Activists Protest Arrests of Two Alameda County Business Owners

CHERRYLAND -- Federal agents raided a medical marijuana dispensary in Cherryland early Tuesday, prompting activists to converge on the location in protest.

The Compassionate Collective of Alameda County, at 21222 Mission Blvd. near Blossom Way, just north of Hayward, was invaded at 6 a.m. by employees of the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Internal Revenue Service. The Alameda County Sheriff's Office provided security and traffic control during the raid.

Sites in Oakland, Berkeley, Lafayette and Albany also were raided in connection with the dispensary bust, officials said.

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Two East Bay brothers were arrested Tuesday after being indicted by a federal grand jury on charges that they ran a large-scale drug operation from a Hayward medical marijuana club from which proceeds were delivered to a bank by armored car, authorities said.

Winslow Norton, 26, of Lafayette and his brother, Abraham Norton, 23, of Oakland, who together ran the Compassionate Patients' Cooperative on the 21000 block of Mission Boulevard in Hayward, were taken into custody during raids by the Drug Enforcement Administration and other law enforcement agencies. They are being held without bail.

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On Friday, I had the honor of celebrating the life of a fellow officer who was killed in the line of duty.

Officer Sergio Carrera, of the Rialto Police Department, was gunned down during a drug raid by an alleged suspect with a criminal past.

Nothing cuts closer to your heart than to lose one of your own. Officer Carrera was a dedicated and professional officer who helped to better the world around him.

Shortly after joining the police force, he became a member of the California Narcotics Officers Association. One of his passions was taking drug dealers off the streets to help protect our communities.

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For the Second Time, County Planners Reach No Decision on the Ramada Drive Site in Templeton; Action on a Permit Is Postponed Until January

County planning commissioners on Monday failed again to reach a decision on a proposed medical marijuana dispensary in Templeton.

In July, the Planning Commission deadlocked 2-2 in a disagreement over exactly how far the dispensary--proposed for a Ramada Drive industrial park--would be from a park across Highway 101.

Before Monday's commission meeting, applicant Austen Connella asked that the decision on a permit for the proposed 1,450-square-foot cannabis co-op be delayed because all five commissioners couldn't be present.

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When the Associated Press released a story that reported Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said marijuana is "not a drug," press secretary Aaron McLear was quick to announce that Schwarzenegger was joking. During an interview with Piers Morgan, a judge of "America's Got Talent," the governator had said that he had never taken drugs, even though he has admitted to smoking marijuana and the 1977 documentary film, "Pumping Iron," showed him inhaling.

So Schwarzenegger quipped, "That is not a drug. It's a leaf. My drug was pumping iron, trust me."

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Doctors who recommend medical marijuana say it helps treat everything from nausea caused by cancer treatment to spinal pain.

Multiple sclerosis. Anorexia. Anxiety. Muscle spasms. Insomnia.

Dr. Michael Gitter, of Lake Forest, said he's seen medical marijuana help treat all those ailments and more. He believes marijuana should be among the drugs doctors can legally make available to their patients.

In California, medical marijuana is legal under state law. But federal law says marijuana is illegal and the Drug Enforcement Administration can bust medical marijuana dispensaries whenever they want to.

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After a decade of repeated arrests and very little jail time, the hammer of the law finally came down on Demetrius Spearman, a homeless junkie, petty thief, legendary car booster and poster child for what's wrong with San Francisco's revolving-door legal system.

On Thursday, San Francisco Superior Court Judge Garrett Wong sentenced the 38-year-old Spearman to three years in prison for an auto burglary in the Western Addition last October - the harshest sentence handed down in the city for such a car break-in in recent memory.

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WITH ALL DUE RESPECT to Chief Wayne Tucker and the fine officers of Oakland Police Department, there is no reason to think that these arrests will reduce violence in Oakland. In fact, they will increase violence.

The reason is simple: demand for heroin will remain strong because addicts cannot simply decide to stop using. Which means that the lower level dealers (who were not arrested) are even now working hard to re-establish distribution.

Those dealers are now in competition with each other for who will control that lucrative trade. And that competition will not be peaceful - they will shoot it out in the streets.

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Regarding Watsonville's decision Tuesday to reject a medical pot dispensary, the purpose of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights is the protection of every individual's right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Just as the government has no right to dictate what foods we ingest or what books we read, it should have no right to dictate what drugs we take so long as we do not violate the rights of others. And in the case of people with terminal diseases, forcefully preventing them from using drugs that might alleviate their pain is unconscionably immoral.

David Holcberg

Ayn Rand Institute

Irvine

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POMONA - The case of three convicted Azusa pot farmers may help clarify laws on how to legally grow medical marijuana, advocates said.

Bryn Anderson, 38, of Los Angeles; Paul Shaw, 35, of Azusa; and Charles Newcomb, 47, of Azusa were convicted last week of cultivation stemming from the seizure of 700 plants from an Azusa pot factory in May.

