Pubdate: Fri, 24 Jun 2005 Source: San Jose Mercury News (CA) Copyright: 2005 San Jose Mercury News Contact: http://www.mercurynews.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/390 Author: Thaai Walker Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal) AGENTS: POT CLUBS FRONTS FOR DRUG CRIME Probe Allegedly Uncovers Large-Scale Operation Three San Francisco medicinal marijuana clubs raided by federal agents were being used as fronts for a major drug trafficking operation, authorities alleged Thursday as more details emerged about the two-year federal probe that led to this week's raids. Federal drug enforcement agents Wednesday seized more than 9,000 marijuana plants with an estimated street value of $5 million from three cannabis clubs located in San Francisco's Ingleside and Sunset neighborhoods, U.S. Attorney Kevin Ryan said during a press conference in San Francisco. Fifteen people were arrested, including two South Bay men, Minho Thomas Cho, 25, of Santa Clara, and Faisal Mansoor Aly Gowani, 32, of San Jose. Cho and Gowani were among those charged with conspiracy to cultivate, possess and distribute marijuana over a four-year period. Arrest warrants also have been issued for five others. All 20 were indicted last week by a federal grand jury on various charges, including money-laundering and international bulk-cash smuggling. The federal sweep came just two weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that users of medicinal marijuana are subject to federal prosecution regardless of whether states allow the use of marijuana on a doctor's recommendation, as California has since voters approved the idea in 1996. The timing of the San Francisco raids and arrests fueled the belief among medicinal marijuana advocates that cannabis clubs are under attack by the federal government. "I think the Supreme Court decision emboldened them to come in here against the will of the California people," said San Francisco resident Brent Saupe, who joined a protest led by Americans for Safe Access, a medicinal marijuana advocacy group, outside the city's federal building. But federal authorities said the Supreme Court's decision had nothing to do with their investigation. Their probe, they insisted, was about dismantling a large-scale operation that allegedly was using cannabis clubs as a cover as it grew and distributed thousands of pounds of marijuana throughout the Bay Area. The sweep involved the IRS, the Secret Service, immigration authorities and state and local narcotics agencies. "We're not talking about ill people who may be using marijuana but a large scale operation generating millions of dollars," Ryan said. Under the investigation dubbed "Operation Urban Harvest," raids have occurred at more than 25 homes, warehouses and commercial properties in San Francisco, the East Bay and the Peninsula over the past two years. In all, more than 17,000 marijuana plants have been seized. Agents also alleged in an affidavit unsealed Thursday that some of the suspects may have also been distributors of the drug "ecstasy." The affidavit describes a network of associates who hid behind "nominee owners" of cannabis clubs. The majority of the profits came not from medicinal marijuana sales, but from street sales. One of the men arrested, San Francisco resident Enrique Chan, 26, allegedly told an undercover agent he planned to use the clubs as a defense if arrested. "If I have to go to court . . . I'll take these patients," Chan allegedly said during a secretly taped conversation. "They say that, you know, I'm providing for them . . . like really sick patents with cancer . . . no jury is gonna . . . convict you." Bruce Mirken, spokesman of the Marijuana Policy Project based in Washington, D.C., said if the allegation that the clubs were used as fronts is true, the federal government is to blame. "If it is true that a few shady characters have gotten into the medical marijuana business, the blame for that situation lies squarely with the federal government," Mirken said in a prepared statement. "The biggest obstacle to effective regulation is antiquated federal law that criminalizes any effort to provide medical marijuana to seriously ill patients." - --- MAP posted-by: Beth