OFF THE WIRE
AARON CLAVERIE
Agents with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and Temecula police officers raided a medical marijuana storefront in western Temecula and a property in Lake Elsinore on Thursday morning, reportedly seizing marijuana-laced edible products, pot plants and medical marijuana.
The operation, the Co-Op Social Club on Via Dos Picos, which is near a Department of Motor Vehicles office, is affiliated with Cooperative Patients Services, a self-dubbed cooperative that is clashing with the city of Temecula in court in a bid to defeat the city's ban on medical marijuana dispensaries.
The material seized Thursday by DEA agents, who smashed the suite's door to access its offices, included paperwork and other items that were sealed in cardboard evidence boxes and loaded into a van and police cruisers.
DEA Special Agent Sarah Pullen said the agency served two search warrants Thursday: one at the storefront on Via Dos Picos in Temecula and one at a property on Red Gum in Lake Elsinore.
"We seized approximately 19 pounds of marijuana and 117 pounds of edible products containing marijuana at the business and 50 plants along with dried marijuana at the residence. No arrests were made today and this was part of an ongoing investigation," she said.
Asked if the two operations were linked, Pullen said, "They're definitely related."
Douglas Lanphere, one of the founders of Cooperative Patients Services and its former director, said in a telephone interview Thursday afternoon that he serves as the caretaker of the Lake Elsinore property, which he called a nursery.
Lanphere, who was contacted Thursday by federal agents but not arrested, stepped down as director nine months ago and moved to Oregon. He was in town for a medical procedure, he said.
"All they're doing is smashing and grabbing," he said, talking about the raids.
The storefront's director Terry Wilson said the force used in the raid and the timing ---- well before the shop was scheduled to open at 11 a.m. ---- was "totally unnecessary."
"If they wanted to come in all they had to do was say so," he said, adding that he disputes the weights of the materials that were reported.
Wilson theorized the action by the DEA, which he said only serves to embolden the black market, could be motivated by the upcoming presidential election and the Obama administration's push to "score points with the other side of the fence."
With the closure of the operation, there are no longer any medical marijuana storefronts in Temecula, Temecula police Lt. Rick Young said.
The Temecula and Lake Elsinore raids come on the heels of a similar action by the DEA in Murrieta last week at the Greenhouse Cannabis Club and the home of its director.
In that raid, agents reportedly seized 11 pounds of marijuana, 22 pounds of edible marijuana products and 21 plants. Agents also seized three firearms at the director's residence, Pullen said.
Around 11:15 a.m., as the agents were wrapping up the raid, one of the operation's patients, Darlene Mestas of Temecula, drove into the parking lot to find the busted door.
"They're closed," she was told by a police officer.
Interviewed afterward in the parking lot, Mestas, a Temecula resident since 1992, said the collective offers a special kind of medical marijuana ---- strains that are high in cannibidiol, known as CBD ---- that treats her nerve disorder and other associated ailments without giving her a high.
"This is not one of these pop-up shops that push stuff out to kids," she said. "That's not what this place is about."
Mestas, who said she is "severely sick," said the raid would force her to seek out her medicine from local growers.
Wilson and Lanphere said in a conference call there are other patients in the area, including patients that call them inquiring about the raid, who will no longer be able to obtain "tested and verified" medication and be forced to rely on unreliable delivery services.
Temecula's ban on dispensaries was passed in 2006 and the city officials who have argued in its defense have said there is nothing in state law that requires a city to allow dispensaries within its boundaries.
That view is shared by other cities in the state that have tried to prevent dispensaries from taking root within their borders.
With a notable exception, the state's courts and appeal courts have agreed, ruling that cities can ban dispensaries ---- defined as a medical marijuana retail operation in a commercial setting ---- on the grounds that they constitute a public nuisance that violates a zoning law.
The exception was a ruling handed down by the 4th District Court of Appeal's Division Three in Santa Ana this month that found the city of Lake Forest's ban on dispensaries, via a zoning law, contradicted state law.
The ruling also specified that state law allows a retail operation to provide marijuana as long as it is grown on site.
The Lake Forest ruling was decried by both cities and medical marijuana operations that are located in urban areas, far from the areas where their product is grown, and the two combatants have called on the state Supreme Court to provide some legal clarity.
In the legal action pitting the city of Temecula against Cooperative Patients Services, the case has been briefed and placed on the assignment panel for the appeal court's Division Two in Riverside, according to the court's docket.
In February, the California League of Cities and California State Association of Counties filed briefs in support of the city.
The difference in divisions might be key because Division Two judges have ruled twice, in cases involving Upland and Riverside, to affirm the right of municipalities to ban dispensaries.
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Related: TEMECULA: Old Town medical marijuana operation expanding services
Related: TEMECULA: Wooden bat seized, guard dog shot during search warrant operation
Related: MURRIETA: Medical marijuana collective owner to stand trial
COMMENTS, 1. Like they didn't see this coming. I think anyone wanting to start a collective in a city which is not receptive is absolutely stupid.
All it takes is a phone call the feds and they come running.
Article VI of our constitution states when Federal Law and State Law are in conflict, Federal Law wins. It basically null and voids the state laws. So here in California 420 laws are illegal. 2. Federal law does not make California law illegal. While the feds can enforce federal law in California our law enforcement are not required to enforce federal law. California could decriminalize all drugs and leave drug law enforcement to the federal government. Whether cities and counties can regulate cultivation and distribution is questionable.
I'd like to see a sheriff arrest a federal agent for breaking and entering. In California's eyes there's no lawful authority for a person to break into a medical cannabis cooperative. Sheriffs are required to enforce California law.
