Authorities raided Charlie Lynch's California home.
"They say, 'Search warrant! Open the door, or we're gonna tear it down!" Lynch told me for my ABC special "Bailouts and Bull" (http://tinyurl.com/dk2dnb).
"I opened the door, and about 10 to 15 agents with shields, bulletproof vests, guns, masks. [They] threw me on the ground and ... had a gun to the back of my head."
The federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) seized 30 pounds of marijuana. Sheriff Pat Hedges said the facts were clear, "Charlie Lynch was making a profit off of selling marijuana."
It wasn't hard for the authorities to locate Lynch's marijuana operation. They were probably tipped off by the public ribbon-cutting ceremony Lynch held — the one that the mayor of his town attended, along with city councilmen and the president of the Chamber of Commerce. The police were invited, too.
You see, Lynch sold medical marijuana, which has been declared legal by California and 12 other states. California says if a doctor recommends that you use the drug, it's perfectly legal.
Singer Melissa Etheridge is happy about that. When she got breast cancer, chemotherapy took her hair and made her sick. She told me that chemo kills more than cancer. "It's like putting acid in your body. You have absolutely no strength."
The pills to treat the side effects have their own side effects.
She said, "Take the one drug for pain. It makes you constipated. So then you have to take the drug that helps you not be constipated. But that drug [gives you] diarrhea, and so you have to take another drug to combat the side effects of that."
So her doctor recommended marijuana.
"I had a choice: those drugs and all these side effects, or ... one remedy that takes care of all of the [side effects]."
It worked for high school student Owen Beck, too.
"I was playing soccer, and [my leg] was really hurting one day. ... I went and got an MRI. It was a medium-sized tumor."
Doctors amputated Owen's leg and gave him chemotherapy. Chemo tortured him the way it tortured Etheridge.
"It destroys your appetite, and whatever you can eat, you throw up."
When prescribed medicine didn't relieve the side effects, his doctors suggested medical marijuana.
"With the marijuana, I could do what I needed to do during the day and just not be in pain.
I could be comfortable."
Owen bought his marijuana from Charlie Lynch's dispensary. Sheriff Hedges says that Lynch's business "is not in the best interests of the community."
He was helping people, wasn't he? I asked Hedges.
"Well, you're making an assumption that he's helping people. He was primarily helping himself."
The sheriff's office's staked out Charlie's dispensary and sent in undercover agents to see if Charlie was breaking any part of California's law. He wasn't.
So after a year of diligently documenting that marijuana was indeed being sold by a marijuana dispensary, the sheriff handed the case over to the federal police, the DEA. U.S. law ludicrously calls marijuana a schedule 1 narcotic. That puts it in the same category as heroin.
Federal authorities cleverly avoided California's state courts and took Charlie into federal court, where his lawyers were not even allowed to tell the jury that medical marijuana is legal in California. Not surprisingly, Charlie was convicted. Possible sentence: 100 years in federal prison.
He told me his life has been destroyed. He is bankrupt; his girlfriend left him; and friends are afraid to talk to him.
President Obama has joked about his own marijuana use, but since his inauguration, federal police have raided five marijuana dispensaries in states where state law permits them. Last week, however, the administration announced it would no longer raid legal dispensaries. That bought Charlie Lynch some time. This week the federal judge postponed sentencing — pending more information about the Justice Department's new policy.
The feds still wanted to lock up Charlie Lynch. I don't know why. The DEA refuses to talk to me about it.
The war on drugs is idiotic. It deters few, drives drug use underground — making it more dangerous — and creates horrible crime.
Adults should be free to ingest whatever they want, knowing they are responsible for their actions.
John Stossel is co — anchor of ABC News' "20/20" and the author of "Myth, Lies, and Downright Stupidity." To find out more about John Stossel and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.
COPYRIGHT 2009 BY JFS PRODUCTIONS, INC.
DISTRIBUTED BY CREATORS SYNDICATE, INC.
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DO YOU THINK TAXPAYERS' MONEY, COMING FROM SOCIAL AND WELFARE
PROGRAMS, SHOULD HAVE BEEN USED FOR OBAMA'S CAMPAIGN!
Folks, the Change, needed for hard-working Taxpayers, that have a job at
present, ‘ain't gonna happen' unless you let the politicians know you're fed up
with what they've done to destroy America and America's future!' Obama's
‘deceit and hype', his bigger and greedy administration, will, unfortunately, finish
bankrupting America! Taxpayers, of all races, just thought they were fed up with
the Bush Administration! They're totally fed up with the Obama administration!
Have people been fools or what? Obama's well-written speeches made some of
his voters believe he was the only real man to be President, but, after only a
couple months on job, Taxpayers know better as he should have decided the
Number #1 priority should be, cutting politicians salaries and retirements to
$12,000.00 a year, for their less than one month of public service. ‘Fair Tax', to
include property taxes, should have been another top priority to cut spending.
