Federal end-run around Montana laws...

[PTK]

Yesterday, about a dozen medical marijuana dispensaries and greenhouses were raided by Federal agents (link), here in Montana. CBD-rich marijuana (CBD being the medicinally active compound, instead of THC) was the main item seized, it seems.

The timing is too perfect - yesterday, we stalled a repeal of medical marijuana here in MT. Two hours later, the raids (which had already been authorized on the 10th to be performed in the next 14 days) were set in motion simultaneously across the state.

These raids were in violation of State laws, and show contempt for the will of the people of this State of Montana. Not only was the will of the people here disregarded, but several small businesses were irreparably damaged as well.

As a friend of mine said, I'm sure Obama will form a council to discuss the possibility of forming a special action group to debate the potential of forming a committee to allow medical marijuana on a federal level. His direct "orders" to not proceed with raids/investigations into medical marijuana dispensaries and users seem to have been for nothing.

Someday, somewhere, on some raid, someone will stand up. That someone will say, enough is enough, and proceed to defend their rights, their patients, and their property - with force. Someday, a raiding party will meet armed resistance.

This is how wars start, ladies and gentlemen. This is how wars start.

[kgbsquirrel]

Hear, hear!

[PTK]

Just in case anyone thinks that I am advocating violence, I am not - I am advocating working within the system to prevent this sort of raid from occurring again, to prevent the eventual violence that is a logical conclusion of current policies.

[HankB]

Are there any Federal prisons in Montana?

If the Feds arrest someone in Montana on Federal charges, where do they take them?

Couldn't Montana prisons, lockups, and correctional facilities simply refuse to accept someone busted on Federal charges?

[PTK]

As a friend of mine said just now in regards to why there were no arrests, "It's really hard to prosecute if you simply cannot find a jury."

[Perd Hapley]

Someday, somewhere, on some raid, someone will stand up. That someone will say, enough is enough, and proceed to defend their rights, their patients, and their property - with force. Someday, a raiding party will meet armed resistance.

This is how wars start, ladies and gentlemen. This is how wars start.

Perhaps if we were talking about a much larger group of people, and with a more sympathetic cause. 

[PTK]

Here in MT, more than 70% of citizens support medical marijuana at the last poll. We're very well armed, as a citizenry, motivated on this issue, and overall as a state, fed up with the Feds. About 30,000 patients, and many more supporters and caregivers, many employees of the dispensaries, etc.

This IS a large group of people, for the state of Montana.

[AZRedhawk44]

Perhaps if we were talking about a much larger group of people, and with a more sympathetic cause. 

First they came for the communists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a communist.

Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Jew.

Then they came for me
and there was no one left to speak out for me.

[AZRedhawk44]

Ask yourself this, fistful (even if you don't like pot or pot-smokers):

How are pot smokers hurting you or taking anything away from you, with legalized marijuana?

and:

How are pot smokers hurting you or taking anything away from you with ILLEGAL marijuana?

Which do you think costs you more taxes, more lives, and introduces more violent crime into your community?

[PTK]

The first reports/rumors of homes being raided are coming out. People who are patients at the dispensaries raided yesterday, so far... :(

This is going to end poorly. Mark my words.


EDIT: Quite a few personal and business checking and savings accounts have been frozen. The warrants state that they are going to take "cash, checks, money orders, jewelry, computers, digital storage for same, electronics, files of any kind  (such as records, filing cabinets, etc.), vehicles suspected of being used at any point in time for transportation of marijuana, marijuana, prescription medication, firearms" and "any valuables that may have been attained through proceeds of marijuana sales or any other drug."

Cute.

As if it wasn't bad enough that over 100 people lost their jobs yesterday due to the raids, many people will be broke and homeless by the end of this debacle.

[Seenterman]

What needs to happen is the local LEO's need to arrest the Feds in the process of stealing a state licensed businesses product. It would be funny to see a state court convict a bunch of DEA agents on theft charges.   I wonder how many DEA agents are willing to risk felony charges for their job?

People who are patients at the dispensaries

Why the heck are they raiding patients? Is the DEA going for broke to gin up bad feelings about their agency? Growers I could understand in their train of though (not that I support it) but raiding patients just seems a bit malicious. 

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

how do you see the raids as violating montana law?

[PTK]

How do you see thinking, reading and writing properly as such a chore?

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

even norml and the other similarly aligned sites aren't reporting raids on patients homes.  you have a source?

[HankB]

What needs to happen is the local LEO's need to arrest the Feds in the process of stealing a state licensed businesses product. It would be funny to see a state court convict a bunch of DEA agents on theft charges.   I wonder how many DEA agents are willing to risk felony charges for their job?

Lon Horiuchi was indicted by a state court for killing Vicki Weaver. A tame Federal judge transferred jurisdiction to a Federal court so he could dismiss the charges as part of the whitewash.

Armed resistance is not such a good idea . . . it ended badly for those at Waco once Uncle Sam brought more firepower (including armor!) to bear.

