So does cigarettes and beer. Both of which are worse for you health wise.Skyline wrote:Hmph. I just heard a news report on CNN say that (and this is paraphrased as I didn't hear it too well from the other room) the drug trade "takes [large amount of money] out of our pockets each year".
And i thought id toss this in here for you guys to read also:
Attention Patients and Supporters,
Attached to this email is an account of a situation you must find horrifying. Regardless of your opinion about medical marijuana, the actions of the Pomona Police Department are horrendous! They violated many laws here!
We are volunteers of a medical marijuana collective located in Pomona. Our doors had only been open 7 days and since opening, the Pomona Police Departmentcontinuously harassed patients and volunteers. We are desperate to get the word out regarding this issue. At this time, I am orchestrating a protest in front of the Pomona Police Department for some time later this week. Currently, 4 volunteers have been arrested and charged with multiple felonies. Their court date is set for May 18th.
The police department kicked down the doors a little after 6:00 pm on Saturday evening without a warrant for the second time in 2 days. They claimed they needed to sweep the office to make sure there was nobody in the building with a weapon. They were unwilling to state the reasons for being there other than they were investigating. When asked what they were investigating, they said for crimes. They were unable to obtain a warrant until nearly 10:00 pm. During this time, the Pomona Police Department threatened the driver of a terminally ill cancer patient trying to fill out paper work in the waiting room. The cancer patient, who appeared gravely ill, asked the police officers if he could please get the help of the volunteers to pick up his prescription. He stated that after receiving his medication he would like to go home, and the officers told him to go to a real pharmacy and get a prescription from a real doctor. The cancer patients driver was forced to leave the parking lot and drive off or he would be arrested. The ill man was left in the waiting room with no medicine, no ride home and when he asked the officers to provide him with a ride home they told him no. As if what I just stated wasn't bad enough the patient is currently under going chemo and needed help to the door by one of our volunteers. He is extremely ill and weak.
The volunteers informed officers over and over again that they invoke their 5th Amendment Right. They also repeatedly stated that the officers were trespassing without a warrant and to please leave the premises immediately. They informed the officers that without a valid letter of recommendation from a doctor as well as California Identification, they were not to go into the room where the medication was being kept. When asked to see a copy of the warrant, the officer claimed he didn't need one.
Sergeant Leonard Badge #3, threatened a volunteer who informed him he was trespassing without a warrant to search the property. He informed the volunteer, "You better be careful what you say to me son, because I am old school." The volunteers invoked their 5th amendment right several times during the interrogation by officers who stated they did not care about Proposition 215 or SB 420. They repeated over and over that this was their turf, and that they were "old school."
The collective is not violating any of the state guidelines. We work closely with our attorney J. David Nick and do not understand why the police continue to harass us or our patients. On Thursday a patient arrived in tears with her husband during a police investigation. An officer told her to go to the hospital when he turned the couple away. Her doctor ordered her to medicate with marijuana. Prior to medicating with marijuana, she was taking enough morphine to kill a horse. She and her husband are both on disability, and we provide her medication for free. She lost her eyesight after nearly bleeding out after having her 4th child 10 years ago. The disease she developed cannot be explained and causes her severe pain. There is nothing doctors can do for her other than keep her medicated for comfort. Her doctors informed her she would have overdosed one of these days had she not turned to marijuana. Marijuana helps to relieve her pain and allow her to eat without making her sick. It is patients like her we take pride in helping.
The Pomona Police officers have pulled patients over and told them never to return or else. One patient who is suffering from brain cancer at the age of 20, pulled his hat off for an officer. He showed him the scars from the last surgery he had where they attempted to take out a tumor. The officer told him they have other medications to help him. As if the boys Oncologist who has been practicing for over 20 years wasn't capable of telling him what to medicate with...
