Roseville Medical Marijuana Distributor Indicted

CBS13/Associated Press ^ | 01/14/2005

[Mojave]

(AP) ROSEVILLE A federal grand jury has indicted a former Roseville medical marijuana distributor on drug and money laundering charges.

A 19-count indictment says Richard James Marino grossed two-point-seven-five (m) million dollars in the eight months in 2004 when he operated his medical marijuana store, Capitol Compassionate Care.

[Mojave]

"U-S Attorney McGregor Scott says Marino was a big-time narcotics trafficker who tried to hide behind California's medical marijuana law."

The "medical marijuana" scam continues to unravel.

[thoughtomator]

Or maybe they just wanted to steal his stuff. Pot isn't generally considered a narcotic, btw.

[Mojave]

There is a widespread misperception that most of the people who are using marijuana for so-called medical purposes are either seriously or terminally ill," said Gordon Taylor, assistant special agent in charge of the federal Drug Enforcement Administration in Sacramento. 'It's becoming abundantly clear to us at the DEA that many of the people using marijuana under the cover of state marijuana laws are doing so simply to justify their chronic use of marijuana and their desire to get high."
--The Sacramento Bee

[thoughtomator]

This is from people trying to explain where $50 billion of taxpayer dollars which somehow achieves zero net result has gone. Never mind the testimony of actual patients, right?

I'll believe a businessman over a government agency whose daily operations constitute a gross offense to the Constitution and the very idea of law, any day.

[jazusamo]

Any person with half a brain doesn't have to be told this by an FBI agent to know it's true.

[Mojave]

zero net result

Zero source.

Another drug dealer caught, another exposure of the fraud that "medical marijuana" has become.

[Mojave]

Yep.

Inside the lobby, customers exchanged stories with one another and shared where they were typically going for their “goods.” One man wore a neck brace; another sat in a wheelchair. But a younger woman in trendy attire also came in to exchange the kind of pot she got.

“I paid for the Acapulco Gold, but the bag you gave me says Placer Gold on it,” she complained to the male employee behind the bullet-proof glass window.

Roseville Press-Tribune

[jazusamo]

A year or so ago I saw a segment about a retired doctor in Oregon who went back into part time practice to write marijuana prescriptions. The old fart found a real lucrative way to enhance his retirement.

[Vaquero]

AH Cal-e-for-knee-a:



Puff, the magic dragon lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called honah lee,
Little jackie paper loved that rascal puff,
And brought him strings and sealing wax and other fancy stuff. oh

Puff, the magic dragon lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called honah lee,
Puff, the magic dragon lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called honah lee.

Together they would travel on a boat with billowed sail
Jackie kept a lookout perched on puff’s gigantic tail,
Noble kings and princes would bow whene’er they came,
Pirate ships would lower their flag when puff roared out his name. oh!

Puff, the magic dragon lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called honah lee,
Puff, the magic dragon lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called honah lee.

A dragon lives forever but not so little boys
Painted wings and giant rings make way for other toys.
One grey night it happened, jackie paper came no more
And puff that mighty dragon, he ceased his fearless roar.

His head was bent in sorrow, green scales fell like rain,
Puff no longer went to play along the cherry lane.
Without his life-long friend, puff could not be brave,
So puff that mighty dragon sadly slipped into his cave. oh!

Puff, the magic dragon lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called honah lee,
Puff, the magic dragon lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called honah lee.

[TheGeezer]

I'm confused.

I'll believe a businessman over a government agency whose daily operations constitute a gross offense to the Constitution and the very idea of law, any day.

Are you asserting that the DEA's operations "constitute a gross offense to the Constitution and the very idea of law"? If so, I think you'd better acquaint yourself with the history of drug regulation in the U.S. and why the DEA exists.

It was unregulated drug trade that resulted in unethical business practices that killed people. And while it is probably true that the relatives of persons killed by poisonous formulations will not repeat business with the lethal vendor, eventually driving unethical vendors out of business, that market model is very unpopular with potential victims of unregulated, profit-motivated drug producers.

Sometimes common sense trumps libertarianism.

[Mojave]

[thoughtomator]

This isn't about pharmaceuticals, this is about declaring a plant illegal and using police state methods to enforce it. Need a list of explicit Constitutional rights that are violated by the activities of the DEA?

[Mojave]

[Mojave]

This isn't about pharmaceuticals

Yep. "Medical marijuana" is a scam.

[Jonathon Spectre]

How good of all you conservatives to cheer on the government helping to kill the sick.

This site has really become a cesspool.

[Mojave]

Backwards. The drug dealer posing as a healer was busted.

[thoughtomator]

Seems the newcomers lack a basic education in the powers granted by the Constitution to the federal government.

[TheGeezer]

A postscript:

This is from people trying to explain where $50 billion of taxpayer dollars which somehow achieves zero net result has gone. Never mind the testimony of actual patients, right?

Patient testimony is called anecdotal evidence by academic researchers. It is given extremely low to no credence since patient testimony alone is very tainted by patient bias and predispositions.

It is clinical trials, managed by professional researchers (not attorneys or politicians), that discover the science of a given preparation, and such trials have revealed that MJ is not helpful in pain management to any worthwhile degree. Amazingly, even MJ's active compounds when isolated do not show significant effectiveness, especially when compared to true pain management compounds.

Additionally, the risk/benefit ratio of MJ use is unacceptable when the MJ is smoked. Its very high temperature is more damaging to the mouth, trachea, and lungs of users than that of tobacco. Adherents of MJ use for pain (again, this is anecdotal evidence) have reported that ingestion of MJ is far less effective for pain management than smoking it.

In other words, a drug having little scientific evidence of benefit must be delivered in its most harmful form to the patient if what little benefit it may have may be obtained. That gives one the impression that this whole medical marijuana business is bogus. The preponderance of science indicates that it is bogus and that the California experiment is political and not scientific.

I've always wondered: is this far-left adventure in the Land of the Whispering Bushes an ironic states-rights revolution? I mean, will druggies lead the nation back to a time when the states regulate civil rights and the FDA is abolished?

[thoughtomator]

It's pretty disingenuous to use the worst pot that can be cultivated as a basis for evaluation. Come now, you can't be naive enough to believe that those trials were conducted with indifference to the outcome. They're no more valid than any other politically-motivated "research". Even if they were, there is no Constitutional basis for the federal government to assert this power. How free is a man who cannot even choose his own medicine?

[Mojave]

This drug dealer's operation was shut down, but most dispensaries in California remain open.