"The laws on growing medical marijuana are very broad, and a case like this could be very important in setting a precedent for judges," said Bruce Margolin, a Los Angeles-based medical marijuana advocate and lawyer who represented Newcomb in the early stages of the case.

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30 Arrested in Raids Throughout Region

OAKLAND -- Oakland police and federal authorities announced Wednesday they had dismantled a major drug ring that they said brought heroin from Mexico into California's Central Valley and ultimately Oakland and other Bay Area locations.

The announcement came after law enforcement personnel conducted dozens of raids beginning at 6 a.m. Wednesday in Oakland and throughout the region.

Police Chief Wayne Tucker said he believed the streets of Oakland will be safer after the bust, because of the violence often associated with drug dealing.

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LONDON -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger says marijuana is not a drug, a British magazine reported Monday. But his spokesman said the governor was joking.

Schwarzenegger told the British edition of GQ magazine that he had not taken drugs, even though the former bodybuilder and Hollywood star has acknowledged using marijuana in the 1970s and was shown smoking a joint in the 1977 documentary "Pumping Iron."

"That is not a drug. It's a leaf," he told GQ. "My drug was pumping iron, trust me."

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A White House pledge of $1.4 billion to Mexico to stem the northward flood of drugs comes loaded with problems and doubts. But on one score the package succeeds: The two countries are at last cooperating on a serious subject.

Illegal immigration and trade are far bigger concerns and remain radioactive, too hot for Washington to touch. But drugs are a close third in importance, and the surge in trafficking has never gotten the attention it deserves. Both sides prefer easy stereotypes of each other: Mexico is hopelessly corrupt and the U.S. is obsessed with immigration only.

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The White House announced a proposal last week seeking $1.4 billion in counter-narcotics aid to Mexico and other Central American countries for yet another supply-side drug control scheme. The military and security package would go for helicopters, police training and communications and data-processing equipment. It is a familiar game.

U.S. leaders continue to blame another country for our failure to reduce substance misuse here at home. That country escalates its war against drugs, but asks the United States to pick up part of the tab. Aid is given, but it ends up having no impact on the availability of drugs in the United States. U.S. leaders again point fingers, and the cycle continues.

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Across Ventura County, teachers have been escorting children to school assemblies this week. As a reward for signing their names to a pledge, the students have red ribbons taped to their chests. Surely, the assembly had a moment when all were led in a chant of "Say no to drugs!" Red Ribbon Week had arrived.

Different fun activities have been enjoyed each day of the week, such as crazy-socks day, crazy-hair day or red-shirt day. Children were given small trinkets with the Red Ribbon Week theme. During the second half of the week, a public display of the certificates or ribbons on a school fence declared to the neighborhood that the school is drug-free.

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Last year, San Francisco Police Chief Heather Fong asked for help from federal authorities to fight drug-fueled violence in the city's crime-plagued Western Addition.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration responded in June by deploying its Mobile Enforcement Team - which relied on a paid federal informant who lived among and reported on drug dealers.

The four-month operation that followed netted arrests of more than two dozen alleged members of the Chopper City and Knockout Posse (KOP) street gangs, DEA officials proudly announced last fall.

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I can say with some certainty that whether we like it or not, many of us have problems with addiction.

Personally, I am hopelessly addicted to caffeine.

However, there are some addictions that are far more dangerous to both the addicted and to the surrounding society.

Due to the unknown dangers associated with mind-altering addictive substances, strict preventative measures are necessary in order to maintain a moral society with high living standards. This is why the only solution to the problem is stricter laws that prohibit alcohol.

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If "this is the risk you take" ("Home invasion linked to pot," The Union, Oct. 17) sitting at home, manicuring relatively safe pot plants, then what we have is yet another reason to completely end cannabis (marijuana) prohibition. Honest police officers who truly wish to serve and protect have to agree. It's time to once again legalize the God-given plant in the same way whiskey was again legalized after Prohibition.

Stan White

Dillon, Colo

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Drug Arrests:

An article on the Oct. 12 Opinion page stated that about 40% of the 80,000 annual drug arrests in the U.S. are related to marijuana. In fact, there are about 1.8 million drug arrests each year -- 40% of which are related to marijuana. An Oct. 13 correction inaccurately characterized what the original story said.

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Atascadero Woman Says Pat Hedges Invited Federal Authorities To Raid Morro Bay Dispensary

By Sarah Arnquist

An Atascadero woman has accused Sheriff Pat Hedges of circumventing state law by inviting federal drug enforcement officials to help close a Morro Bay medical marijuana dispensary earlier this year.

Elaine McKellips, 55, filed a claim against the county and the sheriff Oct. 11 on behalf of county residents such as herself who have prescriptions for marijuana to alleviate symptoms of painful diseases.

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