Read more: http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/temecula/temecula-medical-marijuana-storefront-raided-pounds-of-cannabis-seized/article_1d1b9143-98d7-5645-97c2-dfa58d08fe94.html#ixzz1q57nAx9Q
The operation, the Co-Op Social Club on Via Dos Picos, which is near a Department of Motor Vehicles office, is affiliated with Cooperative Patients Services, a self-dubbed cooperative that is clashing with the city of Temecula in court in a bid to defeat the city's ban on medical marijuana dispensaries.
The material seized Thursday by DEA agents, who smashed the suite's door to access its offices, included paperwork and other items that were sealed in cardboard evidence boxes and loaded into a van and police cruisers.
DEA Special Agent Sarah Pullen said the agency served two search warrants Thursday: one at the storefront on Via Dos Picos in Temecula and one at a property on Red Gum in Lake Elsinore.
"We seized approximately 19 pounds of marijuana and 117 pounds of edible products containing marijuana at the business and 50 plants along with dried marijuana at the residence. No arrests were made today and this was part of an ongoing investigation," she said.
Asked if the two operations were linked, Pullen said, "They're definitely related."
Douglas Lanphere, one of the founders of Cooperative Patients Services and its former director, said in a telephone interview Thursday afternoon that he serves as the caretaker of the Lake Elsinore property, which he called a nursery.
Lanphere, who was contacted Thursday by federal agents but not arrested, stepped down as director nine months ago and moved to Oregon. He was in town for a medical procedure, he said.
"All they're doing is smashing and grabbing," he said, talking about the raids.
The storefront's director Terry Wilson said the force used in the raid and the timing ---- well before the shop was scheduled to open at 11 a.m. ---- was "totally unnecessary."
"If they wanted to come in all they had to do was say so," he said, adding that he disputes the weights of the materials that were reported.
Wilson theorized the action by the DEA, which he said only serves to embolden the black market, could be motivated by the upcoming presidential election and the Obama administration's push to "score points with the other side of the fence."
With the closure of the operation, there are no longer any medical marijuana storefronts in Temecula, Temecula police Lt. Rick Young said.
The Temecula and Lake Elsinore raids come on the heels of a similar action by the DEA in Murrieta last week at the Greenhouse Cannabis Club and the home of its director.
In that raid, agents reportedly seized 11 pounds of marijuana, 22 pounds of edible marijuana products and 21 plants. Agents also seized three firearms at the director's residence, Pullen said.
Around 11:15 a.m., as the agents were wrapping up the raid, one of the operation's patients, Darlene Mestas of Temecula, drove into the parking lot to find the busted door.
"They're closed," she was told by a police officer.
Interviewed afterward in the parking lot, Mestas, a Temecula resident since 1992, said the collective offers a special kind of medical marijuana ---- strains that are high in cannibidiol, known as CBD ---- that treats her nerve disorder and other associated ailments without giving her a high.
"This is not one of these pop-up shops that push stuff out to kids," she said. "That's not what this place is about."
Mestas, who said she is "severely sick," said the raid would force her to seek out her medicine from local growers.
Wilson and Lanphere said in a conference call there are other patients in the area, including patients that call them inquiring about the raid, who will no longer be able to obtain "tested and verified" medication and be forced to rely on unreliable delivery services.
Temecula's ban on dispensaries was passed in 2006 and the city officials who have argued in its defense have said there is nothing in state law that requires a city to allow dispensaries within its boundaries.
That view is shared by other cities in the state that have tried to prevent dispensaries from taking root within their borders.
With a notable exception, the state's courts and appeal courts have agreed, ruling that cities can ban dispensaries ---- defined as a medical marijuana retail operation in a commercial setting ---- on the grounds that they constitute a public nuisance that violates a zoning law.
The exception was a ruling handed down by the 4th District Court of Appeal's Division Three in Santa Ana this month that found the city of Lake Forest's ban on dispensaries, via a zoning law, contradicted state law.
The ruling also specified that state law allows a retail operation to provide marijuana as long as it is grown on site.
The Lake Forest ruling was decried by both cities and medical marijuana operations that are located in urban areas, far from the areas where their product is grown, and the two combatants have called on the state Supreme Court to provide some legal clarity.
In the legal action pitting the city of Temecula against Cooperative Patients Services, the case has been briefed and placed on the assignment panel for the appeal court's Division Two in Riverside, according to the court's docket.
In February, the California League of Cities and California State Association of Counties filed briefs in support of the city.
The difference in divisions might be key because Division Two judges have ruled twice, in cases involving Upland and Riverside, to affirm the right of municipalities to ban dispensaries.
Related Stories
Related: TEMECULA: Marijuana operation still rolling in Old Town
Related: TEMECULA: Old Town medical marijuana operation expanding services
Related: TEMECULA: Wooden bat seized, guard dog shot during search warrant operation
Related: MURRIETA: Medical marijuana collective owner to stand trial
All it takes is a phone call the feds and they come running.
Article VI of our constitution states when Federal Law and State Law are in conflict, Federal Law wins. It basically null and voids the state laws. So here in California 420 laws are illegal.
I'd like to see a sheriff arrest a federal agent for breaking and entering. In California's eyes there's no lawful authority for a person to break into a medical cannabis cooperative. Sheriffs are required to enforce California law.
3. You are correct. It does not make the california law illegal but useless against federal law. Yes CA law enforcement doesn't have to enforce federal law. My point is to change the federal law to make it legal.
Read more: http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/temecula/temecula-medical-marijuana-storefront-raided-pounds-of-cannabis-seized/article_1d1b9143-98d7-5645-97c2-dfa58d08fe94.html#ixzz1q57nAx9Q
Read more: http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/temecula/temecula-medical-marijuana-storefront-raided-pounds-of-cannabis-seized/article_1d1b9143-98d7-5645-97c2-dfa58d08fe94.html#ixzz1q57NdnZf
