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 dwpineal
Psychedelic Artist
Registered: 07/20/06
Posts: 4,421
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 Setback for legal marijuana? Pot raid rattles top cannabis crusader. 
#16060458 - 04/08/12 12:23 PM (1 year, 1 month ago) |
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http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Society/2012/0406/Setback-for-legal-marijuana-Pot-raid-rattles-top-cannabis-crusader
Setback for legal marijuana? Pot raid rattles top cannabis crusader.
A federal raid on the marijuana businesses of Richard Lee has convinced the legal-marijuana leader to take a step back. It could mark an important moment for the movement.
By Daniel B. Wood, Staff writer / April 6, 2012
The man who opened Oaksterdam University, the nation’s first college to teach students about the cannabis industry, and who bankrolled a failed ballot initiative to legalize the adult use of marijuana, says a federal raid this week has convinced him it’s time to step aside. The raid seized his assets, plants, bank accounts, records, and computers.
His decision marks an important moment for the medical-marijuana industry. While Mr. Lee says he will continue to be an outspoken advocate of marijuana, his step back threatens to create a void in the leadership of the movement. Moreover, the federal raid that hit his operations Monday is a sign that the Drug Enforcement Administration is ramping up its crackdown on California's medical-marijuana dispensaries.
“This is a clear statement to California that the DEA is becoming more aggressive in this area, despite California’s Compassionate Use Act" – the state's first-in-the-nation ballot initiative that legalized medical marijuana in 1996, says Joan Smyth of Kaufman Dolowich Voluck & Gonzo, a national law firm, via e-mail.
In the past, the DEA has assisted local authorities in shutting down individual dispensaries based on zoning laws. But in Oakland, where the medical-marijuana zoning laws "are virtually nonexistent, and there have not been local efforts to shut the dispensaries down," Ms. Smyth says, the DEA is now taking the lead.
"The raid on Oaksterdam was interesting as it took the DEA’s crackdown on California’s medical-marijuana business to a new level,” she says.
Lee, a former rock-band roadie, says he is not abandoning the cause. His Oaksterdam University, which has graduated about 4,000 students since 2007, remains open, as does his dispensary. But Lee says he will transfer the business to new operators and shut down his own nursery.
“It’s time for others to take over,” he told the Associated Press.
Some observers agree.
“Sometimes the leaders of movements must step aside to ensure they continue to last beyond their own lifetimes. That is the case of Richard Lee," says Sam Singer, who runs a public relations firm in the Bay Area and lives on the border between Oakland and Berkeley. "He is smart to step aside, focus on his own legal issues, and let new leadership come to the forefront.”
Still many acknowledge the role Lee played in advancing the medical-marijuana movement. Standing outside the Med’s Merchant marijuana dispensary in the Los Angeles suburb of Sherman Oaks, where she goes for marijuana to ease chronic back pain, Stephanie Menlo says: “He did for marijuana legalization and acceptance what any good pioneer does: carve out the way in a society that is not yet ready to embrace a good thing."
Marijuana advocates say he helped changed the national conversation on marijuana.
“Richard was changing the way the public think about cannabis. That is why the Obama administration targeted him … and is trying to silence him,” says Paul Armentano, deputy director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, via e-mail. “Richard Lee’s activism – opening the nation's first brick-and-mortar cannabis college, bankrolling Proposition 19, which nearly succeeded in legalizing the adult use of marijuana in California, and revitalizing downtown Oakland – did more than just sway public opinion, it changed the culture,”
Activists say the cause will continue.
“The movement to end the government's war on marijuana users will continue unabated, in California and across the nation, until sensible policies are in place,” says Morgan Fox, communications director for the Marijuana Policy Project in Washington, via e-mail. “The massive public show of support that Richard Lee and the medical-marijuana community have received, both from regular citizens and lawmakers alike in light of these federal attacks is a testament to this reality. "
But outside the Sherman Oaks Medical Marijuana Relief Clinic, Todd Barrett sees a different legacy.
"These guys who have tried to legitimize drug use, though well intentioned, have done a bad thing," he says. "I’m glad to see him go.”
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 I AM SWIM
doin' thangs
Registered: 12/24/08
Posts: 9,695
Loc: Feels Changsta Man
Last seen: 11 months, 18 days
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Re: Setback for legal marijuana? Pot raid rattles top cannabis crusader. [Re: dwpineal] 1
#16060591 - 04/08/12 01:13 PM (1 year, 1 month ago) |
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THEY CAN'T STOP WHAT IS NECESSARY FOR US TO LIVE!
IF SOMETHING IS NECESSARY THEN OUR NEEDS WILL BE ACHIEVED!
KEEP FIGHTING THE GOOD FIGHT!
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vinnymontana21
new wool socks
Registered: 01/22/11
Posts: 314
Loc: the gaza strip, metro
Last seen: 9 months, 18 days
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Re: Setback for legal marijuana? Pot raid rattles top cannabis crusader. [Re: I AM SWIM]
#16060660 - 04/08/12 01:35 PM (1 year, 1 month ago) |
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dicks.
