goldman Sachs is pressuring the Feds to crack down on the large dispensaries because it is ruining their plan to foreclose on Oakland's assets.
First Goldman Sachs gives loans to Oakland, then they help crash the economy, then they want to foreclose on city assets. Unexpected income from dispensaries is preventing the foreclosure of city assets and Goldman Sachs is directing the Feds through the United Nations security forces to setup their world government headquarters in Oakland using the war on drugs as their cover.
July 25, 2012 at 9:45 am, Los Angeles just voted to ban all medical marijuana dispensaries | Death and Taxes said:
[...] state law, and federal law is on their side. The federal government agrees apparently, having escalated its own operations to shut down California dispensaries in recent years despite state law.The whole thing is a tangle of one-upmanship, and which [...]