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resipsa said:
Today, as I watched the Los Angeles City Council vote unanimously to enact a medical marijuana moratorium, DEA agents were bashing in the front door of California Patient’s Group.

When I arrived, I found over a hundred angry demonstrators, manning every exit and chanting, screaming with anger and frustration.

The DEA kept out of sight for the most part, leaving the LAPD to try and manage a crowd that grew larger every minute. They took the taunts and abuse meant for the DEA. At one point I counted 16 uniformed officers, another observer said at the height there were twenty.

Twenty police, who had to stand in the hot sun for hours, listening to screaming protesters when they could have been working on real crimes. One could argue that by tying up so many officers the DEA promoted crime.

As one wag pointed out, “If I were a crook in Hollywood, today would be my lucky day. 'Cause no matter what I do, the police are going to be guarding the DEA’s ass, instead of chasing mine.”

As the day wore on, employees and patients were released by the DEA and joined the crowd.

Reports from other dispensaries came in as people who had been raided made their way down to CPG to voice their displeasure. It was so inspiring, these employees and dispensary owners, fresh from the horror of their own raid, who, without missing a beat, came down to lend support.

Most of the people who were raided that I spoke to told a similar story: smash and grab, get in and get out as quickly as possible. No arrests. No patient records taken.

Dege ran figure eights, completely stopping traffic on Santa Monica, them moved to the alley entrance on Vine with a group, to make sure the DEA could not exit that way.

Thanks both to the quick thinking crowd and Weedtrackers who bombarded the press, KTLA sent a truck as did channel 7. The Los Angeles Times interviewed Don Duncan via phone as he watched CPG smashed and looted. News radio came and stayed for quite awhile.

Inside, guards, staff and patients were held for hours, as was Darla, the house dog. We attempted to negotiate her release, and though the LAPD were on board for this plan, the DEA wouldn't’t budge.

Apparently The D.E.A. is not just involved in torturing people any more, they’ve branched out into the animal kingdom. Darla exercised her right to remain silent.

An employee at an address in the building but not part of the dispensary was detained for several hours though neither she nor her place of business appeared anywhere on the warrant.

A security guard was cuffed so tightly that the flesh around the plastic restraints swelled to the point it nearly obscured the restraint itself.

A CPG guard was bundled into a secretarial chair, and when two D.E.A. agents could not agree on where he should sit, they simply shoved the wheeled chair across the room several times. Needless to say, the handcuffed guard could have been seriously injured as he had no way to break his fall as the chair flew across the room.

One young patient showed me bruises and split skin, apparently the LAPD had exercised their right to wield a baton, when he attempted to exercise his right to lawful assembly.

As the hot afternoon wore on, people circulated through the crowd, offering ice water, Popsicles and fruit. People took turns sitting in what shade there was. Councilman Zine’s letter to the DEA asking them to stand down was read to the crowd.

As the DEA prepared to exit, activists on both ends of the alley sat down, effectively blocking any exit with their bodies. Dege’s contingent, on the Vine side of the alley were arrested and taken away, clearing a way for the DEA to make off with the medicine and whatever cash they‘d found. Footage of her group sitting handcuffed was on the channel 11 10:00 pm news.

Don grabbed Allison Margolin out of the crowd and asked her to take care of things at the jail, and off she went to see what could be done.

The rest of us poured into CPG, only to find the D.E.A. had smashed open the vending machine for some reason. They took all the Snapple Fruit Punch. I have no idea WHY they felt they needed the Fruit Punch, it really is just fruit punch. Maybe they’re all addicted to high fructose corn syrup and just couldn't’t restrain themselves.

People grabbed brooms, swept up glass and swapped stories. Don thanked everyone, and Chris gave a pep talk. The staff stayed behind to re-group, and the rest of us went home to watch the news coverage.