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some things have to be believed to be seen.
catch our vapors
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I AM SWIM
doin' thangs
Registered: 12/24/08
Posts: 9,695
Loc: Feels Changsta Man
Last seen: 11 months, 18 days
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Re: Setback for legal marijuana? Pot raid rattles top cannabis crusader. [Re: vinnymontana21] 1
#16060693 - 04/08/12 01:44 PM (1 year, 1 month ago) |
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gonzoapprentice92
psychedelic connoisseur
Registered: 11/04/10
Posts: 332
Loc: 126
Last seen: 1 month, 20 days
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Re: Setback for legal marijuana? Pot raid rattles top cannabis crusader. [Re: I AM SWIM]
#16060802 - 04/08/12 02:17 PM (1 year, 1 month ago) |
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Fucking pricks in this supposed land of the people....way to listen to the people.
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I share the belief of many of my contemporaries that the spiritual crisis pervading all spheres of Western industrial society can be remedied only by a change in our world view. We shall have to shift from the materialistic, dualistic belief that people and their environment are separate, toward a new conciousness of an all-encompassing reality, which embraces the experiencing ego, a reality in which people feel their oneness with animate nature and all of creation.- Albert Hoffman
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Nature Boy
Stranger than most
Registered: 07/09/07
Posts: 4,630
Loc: Samsara
Last seen: 10 hours, 13 minutes
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Re: Setback for legal marijuana? Pot raid rattles top cannabis crusader. [Re: dwpineal]
#16060820 - 04/08/12 02:24 PM (1 year, 1 month ago) |
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This is nothing but government sponsored thievery, intimidation, and anti-business terrorism.
I hope somebody steps in and takes his place, IMMEDIATELY. This is just shameful bullshit. I royally resent the fact that my tax dollars support a government willing to do this.
This makes me 
N.B.
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All submitted posts are by Someone Who Isn't Me (SWIM) - and in any event are works of pure fiction or outright lies. Any information, statement, or assertion contained therein should be considered pure unadulterated bullshit. Note well: Sorry, but I no longer answer PM's unless you are a long-time trusted friend, so don't bother. If you have a question, ask it in the appropriate thread...no exceptions. Anyone with less than 1,000 posts is automatically assumed to be a cop.
 
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Nullface
Registered: 09/04/11
Posts: 4,545
Loc: USA 
Last seen: 4 hours, 11 minutes
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Re: Setback for legal marijuana? Pot raid rattles top cannabis crusader. [Re: Nature Boy]
#16060854 - 04/08/12 02:34 PM (1 year, 1 month ago) |
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Time to grab the signs and cry about it while they laugh at you again? Godspeed protesters. You really make a difference in this country with your peaceful protests!
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SuperD
Lophophiend
Registered: 10/05/03
Posts: 5,746
Loc: My stash box
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Re: Setback for legal marijuana? Pot raid rattles top cannabis crusader. [Re: dwpineal]
#16060984 - 04/08/12 03:13 PM (1 year, 1 month ago) |
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Nice work DEA, arresting a harmless wheelchair-bound tax-paying businessman. You really made the streets safer for everyone.
I know it's always easier to take a grim view when news articles like this pop up, especially as often as they seem to do. But I am not sweating things too much. We are clearly on a path to full legalization in the not so distant future.
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Manoa said:
I need to stop spending all my money on plants and take up a cheaper hobby, like heroin.
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RonPaulVerm
Piss Christ
Registered: 07/21/08
Posts: 1,072
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Re: Setback for legal marijuana? Pot raid rattles top cannabis crusader. [Re: SuperD]
#16061375 - 04/08/12 05:01 PM (1 year, 1 month ago) |
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Ron Paul 2012
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Spawn I Have: Blewitt, Reishi, Maitake, Chicken of the Woods, Parasol, Shaggy Mane, King, Blue and Gold Oyster, Shiitake, King Stropharia, Lions Mane, Almond Portabello, Elm Oyster, Phoenix Oyster, Nameko, Enoki, White Beech,
Spawn I Want: Corcyceps Sp., Cauliflower Mushrooms, Agaricus species (Portobello), Pink Oyster, Piopinno, ...anything else you might have
Primitive Skills
Any information I've posted is only related to fictional purposes. I do not advocate growing any illegal mushrooms
...I DO advocate learning about
Law Enforcement Against Prohibition
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Nullface
Registered: 09/04/11
Posts: 4,545
Loc: USA
Last seen: 4 hours, 11 minutes
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Re: Setback for legal marijuana? Pot raid rattles top cannabis crusader. [Re: RonPaulVerm]
#16061384 - 04/08/12 05:03 PM (1 year, 1 month ago) |
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You act as if everything Ron Paul wants can just be signed into law. The whole Government is against him.
Burn It All To The Ground 2012
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SuperD
Lophophiend
Registered: 10/05/03
Posts: 5,746
Loc: My stash box
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Re: Setback for legal marijuana? Pot raid rattles top cannabis crusader. [Re: Nullface]
#16061450 - 04/08/12 05:22 PM (1 year, 1 month ago) |
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Quote:
Nullface said:
You act as if everything Ron Paul wants can just be signed into law. The whole Government is against him.