Wouldn't this have been the right thing for him to do, instead of talking about all
the things he's going to do, thus, costing trillions more!”
Obama promised to redistribute wealth! In other words, raising taxes on highest
income earners who are private business owners! By allowing this to happen
would mean ‘no more jobs!' Raising taxes, increasing government spending,
allowing more power to his administration, and the creation of more massive
government bureaucracies, during these depressed times, will accomplish the
socialist's goal! Guess what, folks, these socialist and radical changes will come
back to haunt America for generations.Your children and grandchildren don't
stand a chance!
It was one thing for Obama to campaign for almost two years, spending millions
of dollars that's needed for America's debt and the homeless, rather than him
trying to prove he's ‘the man'! Do you think Taxpayers money, coming from
social and welfare programs, should have been used for Obamas' campaign? Do
you still think Obama is working for America's best interest?
For several decades, Taxpayers know politicians, of all races, are somewhat
responsible as they should have stopped the ‘tax and spend' politicians, long
ago, and put an end to ‘social and welfare programs', ‘non-profit organizations',
‘handouts', ‘bailouts', committees, sub-committees, this board and that board,
and any other organization that take any amount of Taxpayers' money. Let's take
a look at how some of these socialist and radical programs took place.
1977 - Community Reinvestment Act. Remember the Carter admininstration.
Along came the Clintons. At that time, the Democratic Congress intimidated
banks and other financial institutes into making sub-prime loans to high-risk
buyers. Therefore, Mr. Obama, you can stop telling Americans that ‘you inherited
the trillion dollar deficit from Mr. Bush', as people who actually work and pay
taxes, know you're lying. The ones who live off social and welfare programs
shouldn't have been pushed into thinking they could have the American dream
without working for it and frankly, couldn't care less as long as the illegitimates
keep coming along with the monthly checks they're not entitled to!
2000-2008 -Taxpayers remember when Barney Frank, Meeks, Waters, Dodd (just
to name a few) vouched for Freddie and Fannie stating “We don't have a crisis
and there's nothing wrong!” Taxpayers knew better. Even the homeless person
on the street knew better! What does this tell you?
Obama, Geithner, Frank, Waters, Dodd, Reid, Clinton, Pelosi, Kennedys, Raines,
Howard, and Johnson, (just to name a few) ‘vouch for each other, lie and are still
collecting a salary they're not entitled to!' Raines, Howard, and Johnson, you
know, part of the Fannie/Freddie groups, who walked away with 20-90 million
dollar parachutes! Taxpayers wonder how many millions politicians received?
By the way, don't politicians have some nerve saying that ‘stronger government
regulatory power is essential and broader powers are needed by them?' This may
be shocking to you, but you're absolutely not entitled to what power you have
now and Taxpayers would be fools to let you finish bankrupting America after
what some of you have done to this country!
2009 - Politicians are now pushing infrastructures stating “America's Highways,
bridges, water, sewer plants need money, manpower and a new vision!” A few
politicians have admitted these are temporary solutions. Until textile and
manufacturing jobs, actually putting people back to work, are brought back to
America, your ‘ideas of spending more money we don't have' isn't needed! The
people in these manufacturing jobs worked hard, paid taxes, bought houses,
cars, furniture, and clothes, and kept the economy rolling.
From early 1970 until 2009, the automakers continued ‘making lots of cars'! Not
good-made cars from America steel and components, but from plastic being sold
to America for huge profits! Didn't it occur to the ‘managers' that since almost
nothing put into this cars was made in America, that jobs would go ‘bye-bye', as
the people buying these cars were losing their jobs and stability because of Nafta
and Cafta! Doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure this out, now does it?
While I'm on a roll, it's time for AIG, Freddie, Fannie, several banks and
investments firms, GM, Chrysler, and others taking Taxpayers money, to file
bankruptcy, immediately, as they all need to learn how to run a business, keep up
with the times, and stop the politicians and their buddies from taking control of
Americans and their businesses!
Just think Obama is now stating ‘maybe, his new spending of almost another four
trillions will be partially paid off by 2012!' With What? Oh, I almost forgot, 2012 is
election year!
Comment: #1
Posted by: Shirley deLong
Mon Mar 30, 2009 10:09 AM
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Dear John:
Your column regarding the D.E.A. raiding the dispenseries is a situation that needs to be addressed by the current administration. In 1982, while with the D.E.A., I made a similar proposal on changing the marijuana laws, however the beauracrats with self serving interests (job security) killed the idea. I have sent an email and letter to President Obama and Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel dated January 26, 2009 stating the same position. I have not received a response to this date.
Sincerely,
Daniel J. Addario
Philadelphia Police Department Officer/Detective
Special Agent in Charge D.E.A., domestic & international
Chief Investigator, San Francisco District Attorney's Office
New Bern Police Commission
Comment: #2
Posted by: Daniel Addario
Wed Apr 1, 2009 11:09 AM
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