On Thursday, they illegally searched the property and seized the patient's medicine and their files. They detained patients and volunteers for hours without telling them anything other than they were criminals who were breaking the law. This is an obvious shakedown and abuse of law enforcement power. We have tried to inform them that our goal is to provide safe access to medication to patients who qualify and have a valid letter of recommendation along with a valid california identification card or license. The volunteers have explained to officers over and over again they are breaking the law by trespassing, and they are told to shut up they don't know what they are talking about.
We are turning to the media for support and for help because we obviously cannot trust law enforcement who is supposed to be there to protect us. Saturday evening when they arrested the 4 volunteers, 1 officer attacked a volunteer. He threw him on the ground and beat him pretty good before putting him in cuffs and in a squad car. After being released from jail, he was sent to an emergency room to be checked out. When the officer attacked him he hit his head and shoulder on the ground and suffered a shoulder injury.
Please help get the word out. We will inform you when the protest will take place.
Thank you!
Kara Andresen-Hill
The piece that the female volunteer (who was detained on a $1,000,000.00 bond) wrote.To Whom It May Concern,
As if our story about the Pomona Police Department wasn't bad enough they have decided to strike again! They are completely out of line! On Wednesday evening May 6th, 2 detectives arrived at our non-operational collective. Since shutting the collective down on Saturday May 2nd, we have had volunteers passing out legal documentation on Proposition 215, and SB 420 to patients. They have also been discussing the protest on Friday, where they may find other compassionate collectives, and how to deal with aggressive law enforcement officers.
Upon entering the facility, the detectives began searching, questioning and harassing the 2 volunteers. They asked, "is anyone here with you?" and the volunteers replied that they were alone. The detective said, "where is all the marijuana at that you are selling?" The male volunteer responded, "first of all, this is a collective it is not a business, so we aren't selling anything, and if you could find it you could have it." The detective said, "So you have marijuana here?" The male volunteer replied, "that is not what I said, I said, if you find it you could have it." At that moment the detective told his partner that both volunteers were being detained.
The volunteers asked why they were being detained, but the detectives would not reply. They called for backup and within minutes 5 squad cars arrived with 10-12 police officers. As the officers entered the building they began bombarding the volunteers with questions. When the new officers made entry, the volunteers demanded to know who the arresting officer was? One officer finally responded that they didn't know yet. When they asked what they were being detained for, an officer demanded that they sit down. The female volunteer asked again, can you please tell me why you are detaining me? Why do I need to sit down? The officer vigorously grabbed her by the arm and threw her down on the chair. The male volunteer asked the officer if that was necessary, and explained to him that they were not resisting and that they were being compliant. The male volunteer then got a pad of paper and went to grab a pen to begin writing badge numbers down. He announced, I want all of your names and badge numbers. One officer replied, "you aren't getting shit until I am done with you."
A few minutes later the officers obtained a search warrant for a building containing two chairs, a table, a radio and some flyers. They had no marijuana, no money, just an opinion and apparently in Pomona the First Amendment doesn't mean anything. They have their own personal agenda in this town. Even the media doesn't report the news, they report the (excuse my language) bullshit that the police officers feed them. We had a reporter visit the collective and interview real patients with terrible illnesses, and rather discussing how compassionate and compliant the collective is, she spoke about operating without a business license. Apparently, no one can read in this town either. As we have sent the Attorney General's Guidelines on multiple occasions. You don't need a business license for a collective.
When the male volunteer arrived at the police station, they strip searched him and booked him on multiple felony charges. He asked the arresting officer if they make arrests for handing out legal documentation now. He told him he was being arrested for selling marijuana, and the volunteer replied, "did you find any on me?" The arresting officer would not answer. Hours after being thrown in jail, the officers pulled the mail volunteer out of jail and into an interrogation room. They finally read him his miranda rights and our male volunteer said he had legal representation. They put him back in his cell. We bailed him out of jail shortly after; he was actually charged with a misdemeanor offense. He got out on a $30,000 bond. However, our female volunteer has a much different story.