Burn It All To The Ground 2012
Best of both worlds, let Ron Paul burn it all to the ground 2012 
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Manoa said:
I need to stop spending all my money on plants and take up a cheaper hobby, like heroin.
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yoimjohn
Registered: 08/13/11
Posts: 1,287
Loc: terra nova
Last seen: 7 months, 15 days
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Re: Setback for legal marijuana? Pot raid rattles top cannabis crusader. [Re: SuperD]
#16062749 - 04/08/12 10:40 PM (1 year, 1 month ago) |
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we dont live in america. we live in post-america, where they can tell you can and can't do to your own body.
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starfire_xes
Living colors,,,,
Registered: 10/24/09
Posts: 12,600
Loc: Southwest US
Last seen: 3 hours, 5 minutes
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Re: Setback for legal marijuana? Pot raid rattles top cannabis crusader. [Re: SuperD] 2
#16062756 - 04/08/12 10:42 PM (1 year, 1 month ago) |
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For everyone I've seen on shroomery thinking the Federal Government should have power over the states---
Just remember this kind of stuff. Taking away power from the states and giving to the Federal Government takes away the democratic power of the people in the state to make laws.
THAT's whats wrong with centralizing government.
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 IF THE NEIGHBORS COMPLAIN BECAUSE THE MUSIC'S TOO LOUD, TURN IT UP SO YOU CAN'T HEAR THEM BITCH
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utk
Ellis, Dee M.D
Registered: 04/10/07
Posts: 461
Last seen: 3 hours, 36 minutes
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Re: Setback for legal marijuana? Pot raid rattles top cannabis crusader. [Re: starfire_xes]
#16063909 - 04/09/12 04:19 AM (1 year, 1 month ago) |
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c4 and a fake tip off anyone? Nah not really that's just fuel to the fire and its too direct and provable. How about an asbestos grow room fake tip. Razor mist with a cloud of atomized death cap extract. How about free meth for whichever crazy tweaker takes out the DEA's gang leader? not those either? ok. Liquid acid in their conference room water pitcher?
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digitalemu
Digital Emu
Registered: 09/01/10
Posts: 283
Last seen: 19 days, 21 hours
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Re: Setback for legal marijuana? Pot raid rattles top cannabis crusader. [Re: utk]
#16064235 - 04/09/12 09:17 AM (1 year, 1 month ago) |
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Quote:
utk said:
c4 and a fake tip off anyone? Nah not really that's just fuel to the fire and its too direct and provable. How about an asbestos grow room fake tip. Razor mist with a cloud of atomized death cap extract. How about free meth for whichever crazy tweaker takes out the DEA's gang leader? not those either? ok. Liquid acid in their conference room water pitcher?
I don't think any of that would hurt them very much. For every one cockroach, there are a thousand more.
Edited by digitalemu (04/09/12 09:25 AM)
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mushiefeet
Iron Lung420
Registered: 01/18/11
Posts: 369
Last seen: 8 months, 15 days
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Re: Setback for legal marijuana? Pot raid rattles top cannabis crusader. [Re: digitalemu]
#16064781 - 04/09/12 12:57 PM (1 year, 1 month ago) |
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Way to go Obama forcing the DEA to target lol this man. He is a hero and always will bein the eyes of the people. Land of the free land of freedom of speech where our government listens and acts on what the people want. That statement is 100%!!! BULLSHIT!!! While they took down a friendly pot dealer 5 cocaine or meth dealers just slipped away and are now rich as shit.
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superbob57
The Hobbit from the Shire
Registered: 05/21/05
Posts: 1,539
Last seen: 1 month, 27 days
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Re: Setback for legal marijuana? Pot raid rattles top cannabis crusader. [Re: dwpineal]
#16069015 - 04/10/12 09:23 AM (1 year, 1 month ago) |
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I forseen this coming, I'm really not happy about it whatsoever, I'm a big advocate of Medical Marijuana and Hope someone rises up and takes his place soon, May God Let Americans be Americans....
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If I run full blast, I'll never get tired and If I slow down I get stuck, so I opened my mind and let the wild things in and there not going away but getting stronger, day by day, I will find the source of all things it's only a matter of time and I will be one with the universe once again my friends...I will never find the end but the start of a new begining...-J.R.S.
   
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yoimjohn
Registered: 08/13/11
Posts: 1,287
Loc: terra nova
Last seen: 7 months, 15 days
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Re: Setback for legal marijuana? Pot raid rattles top cannabis crusader. [Re: superbob57]
#16069446 - 04/10/12 12:10 PM (1 year, 1 month ago) |
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i just had court today for a marijuana charge. completely dismissed 
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Errolscool
Midnight Toker
Registered: 07/03/10
Posts: 702
Loc:
Last seen: 19 hours, 5 minutes
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Re: Setback for legal marijuana? Pot raid rattles top cannabis crusader. [Re: yoimjohn]
#16069471 - 04/10/12 12:14 PM (1 year, 1 month ago) |
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Lee was aight
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