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Webmaster Notes: An Open Letter to the Medical Cannabis Community About the Recent Raids

freeman HempEvolution.org

San Francisco, CA June 24, 2005 -- It's looks like the our 'friends' at the Drug Enforcement Agency are lying to us again about their "two year investigation" in an shameless effort to smear the medical marijuana movement. Now that the indictments against the Herbal Relief Center have been handed out, it is clear that the hyperbole coming from the feds about "International Asian Gangs" is blatantly racist as the DEA tries to instill fear and paranoia in the community in an attempt to divide us over the issue of the dispensary's 'legitimacy'.

The number of plants seized is consistant with the cannabis community's medicinal needs and large amounts of compassion that the dispensary distributed. Interesting to note is the fact that only 50 tabs of MDMA were found, and not at the dispensary, but in a private residence. While the number of tabs can be considered more then what one would need for personal use, it is not out of the realm of possibility that one could keep such a number for personal use. The money laundering charges seem consistant with the fed's efforts to pursue prosecution of dispensaries for income tax evasion, employing the secret police of the Internal Revenue Service who ignore our constitutional rights in their zeal to fill the public coffers.

Any attempts to discredit us in the public eye by the federal government must be met with an escalation of political tactics beyond the small rallies and letter-writing campaigns through creative non-violent direct action to demonstrate to the feds that we mean business. This could take the form of a quick response network to show up at a raided dispensary and non-violently blockade the feds as they try to flee the scene with their ill-gotten gains. Another idea is to visit the DEA offices with a dozen patients, then refuse to leave their offices and create a scene as they try to haul us out. Non-violent resistance to government policies can take many creative forms and effectively shut down the fed's daily business of jailing medical cannabis providers and killing patients. We have nothing to lose but the shackles of fear as we create a culture of resistance to federal policies.

After viewing the KTVU 10'Oclock News Tuesday night, I was disgusted by the lunatic fringe remarks of the ACT-UP spokesperson who remarked that he thought that it was good that the dispensary was raided and insinuated that they [Herbal Relief Center] were probably guilty and should've been closed. It was also pointed out in the piece 'what good citizens' ACT-UP was in a bald-assed attempt to sow the seeds of discord among us.

The media's repugnant propaganda must be met with strong displays of solidarity unity within the cannabis community as we must wholeheartedly support those who face these trumped up charges as they endure the trials and tribulations of the criminal justice system.

As we fight for our lives, we should note that the government only has enough resources to pick on the weakest dispensaries, and as we defend our rights to mmj we should remember the famous 1920's International Workers of World slogan "An injury to one is an injury to all".