Currently, they are holding our female volunteer on a $1,000,000 bail for multiple felonies and the same misdemeanor charge. She had no marijuana, and no money. All the she had were the legal flyers they she was passing out to patients. According to our bail bondsmen, a child molesters bail is typically set at $200,000. This is the same female volunteer who was sexually harassed by law enforcement on Saturday evening. She recently wrote an article about the incident on Saturday and sent it to the city council members of Pomona. This volunteer is on the Dean's list at California State University in Long Beach. She is not a criminal, she is an innocent young woman interested in helping patients with alternative medication. The Pomona Police Department seems to have made the decision to retaliate against her after all the noise we have been making over their abuse of power. Her court date has been scheduled for Friday May 8th during our protest.
Attached is a copy of the flyer we made for the protest! Please help get the word out, as this is extremely important that we have a good turnout!
Thank you again,
Kara
id link the site, but it requires you to register even just to read the posts.Bail for Rape $100,000; My Bail, $1,000,000…Any Questions??? By Candace Walsh
In my young life, I’ve seen some things. I’ve walked the violent streets of Manila, I’ve navigated through the jungles of Thailand, I’ve set up my life for a year abroad, charting my path through the cities of Taiwan in a effort to learn Mandarin Chinese. Yet Never, I repeat never, have I felt so unsafe as I did last Wednesday night in the city of Pomona, California.
The previous Saturday, myself along with two other people were arrested and charged with felonies for helping medicinal marijuana patients obtain their medicine. Erroneous speculations aside, I was there. I have been there. Never, never once, has our collective allowed anyone without a verified, legitimate doctor’s recommendation into our establishment. Allegations of people medicating within the establishment are so ludicrous, so far from the truth that they are almost comical, and would be comical, that is if these allegations weren’t as damaging they are. Heresy and downright lies have reached city officials via rumor and corrupted their perception of the situation. Comparisons are being made between our establishment and others that have existed in Pomona’s history; these comparisons are arbitrary and invalid. There is one key component that separates the inquiries into those other collectives and ours: an investigation itself. In our case, one doesn’t exist. The Pomona Police Department’s idea of an investigation included aiming, shooting, then locking me up for three days on a million dollar bail, only to eventually boot me out the door after they had taken the money out of my wallet and the phone out of my hand for “evidence”. After three days, I was released onto Mission Boulevard in Pomona with no phone, no money for a phone call, and a “Detention” slip, telling me that I had not been arrested, just detained. After three days, after missing two of my final exams in school, after a pulled court date, after a protest of more than 50 people, after the fanfare died down, the Pomona Police decided it was about time to kick me out, making sure that there was no one to receive me. One last dig on this 23 year old student, ahem, criminal.
On Wednesday the 6th of May, I had been occupied with handing out information pamphlets on patient’s rights and protest fliers which outlined the incident from the previous Saturday, as well as information on how to deal with law enforcement (pamphlets which, in restrospect, I realize I should have studied more). Standing outside in the late afternoon sun, I see a patrol car pull up.
“Hi officer Puciarelli. Long time no see.” I jokingly gesture, he had been the officer the previous Saturday telling other officers to “look out for Candace, she’s a tricky one.” Apparently, the Pomona Police Department doesn’t run into people who know their rights very often. That darn Constitution does get pretty tricky sometimes.
“Hi, Candace, how are you?” He cordially inquired.
“Off duty?” I asked as he was dressed in street clothes.
“No, Candace, on- but don’t worry. Just checking on you guys cleaning things up.” He said this part very confidently: “Sorry about the other day Candace, wish it didn’t come to that.”
“Well, I wish it didn’t come to that either quite frankly,” I laughed, “Jail isn’t a fun place. But don’t worry, I’m tough,” I replied, as I jokingly flexed my bicep- the same bicep that was suddenly aggressively grabbed by a very large, very assertive officer Samuels, telling me to sit down in an empty chair on the opposite side of the room.
