TheAgitator.com
We Won’t Raid Medical Marijuana Producers . . . so Long as They Aren’t Successful at It. And Don’t Talk About It.
Monday, February 15th, 2010Last Friday, the DEA raided a medical marijuana producer in Colorado. The story needs some fleshing out, but at the moment it appears that Chris Bartkowicz wasn’t violating any state law. Medical marijuana is legal in Colorado. His offense appears to have been boasting about how much money he makes growing the drug for patients.
DEA agents converged on the house Friday afternoon and, before leaving several hours later, removed dozens of marijuana plants in black plastic trash bags as well as numerous high-powered growing lights.
On Thursday night, 9News promoted a story about Bartkowicz’s operation, and on Friday morning, Bartkowicz was featured in a 9News story posted to its website and published in The Denver Post. The story was to air on television Friday night. He told the station he serves as a caregiver to a number of medical-marijuana patients and hoped to turn a profit this year in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
“I’m definitely living the dream now,” Bartkowicz told 9News.
The DEA is not only unapologetic, they appear to be blatantly ignoring last year’s directive from the Obama Justice Department instructing U.S. attorneys to allow medical marijuana growers and distributors to operate so long as they’re complying with state law.
Along with the raid, Jeffrey Sweetin, the Drug Enforcement Administration’s special agent in charge of the Denver office, sent a message to anyone involved in Colorado’s increasingly profitable medical-marijuana industry.
“It’s still a violation of federal law,” Sweetin said. “It’s not medicine. We’re still going to continue to investigate and arrest people.”
Bartkowicz is being held over the Presidents Day weekend while the office of Colorado U.S. Attorney David M. Gaouette decides if he’ll be charged.
Last October, I expressed some skepticism about Obama’s announcement to end the federal medical marijuana raids. My Reason colleague Jacob Sullum did too.
The DEA has been a rogue agency for some time now. They don’t care what the boss says, they own you and they’re going to make sure you know it.
Obviously Obama’s abysmal choice to head the agency is a continuation of that attitude and policy.
Shorter DEA spokersperson:
But but but it’s not medicine! It’s a plant that grows in the wild and has never killed anyone and uh… THE DEVIL PUT IT HERE! So we have to put you in jail for uh, mmm…THE CHILDRENS!.
Sweetin is a fucking asshole. What drives me insane is the delusional belief that government pointy-heads get to actually determine what is and is not medicine. The therapeutic effects of cannabinoids are not in dispute. They don’t disappear because the government says you can’t have it. Sweetin should have just stated the truth: “It may be medicine, but we would much rather allow people to suffer excruciating agony than have access to it.” Because that’s just the type of asshole organization the DEA is.
Maybe Obama will fire the man. I’d give him mad props for that, straight up.
Very disappointing.
Do you know that there was such a directive? I know that Obama *said* he was going to issue such a directive, but he’s said a lot of things.
If there was such a directive, then this is blatant insubordination and should be handled appropriately with firing and demotion. But my guess is that there was no such directive in the first place, just the promise of one.
#6 @Michael Chaney
Even if there is a “directive;” 1) it hasn’t been signed into law, 2) the DEA doesn’t report directly to the president, and 3) there is still a Federal law that states that marijuana is an illegal, controlled substance, so the DEA can righteously enforce that law, to justify its existence…
(Gee, I don’t know whether to scratch my watch, or wind my nuts…)
Government, by consent of the governed…
Ruining my day early Radley. Thanks a lot.
I can’t imagine anyone truly thought that Obama was serious when he said that he’d put an end to the raids.
This is a good thing.
The greater the chasm between the will of the people and the actions of governemnt, the quicker the resulting change.
I only regret that the pioneers end up at the side of the trail with arrows in their backs.
I don’t know why anyone would actually believe Obama was going to end the raids. Even if he wanted to (which I see no reason he would, why would you decrease government power?) I doubt that he could. Just look at that fascist Arpaio. The DEA has a budget magnitudes larger and thousands more employees. On top of that they have all come up in a system that led them to believe they were entitled to do what they want, when they want to whomever they want. Even if Obama gave the directions to stop why would anyone think they would do anything different the Arpaio and simply flip Obama the bird? Who would stop them? The Army? The Guard? They are a group of what amounts to government sanctioned gangsters and they are armed to the teeth. Politicians may be assholes, and you can build a good case many are border line simpletons, but I think most of them are smart enough to know when they would be putting their own lives at risk.
