December 11, 2010 – U.S.A. v. Smith et al is a landmark cannabis case that could change federal medical marijuana law for all 50 states.

This is the first case in which a defendant in the United States has been allowed to raise an affirmative medical marijuana defense in federal court.

Cormac J. Carney is the presiding federal judge in U.S. v Smith. In a courageous and historic ruling he decided that the medical marijuana issues will be heard as testimony. This is the first time this has happened in U.S. history.

This story started in 2001 when Steele Smith — a law abiding business man — became very ill. He landed in an emergency room. Over the next four months it happened several more times. But the doctors could not figure out what was wrong. He was prescribed pain medication, and lost 40 pounds. Ultimately a rare diseases doctor diagnosed Steele’s disease as Zollinger-Ellison (Z-E). The disease causes painful ulcers, making it difficult for patients to eat and is so rare most doctors have never seen it. The result is extreme pain and nausea. Doctors prescribed him the strongest acid reducing drug available. For the severe pain, the doctor also prescribed high doses of morphine and sent him to a specialist (a pain doctor) who ordered a morphine regimen.

Steele became heavily addicted to morphine. With the support of his wife starting in 2004, he began to try and “kick” his morphine addiction. It almost killed him and he ended up in the intensive care unit (ICU). Over the next year and a half Steele battled his morphine addiction. After painstaking research he found a new drug, Suboxone, and under the care of a doctor over several weeks he was finally able to become completely drug free. However the under lying pain and nausea returned. He was unable to eat or live a normal life. After more research Steele was given a medical marijuana recommendation. He bought his marijuana at one of the dispensaries in Los Angeles.

His recovery is nothing short of miraculous with his pain and nausea now controlled using cannabis, Steele was able to eat again and his health returned. There are no dispensaries in Orange county where the Smith’s live so they must travel to L.A. to buy cannabis.

Steele and Theresa decide to open a small collective — California Compassionate Caregivers — in their home. After researching the law and proposition 215, they began to grow cannabis for safe access patients. Within a few months they found their patient base growing and by 2006 it reached over 1,000.

This did not escape the attention of the local police department. Officers from the Placentia Police Department came to the Steele home, seizing 18 plants, patient records, 4 pounds of medical marijuana, a small amount of concentrate and cash, but no charges were filed. After unsuccessfully trying to get his property and records returned repeatedly and after seeking legal advice, Steele decided to sue the city of Placentia, again simply seeking the return of his property.

The city of Placentia retaliated and moved the case to a federal level. This quashed Mr. Smith’s standing in the civil court, effectively killing the lawsuit. But that was not the end of it as the Smith’s were about to find out.

On Nov. 1, 2007 in an early morning raid, federal agents stormed the Smith’s two homes using paramilitary style tactics. Officers wearing masks and paramilitary gear broke down the front door and rousted the sleeping couple at gunpoint, holding them at gun point through out the raid. The agents abused the couples dogs by spraying them with a fire extinguisher. One of dogs died four days later.

As is standard procedure during marijuana raids nationwide the officers destroy the home during the search that followed. The home — as are most homes raided like this — was totally vandalized. In Hawaii county where I have lived for 30 years they conduct their marijuana raids in exactly the same way. Doors and gates are broken down, then left wide open for any and all of the public to take furniture and belongings at will. In Hawaii the police also rob these homes taking anything they want, cooking dinner, and joy ridding vehicles around the neighborhoods as they harass the neighbors searching there homes also even with out search warrants or probable cause.

In the Smith’s case the police also went to C3′s medical dispensary. They seized 2 pounds of medical marijuana and a small amount of concentrate. Police left the door wide open, inviting theft and vandals there also.

Steele, Theresa, Alex Valentine, a young patient with Elephant man’s syndrome and over thirty surgeries, and Dennis La Londe, a homeless man recently given shelter, were jailed. All but Theresa spent most of the next year in a maximum security, level-five Federal prison in Los Angeles. They were all charged with conspiracy to manufacture or grow marijuana and are facing ten years in federal prison.

Theresa was released after 2 months but forced to post a $200,000 bond, using her dying mother’s home and two signatures to meet the requirements of the bond. The remaining defendants suffered in federal prison for another 10 months. When Steele was finally released he had to wear an electronic ankle bracelet for another year. All the defendants to this day are still required to report regularly to federal pre-trial services.

While medical marijuana is not technically a legal defense, for the first time in U.S history the defendants will be able to testify to the jury that they were operating under prop 215. That testimony will show they were in complete compliance with California law, and the collective was very professionally run to provide safe access for patients in Orange county. The DEA is (as they always do) portraying these legal patients as ordinary drug dealers. But this time, for the first time, the jury will hear the other side.

In an interesting twist the government has offered a deal for time served to Steele. To his credit and at great risk to himself, he has decided not to take the deal and faces up to ten years in federal prison for that decision. Steele Smith wants to go to trial because he believes the issues are too important and need to be adjudicated. He is in a fight to uphold the Tenth Amendment of the United States Constitution, protecting States’ rights to allow their citizens safe, legal access to medical marijuana. The Smiths are true heroes and deserve our support.

