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SAN FRANCISCO: Pot dispensaries closing under threat of feds
San Francisco Chronicle ^ | 2/7/8 | Wyatt Buchanan

Posted on 02/07/2008 8:02:55 AM PST by SmithL

Medical marijuana in San Francisco may be going up in smoke.

In late December, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration sent letters to landlords of buildings that housed medical cannabis dispensaries in the city, telling them they face the loss of their property and possibly prison if the businesses stay open.

Now, less than two months later, seven of the city's 28 dispensaries have closed or are on the verge of closing, according to medical marijuana supporters and activists. They fear more will follow.

"It's like a dagger in the heart," said Wayne Justmann, a medical marijuana advocate. "We're barely holding on right now."

Dispensary owners are being guarded about the closures, as they are fearful that speaking publicly will draw attention to their individual businesses and put them at greater risk.

So far, the Mason Street Dispensary in the Tenderloin district has closed completely. One of the city's older dispensaries, 194 Church St. - which last year city supervisors tried to name as a historic site - no longer sells marijuana but is still open for people to use the space to get high.

One of the best known dispensaries, the San Francisco Patients' Cooperative on Divisadero Street, will shut its doors at the end of the month after nearly 20 years, according to the Rev. Randi Webster, one of the cooperative's founders.

The owner of the building was "severely frightened" by the DEA letter, and the cooperative founders and the landlord had agreed years ago to part ways in the event of a situation like this, Webster said.

Activists will not disclose the locations of other dispensaries that have or may soon shut their doors.

(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Government; US: California
KEYWORDS: anslingersghost; jackbootedthugs; potheads; reefermadness; sanfranciscovalues; upinsmoke; wod; wodlist
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1 posted on 02/07/2008 8:03:04 AM PST by SmithL
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To: SmithL

Haha!


2 posted on 02/07/2008 8:08:00 AM PST by 2banana (My common ground with terrorists - they want to die for islam and we want to kill them)
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To: SmithL

Next they’ll be throwing cancer patients into prison just to see what happens.


3 posted on 02/07/2008 8:09:58 AM PST by Soothesayer (I'm breaking out of this hand basket!)
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To: SmithL

Glad to hear the federal government has their priorities straight. DEA bullying continues...


4 posted on 02/07/2008 8:12:30 AM PST by MinnesotaLibertarian
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To: 2banana
Glad to see you're happy about Fascism! You must be one of those folks who LIKES McCain and has no use for the Bill of Rights.

Why are you on this site??

5 posted on 02/07/2008 8:14:08 AM PST by KeepUSfree (WOSD = fascism pure and simple.)
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To: Soothesayer
Because every single person frequenting at these 28 dispensaries has a horrible, life-threatening disease that only magical THC can cure.

Spare us the hysterical, emotionalized lefty propaganda.

6 posted on 02/07/2008 8:15:18 AM PST by wideawake (Why is it that those who call themselves Constitutionalists know the least about the Constitution?)
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To: KeepUSfree
happy about Fascism!

Like most utter morons who throw the word "fascism" around the way a baby throws food, you have no conception of what the word means.

I know people who survived Hitler's Germany, and who lived through the Soviet occupation of the Ukraine.

They know what fascism really is, and they would laugh bitterly at a privileged nitwit who compares enforcement of constitutionally vetted law made by a duly elected representative assembly to the hell on earth they endured.

no use for the Bill of Rights

There is no right to deal drugs in the Constitution.

Why are you on this site??

A question you might more justly ask yourself.

7 posted on 02/07/2008 8:24:58 AM PST by wideawake (Why is it that those who call themselves Constitutionalists know the least about the Constitution?)
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To: SmithL

The best solution may be for the SF government to let the dispensaries operate out of government buildings. That way the federal agents would have to go after the city itself. Then the Mayor and others will have to stand behind their policies, and settle the matter one way or another.


