By Ann Harrison

A celebration of the tenth anniversary of Prop 215 took place last night at the San Francisco Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center. The honored speaker of the evening was Dennis Peron, founder of the San Francisco Cannabis Buyers Club and the catalyst behind Prop. 215.

Peron's look back at the history of the medical cannabis movement is worth reading and I have transcribed it below from my notes. But this being election season, the politicians spoke first. First up was San Francisco City Supervisor Tom Ammiano. San Francisco City Supervisor Chris Daly then spoke followed by California State Assemblymember Mark Leno. Leno presented Peron with a proclamation from the California State Assembly thanking Peron and the medical cannabis movement. After an interlude of lively cabaret entertainment, Peron walked on stage and talked about Prop. 215.

Dennis Peron: It's great to see you, but I can't help thinking of people who are not here. I recently reviewed an old tape from the first club on Church Street and Beth Moore, Hazel Rodgers and Brownie Mary, all the people in the beginning are all dead. Pinky also died recently. It is with a heavy heart that I come here. I still miss these people and I think every day about people who are not here. Jonathan West who inspired me to start the Cannabis Buyers Club - my best friend and lover and brother. It is in their name. I did it for them. And I did it for the living. People had to die so that other people can live. Today we are going down memory lane for ten years.

Continue reading "Dennis Peron on The 10th Anniversary of Prop. 215" »

Posted by ann at 01:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Jurors In First Case Uneasy About Juzbasic's Earnings

By Ann Harrison

The San Francisco District Attorney's office said this week that it will retry marijuana possession and distribution charges against Tom "The Nurse" Juzbasic who runs a medical cannabis bicycle delivery service in the city. The new trial is set to begin April 7.

Juzbasic was arrested in June 2003 after he sold a quarter ounce of marijuana to undercover San Francisco police Inspector John Keane for $100. If convicted, Juzbasic could face up to three years in state prison.

A long-time medical cannabis activist, Juzbasic says he's been arrested seven times on charges of marijuana possession, possession for sale and cultivation, and had ten prior cases dismissed in state court. He asserts that San Francisco police regularly disregard the city's tradition of tolerance for medical cannabis and intends to set a legal precedent. On this latest charge, Jusbasic refused to plea bargain and instead appeared in court over sixty times making his one of the longest running marijuana cases in recent San Francisco history.

Juzbasic's first four-day jury trial in this case ended with a mistrial February 28th after a member of the jury refused to deliberate. But reactions to the evidence presented at the trail offers a rare view into what San Francisco juries consider acceptable boundaries for medical cannabis providers under Prop 215, California's 1996 Compassionate Use Act.

Although Juzbasic's jury had not yet taken a formal vote on whether to convict him, a show of hands requested by Judge Thomas J. Mellon Jr. indicated that all but one of the jurors would have voted to convict Juzbasic on a marijuana sales charge. All but two jurors indicated that they would have found him guilty on a second charge of possessing marijuana for sale.

Continue reading "San Francisco DA Will Retry Juzbasic Case" »

Posted by ann at 02:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

By Ann Harrison

Attorneys for eighteen people arrested during the DEA's raid on three San Francisco medical cannabis dispensaries last June argued in U.S. District Court today that their clients were targeted for prosecution because they were Asian.

Laurence Lichter, who represented defendant David Lee, filed a motion to dismiss the case based on selective prosecution and requested a hearing to examine discovery in the case that could support charges of racism.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Scoble, who is prosecuting the case
known as Operation Urban Harvest, told Judge Susan Illston that investigators are still sorting through 175,000 pages of information seized from the defendant's computers that will be admitted as evidence.

Lichter argued that the DEA, with the assistance of state and local law enforcement, had already conducted an extensive investigation of San Francisco's 40 or so medical cannabis dispensaries prior to the raid. But the DEA only arrested people associated with the three Asian-owned dispensaries and alleged during a subsequent press conference that they were members of an Asian organized crime ring.

"I think we will look back someday at this case and see that it is racism that explains these charges," said Lichter after the hearing.

Continue reading "Attorneys For Asian Dispensary Owners Say Federal Drug Charges Are Racist" »

Posted by ann at 08:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

On June 22, 2005, less than three weeks after the Gonzales v. Raich decision giving federal authorities the power to prosecute medical cannabis users and caregivers, three San Francisco dispensaries were raided by the DEA. Assisted by the San Francisco Police Department, federal agents arrested twenty people who were indicted on charges ranging from marijuana cultivation to money laundering.

Most of those arrested were Asian and the DEA claimed that the defendants were part of an "Asian Mafia." Lawyers representing the defendants have filed motions to dismiss the charges based on selective prosecution. On Friday, February 16, the accused will have a hearing at 11 am in front of Judge Susan Illston in U.S. District Court, 450 Golden Gate, San Francisco. I will be blogging an account of the proceedings here.

Posted by ann at 11:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The RCMP in Canada has apparently closed down one of the world's largest cannabis growers websites and at least one Canadian cannabis seed compay. Most troubling is that authorities seized the servers for these sites which reportedly held large databases of cannabis growers and enthusiasts. No confirmed information yet about arrests. If you are able to log onto these sites now it's likely they are being run as entrapment operations by law enforcement. --AH

Cannabisworld.com and Overgrow.com Seized By Police
by Marc Emery (03 Feb, 2006)
Overgrow.com, Cannabisworld.com, Heaven's Stairway Seed Company, and Eurohemp.com Shut Down and Servers Seized by Canadian Police

When the world's largest websites for cannabis growers and enthusiasts disappeared from the web on Monday, January 30, it was thought to be a server problem. As the week dragged on, tens of thousands of members, seed company sponsors, growers and fans worried there might be more than mere 'server' problems as Richard Calrisian (a pseudonym) had not made any statements in any web based media about any 'technical' problems.

Continue reading "Canadian Cannabis Web Sites Seized" »

Posted by ann at 11:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)