Excuse me if I don’t hold my breath waiting for that to happen.
I’d have the head of the DEA in front of my desk within 24 hours demanding an explantion, a public apology and the agent’s job. If the DEA boss doesn’t like it he could submit his resignation forthwith.
There are law enforcement professionals who reconize the folly of all this and have the ability to follow orders.
You forget that under the US Constitution, all executive branch employees are officers appointed by the President or his agents, even grunt federal employees. We may have added a new layer of bull crap to that through laws and regulations, but the President has the constitutional prerogative to dismiss an entire federal agency by executive order if its people won’t obey the law.
Also in Colorado, police arrest woman for having a name somewhat similar to a man living in Oklahoma. http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/02/15/colorado.mistaken.identity.arrest/index.html?hpt=C2
At least there is some outrage.
Mike T: that is not correct. The right of the President to hire and fire federal employees at will extends only to “officers,” who are subject to Senate confirmation. Thus, it excludes regular civil servants.
#7:
The DEA is under the executive branch, and as such falls under the jurisdiction of the POTUS. They have to do what he says (to state it simply). If he did issue a directive to them, it wouldn’t be “illegal” for them to ignore it, but it would be insubordination, i.e. disobeying a legal order of a superior. They could be fired, demoted, or reprimanded for it.
I don’t believe he actually made any directive in the first place. He’s probably just hoping that everybody forgot about it.
Everything he says has an expiration date on it.
Every. Single. Thing.
@ Mike T
My point in there was not so much that he was legally incapable of doing such but that, even if he had the authority, I simply do not think (for fear of his own life) would he disband the DEA. Furthermore, even giving them an order, such as stopping the raids, if they choose to ignore it he is basically shit out of luck. They have the guns, they can do what they want. If he gives the order to stop, and they do not stop (as appears to be happening) what are his possible options of recourse? Is he going to send in the FBI to arrest everyone at the DEA who refuses to listen to him? The idea of one law enforcement branch going against another is absurd (I mean I really see no reason they would do it, just look out in Arizona) and even if it was a possibility I do not see it happening for the simple reason it would clearly shatter the public perception that the president is in charge and most cops are good guys. That is something no politician would do simply because it would negate their power.
I am continually amazed that some many folks DO NOT UNDERSTAND that the federal government has NO CONSTITUTIONAL power to make things criminal and/or to punish for those crimes. Read the Constitution.
Look at the fact that certain powers to punish were granted.
Question” Why was it necessary to grant punishmnet powers at all?
Answer: Because ourt form of government nas NO IMPLIED powers.
Question: Since it was necessary to grant the power to punish in the areas that are stated in the Constitution, Wouldn’t it be necessary to grant powers to punish in all the areas where the power was not granted?
Answer: Of course it is necessary. The police power was reserved to the States. The feds are not supposed to exercise police powers except in the five (5) ares where the Constitution allows the federal government to act.
And because the “necesssary and proper” clause is in the same section as the grants to punish, it cannot be read as granting such power. If it did, the specific grants would be repetitive and unnecessary, and that would indict the Framers as not knowing what they were doing.
Well, time to put the whole states rights thing to the test and use the colo nat’l guard to defend colorado citizens from the criminal actions of the fed gov’t.
Or how about an armed citizen’s militia?
Dave
So Obama is going to pardon Bartkowicz, right? Right?
I love the arrogance of Jeffrey Sweetin- I bet he has mirrored sunglasses and looks a lot like sgt. sedenko.
As someone moving to Colorado in a month to jump on the green rush this is highly disappointing.
Then again I wont be doing any interviews on the local news so no worries…
What’s more likely…
- The DEA will fall in line with the directives of the Justice Dept
- The DEA will be folded into Homeland Security and become even less restricted by public scrutiny (ala TSA)
Well, time to put the whole states rights thing to the test
Tried that back in the 1860′s. It was ugly.
[...] Radley Balko and Jacob Sullum expressed a great deal of skepticism four months ago about the Obama administration’s sudden move towards federalism. It looks as though that skepticism was prescient. While the federal government is giving foreign terrorists Miranda warnings, they’re raiding local pot growers and continuing one of the least defensible components of the war on drugs. If we can no longer rely on Obama’s word to allow a sort of benign neglect as a means towards local control, then Congress needs to act to stop wasting resources in states that clearly don’t want that kind of interference in their lives. (via John Holowach’s Twitter feed) [...]