8 posted on 02/07/2008 8:26:16 AM PST by BlueStateBlues (Blue State for business, Red State at heart..)
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To: wideawake
There is no right to deal drugs in the Constitution.

There is no prohibition either...Not ALL rights are enumerated in the constitution.

9 posted on 02/07/2008 8:31:03 AM PST by Edgerunner (At the heart of every absurdity, lies a liberal.)
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To: SmithL

“Freedom for us is a prison for the rulers of minds....”


10 posted on 02/07/2008 8:32:50 AM PST by glasseye
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To: Edgerunner
There is no prohibition either...

Of course. Therefore, such matters as regulating the trafficking in medicines and purported medicines is left up to either the states or the people.

The people, through their agent the US Congress, have legislated on this matter.

11 posted on 02/07/2008 8:37:33 AM PST by wideawake (Why is it that those who call themselves Constitutionalists know the least about the Constitution?)
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To: KeepUSfree
Glad to see you're happy about Fascism! You must be one of those folks who LIKES McCain and has no use for the Bill of Rights.

Why are you on this site??

Dude - if you want to go out and get stoned - then go out and get stoned. Don't feed me the lines of this is a medical necessity and it is for the "good" of the public...

12 posted on 02/07/2008 8:38:53 AM PST by 2banana (My common ground with terrorists - they want to die for islam and we want to kill them)
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To: SmithL
"the San Francisco Patients' Cooperative on Divisadero Street, will shut its doors at the end of the month after nearly 20 years"

They're having a "Going Out of Business Sale". Medical marijuana for $460/ounce -- marked down from $480/ounce.

$480/ounce is "compassion"? That's caring about the sick and dying? You can get it illegally for half that price!

Look. If the medical marijuana supporters don't care about the sick and dying, why should I?

13 posted on 02/07/2008 8:49:26 AM PST by robertpaulsen
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To: wideawake

You ARE Wide Awake alright!


14 posted on 02/07/2008 8:51:17 AM PST by Edgerunner (At the heart of every absurdity, lies a liberal.)
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To: robertpaulsen
... You can get it illegally for half that price! ...

Hey man, Caring Costs! ... Just give them a couple Billion dollars to save the Earth and be quiet!

15 posted on 02/07/2008 8:55:57 AM PST by TexGuy (If it has the slimmest of chances of being considered sarcasm ... IT IS!)
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To: wideawake
There is no right to deal drugs in the Constitution.

Do you really believe that the only rights we have are those explicitly listed in the Constitution? The Constitution disagrees with you.
16 posted on 02/07/2008 9:03:39 AM PST by AnotherUnixGeek
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To: SmithL
Oh, I feel so much safer now that the feds are trumping state law (10th Amendment be damned) to stamp out the evil devil weed.

Gotta keep them white women from having sex with black jazz musicians, doncha know ...

17 posted on 02/07/2008 9:21:26 AM PST by bassmaner (Hey commies: I am a white male, and I am guilty of NOTHING! Sell your 'white guilt' elsewhere.)
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To: SmithL

It’s an interesting experiment... Combining this with the proposed cutting of funds due to Berkeley’s insult to the Marines... Let’s put a dome on the city and watch!


18 posted on 02/07/2008 9:21:40 AM PST by Son Of The Godfather ("You're it!"... Get it?... It's a "tag" line. :))
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To: wideawake

thank you - sir - for this posting.


19 posted on 02/07/2008 9:23:48 AM PST by Rummenigge (there are people willing to blow out the light because it casts a shadow)
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To: AnotherUnixGeek
Do you really believe that the only rights we have are those explicitly listed in the Constitution?

No, I am saying that if you believe that a federal law against drug dealing is unconstitutional, you had better point out an explicit guarantee of the right to deal drugs in the Constitution.

20 posted on 02/07/2008 9:27:20 AM PST by wideawake (Why is it that those who call themselves Constitutionalists know the least about the Constitution?)
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