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

i often wondered what tricks he used to avoid trial
now i know
judge had an interesting history but i don't think he had a choice on the transfer to fed court.  the supremacy thing is just wrong from the ground up though i doubt he woulda been convicted in a federal court even if brought to trial

i do wonder if the judge was squeezed a bit



A statute dating back to 1815, the latest analogue of which is codified at 28 U.S.C. § 1442, allows removal of state criminal cases where the defendant is a federal officer who alleges that the act was committed in carrying out his federal duties. Under this, a number of state criminal cases have been removed to federal court and there summarily dismissed, thus preventing trial on the merits of whether the officer or agent was in fact carrying out his official duties, or acting outside of them. A famous example of such a removal was the case of Idaho v. Lon Horiuchi, alleged to have committed manslaughter of Vicki Weaver in the Ruby Ridge encounter.[3]

State courts do not adjudicate whether an action could be properly removed. Once a defendant has filed a notice to remove a case, jurisdiction is transferred automatically and immediately by operation of law from the state court to the federal court. Any objection to removal must be presented to the federal court. If a federal court finds that the notice of removal was in fact defective or that the federal court does not have jurisdiction, the case is remanded to the state court.

[AZRedhawk44]

A statute dating back to 1815, the latest analogue of which is codified at 28 U.S.C. § 1442, allows removal of state criminal cases where the defendant is a federal officer who alleges that the act was committed in carrying out his federal duties. Under this, a number of state criminal cases have been removed to federal court and there summarily dismissed, thus preventing trial on the merits of whether the officer or agent was in fact carrying out his official duties, or acting outside of them. A famous example of such a removal was the case of Idaho v. Lon Horiuchi, alleged to have committed manslaughter of Vicki Weaver in the Ruby Ridge encounter.[3]

State courts do not adjudicate whether an action could be properly removed. Once a defendant has filed a notice to remove a case, jurisdiction is transferred automatically and immediately by operation of law from the state court to the federal court. Any objection to removal must be presented to the federal court. If a federal court finds that the notice of removal was in fact defective or that the federal court does not have jurisdiction, the case is remanded to the state court.

I'd love to see a SCOTUS challenge on that, going on grounds of 10A.

USC does not trump State Constitutions.  Only COTUS does.  If memory serves, the Montana MJ laws were written as State Constitutional Amendments, were they not?

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

appears not

http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/mca_toc/50_46.htm

would be most surprised to see that anywhere

[MechAg94]

Why aren't they doing all these raids in California instead of Montana? 

[AZRedhawk44]

Nuts.

Oh, well.

COTUS says USC trumps state law.

Not much case here for MT, unless they want to go bawls-to-walls and embody the MJ law into their State Constitution.

[AZRedhawk44]

Why aren't they doing all these raids in California instead of Montana? 

You already know the answer to that...

We have a Communist in the White House.  He directs the jackboots.  They're going to Montana, Arizona, Wyoming, etc.  All the "leave me the hell alone!" States.

When we have RINO/NeoCons in the White House, then the jackboots will go to California.

When we have a Tea Partier/Libertarian in the White House, he'll send the jackboots home with pink slips, as is proper.

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

http://www.denverpost.com/ci_14393797

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/02/16/dea-raid-has-pot-clubs-wo_n_464598.html


lots more

[zxcvbob]

Someday, a [federal] raiding party will meet armed resistance.
This is how wars start, ladies and gentlemen. This is how wars start.

That armed resistance needs to be the State Police, or an extremely well-armed Sheriff's department.  Then you'll have a proper 10A constitutional crisis.

[Perd Hapley]

Ask yourself this, fistful (even if you don't like pot or pot-smokers):
How are pot smokers hurting you or taking anything away from you, with legalized marijuana?
and:
How are pot smokers hurting you or taking anything away from you with ILLEGAL marijuana?
Which do you think costs you more taxes, more lives, and introduces more violent crime into your community?

I wouldn't mind seeing the feds lose this, and I'm not opposed to legalization, but I wasn't talking about my own opinions. It just seems to me that this issue affects a pretty small minority, many of whom have significant medical problems. So how is a war going to come out of this?

Now maybe Montana is much different on this issue, but from what I can tell, drug legalization is not an issue that most Americans care about.

But I don't claim to know much about this, so feel free to educate me.

Here in MT, more than 70% of citizens support medical marijuana at the last poll. We're very well armed, as a citizenry, motivated on this issue, and overall as a state, fed up with the Feds. About 30,000 patients, and many more supporters and caregivers, many employees of the dispensaries, etc.

This IS a large group of people, for the state of Montana.

Oh, OK. Thank you.

How do you see thinking, reading and writing properly as such a chore?

 

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

an end run around the laws but it wasn't the feds it appears   oops!

http://billingsgazette.com/news/local/article_01f9d21f-b862-5ae5-bd48-7b17723d869d.html

Federal agents executed 30 search warrants in 13 Montana cities Monday, with the focus on medical-marijuana businesses. While there have been no arrests yet, agents seized at least $3.6 million from various bank accounts, according to court documents and the U.S. Attorney's Office.

In one case, undercover agents repeatedly bought marijuana from one of the owners of Montana Cannabis, which has offices in Helena, Billings and Miles City. According to court documents, Montana Cannabis also bought large amounts of marijuana from a dispensary in Bozeman after its grow operation in Helena was vandalized.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Victoria Francis said in a statement Tuesday afternoon that the raids came at the end of an 18-month investigation involving multiple federal agencies. Francis didn't list the targets of the search warrants, but many are connected to medical-marijuana businesses.


whole lotta facts in the rest of the article with some of em coming from others in the business    don't you hate it when a conspiracy falls apart?