Sad. Very sad.
FWB: “I am continually amazed that some many folks DO NOT UNDERSTAND that the federal government has NO CONSTITUTIONAL power….”
FWB, I grant you that the current structure exceeds the vision of the founders. That said, no one in the mainstream really cares, and is certainly not listening to radical proposals to restructure the current political system….something that I happen to agree with, since great revolutions usually make things a lot worse for a long time.
I wonder how much power the President really has over the bureaucracy that he was elected to manage. Even Caligula, who disbanded the senate and had himself declared a god, was ultimately overruled by subordinates in his own bureaucracy.
There are a lot of vested interests in the drug war and I don’t know that Obama is in a position to alienate them and risk disfavor. To do so might be political suicide and I don’t believe the people who attain the office of U.S. President are noted for their uncompromising commitment to principle (even if it’s something so simple as the principle of delivering on your campaign promises).
Short of a “Night of the Long Knives” Obama’s options are limited when it comes to reining in a powerful governmental agency that has been so glorified in the media and in Hollywood.
Mr. Bartkowicz should be taking some of those hundreds of thousands of dollars and start making some political donations. Calls to his DC Congresspeople should be at the top of his list when he gets out.
Obama has money now, he prefers blow. Let the slaves go to jail, keeping as many americans under the criminal justice system lets the police state grow.
Like the line from Blade Runner ” only two types cop, and little people.”
Thank god Plaxico Burress is locked up, and our troops are keeping us safe by murdering civilians in Afghanistan.
No cannabis or opium for the slaves here in America
Sorry to go off topic, but here’s an interesting case: Man charged with “failure to exercise care” while driving, purely based on videos he posted to YouTube. http://blogs.riverfronttimes.com/dailyrft/2010/02/lamborghini_and_the_law_can_you_prosecute_a_traffic_crime_based_on_youtube_videos.php
Whoops, sorry about the long link
“We Won’t Raid Medical Marijuana Producers . . . so Long as They Aren’t Successful at It. And Don’t Talk About It.”
I believe the technical term is “Don’t ask, don’t tell.”
Reading the sourced article, lots of the comments and the article directly address the the morality (or presumed immorality) of producing medicinal marijuana for profit. The gist seems to be that people should be able to have mj for medicinal purposes, but the profit motive is “not what the law was for.” I find it interesting because they recognize the medicinal nature and allow it for that purpose, but god forbid anyone make any money. As if anyone would invest in the large house, lights, labor, etc without the profit motive. I doubt that these same people find the profit motive driving the pharmaceutical industry so repugnant.
I doubt that these same people find the profit motive driving the pharmaceutical industry so repugnant.
I’ll take that bet, and state with confidence that most of them are the same kind of assholes who think they should be able to get any drug they want for free.
flukebucket :
“Well, time to put the whole states rights thing to the test
Tried that back in the 1860’s. It was ugly.”
Yes, but that was with a President that knew how to fight.
And the beat goes on, in California now:
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/02/federal-agents-raid-marina-del-rey-marijuana-dispensary.html
While I know that my perspective is unpopular it seems to be the operative view in more of these med/mari raids since Eric Holder issued his no raids memorandum last year.
No administration has a right to set aside criminal laws that it finds inconvenient. Law officers have every right to assert that they are sworn to enforce all of the laws on the books.
The solution to this problem is for the congress to end the medical cannabis prohibition. There was growing momentum for this until the Holder memo and the reform community then proceeded to sit on its hands. The Obama administration effectively subverted the momentum for medical cannabis reform in congress by lulling everyone with their illegal memo.
Fuck people. When are drug reformers going to learn that Obama and the Democratic leadership are as much a bunch of drug warrior authoritarians as are the GOP. Anything they do that appears to contradict this perspective is done to confuse and subvert not to help and reform.
As a fellow grower I hope he rots in jail. He broke the law! 99 plants max! He makes us look bad! Dumb ass!
The hotly debated pot ballot measure attracted several. 4 million yes ballots. Meg Whitman drew three or more. 1 million voters. It’s not clear whether she will run again but proponents with the marijuana measure, Proposition 19, are already planning in making another attempt in 2012. They think the idaho vote shows legalization can be a matter of when, certainly not if, never mind that this time they fell over half a million ballots short of success.