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Another Attack on Medical Marjiuana in San Diego
By Hempology | December 16, 2005
Thirteen medical marijuana dispensaries in San Diego County were raided Monday by county and federal officials.
Federal drug enforcement agents, county sheriffs and city police broke down doors and waved guns at medical marijuana patients and dispensary operators, flouting the nearly 10-year-old state law. The seizure of thousands of patient records in the raids also violated patients rights to confidentiality.
Thursday, December 15, 2005
The raids came shortly after a County Board of Supervisors vote last week to sue the state to strike down Proposition 215, the 1996 voter-approved ballot initiative that gives patients in California the right to use marijuana for medical purposes with a doctors recommendation. The initiative was passed by a majority of voters in San Diego County.
The County Board of Supervisors has decided to use taxpayer money to sue the taxpayers. They are out of touch and out of control, said Margaret Dooley of the Drug Policy Alliance in San Diego. The raids are just the next step in a systematic effort to deprive patients of their right to medical marijuana in San Diego County.
The county terrorized patients yesterday, said Alberto Mendoza, director of the Southern California Office of the Drug Policy Alliance. One terrible result of the raids will be to force sick and dying patients to buy their medicine on the black market, which can be a dangerous and unreliable alternative.
Amid the bullying of medical marijuana users in San Diego, other parts of the state are actually working to support Prop 215. Riverside County in southern California just began implementation of the state ID card program, which is designed to help protect patients from prosecution by local and state officials. San Francisco, which delayed implementation of the program in order to sort out privacy concerns, has announced that it will start issuing ID cards on January 9, 2006.
In contrast, San Diego’s leaders remain tragically out of step with the rest of the state and with the voters.
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