For more information, please contact:

Theresa Smith
2166 W. Broadway, #100
Anaheim, CA 92804-2446
714-865-5335
theresasmith.steelescase@gmail.com

Some links on the case:

* http://www.steelescase.org/
* http://www.steelescase.org/?page=related
* http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dz7O0dmVhkE

September 28, 2010 – In Los Angeles, medical marijuana dispensaries once outnumbered Starbucks. But after months of a major crackdown, the number of pot clinics has plummeted.

Now, a series of lawsuits and counterlawsuits over city regulations is playing out in court.

And it’s still uncertain how many dispensaries will be left in L.A. when the smoke clears.

Magnets For Criminals
In some neighborhoods, the drama over marijuana clinics continues. Take, for example, Eagle Rock. It’s filled with Craftsman-style homes, old-fashioned shops and hipster coffeehouses.

“It’s like this little bucolic, kind of a throwback town, and yet here it is, literally, like the pot dispensary capital,” says disheartened resident Ellia Glassing.

“Yeah, we moved to Weedville!” says Carrie Hanson, another resident.

Glassing and Hanson say they support providing patients with medical marijuana. But they say that’s not who they’re seeing at the dispensaries on the streets where they live.

“The guys who walk in and out look like a bunch of young healthy guys,” Hanson says. “They just feel they are above the law.”

Glassing adds: “They look like they’re walking fine to me, and they’re happy, and they’re ready to deal the dope to the car that pulls up behind them.”

From her kitchen, Glassing says she sees people smoking their medicine on the streets, in the parking lots, and outside her home. “They deal, they smoke, they litter, they urinate,” she says, “and there have been confrontations.”

Some of the city’s marijuana dispensaries have become magnets for criminals wanting cash and pot, and even the site of murders, including a recent triple homicide.

Frustrating City Regulations
In April, police began cracking down on clinics that weren’t legally registered with Los Angeles, with the goal of reducing the numbers from more than 800 citywide to something more manageable.

“There’s going to be somewhere between 70 and 180 shops that will be open for you as patients, provided they aren’t breaking other laws,” special assistant city attorney Jane Usher told Eagle Rock neighbors at a recent community meeting.

Usher drafted L.A.’s medical marijuana ordinance, which allows only those dispensaries that correctly registered in 2007 to operate legally. Usher admits that the city regulations have been frustrating to those who want access to their medicine, and frustrating for those who want to limit the number of marijuana outlets.

“Lots of people in our community say, ‘They are open today.’ And the next day, they call us and say, ‘They’re closed.’ And the next day, ‘Op! They opened up again.’ ” Usher said. “Hey, look, we are trying to be as responsive to your issues and concerns as possible.”

She asked the residents for “patience till we get it right.”

Violating A Technicality
The city attorney is now suing many of the dispensaries still operating, and there are at least 35 counter-suits challenging L.A.’s regulations. So it’s not clear how many will be left until the courts sort it out.

“I’m not saying to let it be the Wild West or have a free-for-all and allow collectives to run rampant,” says attorney David Welch, who represents 80 dispensaries in L.A. “I think the city needs to develop reasonable regulation.”

Some of the dispensaries Welch represents registered with the city on time; some of them didn’t. In court, Welch has been arguing that the city ordinance sets an arbitrary limit without due process before ordering shops to close.

He notes that the city accepts tax dollars from the dispensaries, and some of them have building permits allowing them to operate as marijuana collectives. “The truth is, these are legitimate businesses and organizations,” he says, adding that they are nonprofit.

Still, the city clerk’s office found that only 41 of the dispensaries thought to be operating legally have actually met L.A.’s requirements. The rest face closure for violating a technicality in the law that states they cannot change ownership or management.

“The city attorney’s office has been overtly hostile towards medical marijuana since the beginning,” says Michael Backes, who runs Cornerstone Research Collective in Eagle Rock.

It’s one of the dispensaries that may be forced to close, which Backes says is absurd “given how squeaky clean we try to operate.”

Cornerstone has a reputation for providing scientific research and homegrown marijuana to patients suffering from cancer or other diseases. Backes says dispensaries like his are unfairly being swept up with what he calls “fly by night” pot shops, those simply in business for a profit, and those with questionable patients.

Backes says the city didn’t grant conditional use permits or make the process a meritocracy. “Instead, they’re trying to reduce the numbers by whatever method is available to them,” he says. “We just think it’s absurd.”

But could all of this be a moot point if California voters legalize the recreational use of marijuana in November? Some say if the public referendum is adopted, it will make marijuana so widely available that it could hurt the demand for medicinal pot. Others say the new laws would make it easier for dispensaries to operate.

Those are just more uncertainties the dispensaries face as they battle for their futures in court.