Weed-growing Mendocino retirees picket to get paid in capital

Sacramento Bee ^ | 3/26/10 | Peter Hehct

[SmithL]

Lea Ananda and life partner Shar Ananda settled in Mendocino County for a leisurely retirement growing pot.

Lea, 61, a former insurance examiner and Shar, 65, a retired hospital lab worker, bought a 26-foot geodesic dome and invested Shar's pension to fill it with seedings.

Their medical cannabis venture took off. They became growers for dispensaries, including three in Sacramento.

But the pot trade can have unexpected events.

Lea Ananda complained the P Street Health Center in Sacramento never paid $14,500 it owed them for weed.

Dispensary manager Wade Brown, 34, pleaded he had an excuse: Officers in Merced County confiscated seven pounds of pot he had collected from patient growers. Without weed to dispense, the pot shop was short on cash.

. . .

So the Anandas showed up outside the dispensary Tuesday. They held picket signs and demanded payment.

[the long march]

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Pot sellers and users who don’t pay their bills. I am soooooo shocked

[Frantzie]

Dopers ripping off other dopers. Priceless.

[Hodar]

"Officers in Merced County confiscated seven pounds of pot he had collected from patient growers. Without weed to dispense, the pot shop was short on cash."

So, if the police can raid a legally sanctioned pot distribution center and prevent them from selling legally sanctioned pot ... legally grown for the explicit purpose of being sold at a legally sanctioned distribution point - then can't they raid a Wal-mart and confiscate morphine or other prescription drugs, too?

[MindBender26]

Do you really believe the dopers are telling the truth here?

[Hodar]

Do you really believe the dopers are telling the truth here?

If the police took it, then there should be a police report .... certainly easy enough to verify, right? If the police did confiscate it; then we have a case of police 'theft' of private property, and a lawsuit should follow, right?

[rahbert]

Not really. The Feds do not recognize MJ as a prescription
drug. They classify it as not having any medicinal benefit.

Morphine, while highly regulated, is recognized.

[Hodar]

Whoa there ... so you are saying that 'No matter what a STATE decides is legal; the Federal Govt has the right to over-ride that decision and confiscate?'

So, if having a shotgun is legal in your state, but the Federal Gov't decides that no one should own one; the police should be able to come to your home and collect your weapons?

I guess I'm in the minority; I'm a States Right backer.

[rahbert]

I’m not necessarily saying that they have the right,
only that this is what Federal Law says.

See 21 U.S.C. §§ 812; 813; 802(34) and (35)

The supremacy clause of the Constitution would seem to give them cover.

[MindBender26]

No. Possession is still illegal per se under federal law, ergo it is contraband seizable on sight.

[Hodar]

So, you would rather that the Federal Gov’t call the shots, instead of your local or state gov’t? Sorry, I’m not willing to cede my personal property rights from my state, to Obama.

[Raymann]

I don’t want to cede my rights to anyone. I don’t care where you are, what you do on your property with your property is your business.

[LouAvul]

Lea Ananda complained the P Street Health Center in Sacramento never paid $14,500 it owed them for weed.

Oh the horror! Pot dealers getting ripped off. And dope smokers would have us believe they're all such principled people.

[SmithL]

How did you decide that the police had raided the dispensary?

The pot growers were from Mendocino County.
The dispensary is in Sacramento County.
The dealer was busted in Merced County, with the drugs.

[SmithL]

Sorry, I’m not willing to cede my personal property rights from my state, to Obama.

Sorry, but that ship has already sailed. States-Rights took a body-blow when SCOTUS decided that federal drug law trumped California medical-marijuana law.

[MindBender26]

No, I would rather have the universal gateway drug off the streets, rather than made legal by a bunch of high level drug pushers who bought off the politicians in Sacramento.

I did too many interviews with the Medical Marijuana and NORML crowd who admitted the medical of cannabis aspects were simply an excuse to legalize pot and what they really wanted was to profit from the legalization of all marijuana cocaine to buy their krep now.

[Hodar]

States-Rights took a body-blow when SCOTUS decided that federal drug law trumped California medical-marijuana law.

Sometimes the SCOTUS gets it wrong. 'Dred Scott' was one such example. Presently, the state of Utah has passed a law that essentially says "Any gun made in Utah, for sale to Utah residents, for use within the State of Utah is exempt from Federal Firearms jurisdiction". We'll see how that one stands up in court.

[SmithL]

I have always thought that medicinal marijuana was just an excuse to get high, and I voted against it. Nevertheless, I was very disappointed when SCOTUS ruled that federal law trumped state law on what SHOULD have been a state issue. Yeah, SCOTUS got it wrong.