I was one of the first patients to register at CPG. When they re-open I hope to be among their first customers. However quickly I do this I won’t have acted quite as quickly as Americans for Safe Access. This e-mail was waiting for me when I got home:

ASA is holding a protest and march from the Los Angeles Federal Building to LA City Hall this Friday, July 27 starting at 9:00am.

Please show your support for medical cannabis and protest the DEA's contemptible actions! We will be meeting at the Federal Building at 9:00am for a protest. The march to City Hall will begin at 9:30am with the goal of arriving at 10:00am.

We are calling on all medical cannabis supporters, patients, and providers to come out and protest DEA's blatant attack on patients and providers in Los Angeles! Please bring signs in support of medical cannabis and safe access.

WHO: Patients and Advocates Outraged by the DEA's Actions
WHAT: A Demonstration in Protesting the DEA's Attack on Patients and Providers
WHERE: Starting at the Federal Building at 255 East Temple St. in downtown LA for the protest and then marching to City Hall at 200 N Spring St. in downtown LA.
WHEN: Friday, July 27 beginning at 9:00am with the goal of arriving at City Hall at 10:00am
WHY: TO DEFEND SAFE ACCESS IN LA!

If you have any questions or need more information, please contact Sonnet: sonnet@safeaccessnow.org

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Several Medical Cannabis collectives were raided in the Los Angeles area today.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,290852,00.html

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This is simply federal law. I don't know what anyone thinks they are going to accomplish by standing around and yelling some shit. The 60's riots sure as hell didn't do a thing besides piss the government off into applying stricter rules. Listen, if you want to make a point then your going to have to take more adverse action than that.

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ChristianTaylor5 said:
This is simply federal law. I don't know what anyone thinks they are going to accomplish by standing around and yelling some shit. The 60's riots sure as hell didn't do a thing besides piss the government off into applying stricter rules. Listen, if you want to make a point then your going to have to take more adverse action than that.

Sure the government is unfair, but how willing are you to go to protect your god given rights? Or at least what you believe to be your rights. If death is not the final response to your determination to sacrifice everything then you have no right defending those privileges. This so called "up-rising" sounds like a bunch of dumb hippies yelling some shit in uniform and then complaining about the repercussions. Yeah we can all pull a GANDI but we still get arrested, do something productive, because getting arrested doesn't make you some type of activist.

People need to go the whole way to protect their and everyone else's right or stop complaining. If you are not even willing to REALLY, I mean REALLY fight for what you believe in then how is anyone going to respect those wishes.

Later

-CT

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god given rights?

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ChristianTaylor5 said:
This is simply federal law. I don't know what anyone thinks they are going to accomplish by standing around and yelling some shit. The 60's riots sure as hell didn't do a thing besides piss the government off into applying stricter rules. Listen, if you want to make a point then your going to have to take more adverse action than that.

Sure the government is unfair, but how willing are you to go to protect your god given rights? Or at least what you believe to be your rights. If death is not the final response to your determination to sacrifice everything then you have no right defending those privileges. This so called "up-rising" sounds like a bunch of dumb hippies yelling some shit in uniform and then complaining about the repercussions. Yeah we can all pull a GANDI but we still get arrested, do something productive, because getting arrested doesn't make you some type of activist.

People need to go the whole way to protect their and everyone else's right or stop complaining. If you are not even willing to REALLY, I mean REALLY fight for what you believe in then how is anyone going to respect those wishes.

Later

-CT

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ChristianTaylor5 said:
This is simply federal law. I don't know what anyone thinks they are going to accomplish by standing around and yelling some shit. The 60's riots sure as hell didn't do a thing besides piss the government off into applying stricter rules.

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ArcofaJourney said:

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ChristianTaylor5 said:
This is simply federal law. I don't know what anyone thinks they are going to accomplish by standing around and yelling some shit. The 60's riots sure as hell didn't do a thing besides piss the government off into applying stricter rules.

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You obviously know nothing of History. Ever heard of a little thing called the Civil Rights Movement?

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