“Why...” the word had barely left my startled lips, before he informed me
“Sit down, or I will make you sit down,” reinforcing his threat with a firm squeeze to my arm.
At this point, three or so more patrol cars pulled up. Sergeant Leonard, Mr. “Old School”, came into the establishment asking “Who’s been writing all those nasty lies about me?” I assume he was referring to the relaying of the sequence of events from the prior Saturday (see my attached personal account), including his controversial justification for their conduct. He had called it “old school.” Are we talking fire hose- civil-rights movement old school? Or the more recent LAPD Rampart Division “old school”? Either way, it appears that the Pomona Police Department doesn’t like documentation of their conduct. Just ask Sergeant Guitierrez, whose documented conversation with me (written out on post it notes by yours truly) was confiscated during the first incident. Just as a fellow volunteer’s phone was taken that held video of an officer kicking down a door without a search warrant. Darn evidence, its easier to pretend it doesn’t exist.
Pointing to the reddening flesh on my arm, I directed my question to all of the 6 officers present when Samuels grabbed me, “Is this necessary?” I was trying not to let them have the satisfaction of the tears stinging my eyes. All of them, every last one, pretended they had no idea what I was talking about, and one of them even deflected the question into “Is that a rash? I didn’t see anything.” Sitting in Pomona jail, having little more to stare at than “Pauline loves Casper” and “Brenda and Rudy”, I noticed the deepening of the color of the bruise. After my Miranda rights were read, one of the officers (the same one who asked if it was a rash) asked coldly, “Your arm ok?” After I exercised my right to have my attorney present, the two officers gave me my bail amount.
“Your bail is a million dollars, Candace.”
“Well, I guess that means I’m not getting out of here for class tomorrow.” I said. “Can I at least have my book to read while I’m in here?” Although this was my second time asking for it, they still declined. The air escaping my lungs turned into a slight laugh. I was informed that my being out on bond increased my bail, which on paper (and according to the bail schedule for having the same charge) was to be increased from $30,000 to $55,000. One million dollars was not delivered by a judge, (they never even put me before one) it was literally written in with a ballpoint pen, and then absent from all the paper records that they eventually released me with (perhaps to get rid of the evidence of such an exorbitant and illogical amount.) Much to their chagrin, the 50 plus protestors outside of the Police Department on Friday morning were very much aware of what my bail was. Among other phrases, “Candace Is Not A Criminal” and “Pomona PD, New Rampart Division” graced the signs. Perhaps the most painful for me, but poignant in terms of Civil Rights, was my siblings’ sign: “Free My Sister”.
These are the facts: I was arrested on a Wednesday while standing outside a building that had formerly been a collective. I had nothing in my hands, hadn’t passed out an information flyer for an hour. I was abusively grabbed, mocked, and kept for three days in the Pomona city jail on a million dollars bail, only to be kicked out on a Friday, without charges, clutching a slip of paper describing how I had only been “detained” and not arrested. Wandering the streets of Pomona in the same thin sundress I had been wearing for three days, I asked a man working construction if I could use his phone to call someone. Remember, at this point every ally I have believed that I was going to remain in the Pomona jail on a million dollars bail for an indefinite amount of time (no court date!) The phone rang on the other end and I heard my sibilings’ familiar voice. I uttered the two best words that
have ever crossed my lips: “I’m free.”
It’s not important what you think about medicinal marijuana, medicinal marijuana patients or about marijuana use in general. This is about Civil Rights, and mine were violated. If I could sum up the conduct of the Pomona Police Department in one word, it would be malice. If you gave me two, spite. The power of a few individual officers to rob me of my freedom so abruptly without any accountability should scare us all. Never did I expect to be so violated on the streets of Pomona, California, in our good old U. S. of A. I am not a criminal, but a daughter, a sister, a student and a friend. It happened to me, and you’d better watch yourselves, because now, I’m pretty sure it could happen to any of you.
