75A - PH - MEDICAL MARIJUANA - PROHIBIT

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June 23, 2005 3 S.)~. pot clubs raided in probe of organized crime Modica] marijuana dispensaries used as front for money laundering, authorities say. Federal authorities raided three San. Francisco medical marijuana dispensaries Wednesday, and investigators arrested at least 13 people as part of an alleged organized crime operation using the clubs as a front to launder money. Agents seized marijuana and other items from two cannabis clubs on Ocean Avenue in the Lngleside district anal a third on Judah Street in the Inner Sunset district. The raids were the first in the Bay Area since the U.S. Supreme Caart dealt a bi_ow to the medical marijuana movement two weeks ago by ruling that the federal government had the authority to prosecute people whose activities are legal under state law.....Twenty people were charged in an indictment that federal authorities planned to unseal. today. Authorities would not comment on the specific allegations against them. Authorities said.....that the operation controlled at least 10 warehouses where marijuana was grown in large quantities and that those involved were bringing in millions of dollars. One warehouse in Oakland that federal agents raided earlier this month was capable of growing $3 million worth of marijuana annually, investigators said. The marijuana ostensibly was for cannabis clubs, but the amount being grown was far more than needed to supply the dispensaries, authorities said. (Source) http://wwwafgate.comJegi- bin/article. cgi?file=/c/a/2005 /06/23 /MNGRODDG321.DTL. Dec. 20, 2005 - DEA raids HopeNet Cooperative after first raiding home of HopeNet directors Steve and Catherine Smith. No arrests. Agents seize cash, medicine, a few hundred small indoor plants, mostly cuttings and clones. (Source) http://www.canonnl.org/news/fedmmjcases.html June 27, 2006: Medical marijuana dispensary robbed during S.F. Gay Pride Parade Adam Martin San Francisco Examiner Thieves apparently took advantage of Sunday's 36th Annual San Francisco Gay Pride Parade and Celebration to commit this year's second robbery of a medical marijuana dispensary. According to police and the club's proprietor, two men entered Emmalyn's California Cannabis Clinic at 1597 Howard. St. about 1:30 p.m. Sunday. They held up the clerk and stole cash and inventory while most of the staff was handing out fliers at the Gay Pride Parade. Sunday's holdup marked The City's second pot club robbery of the year. The Purple Heart dispensary at 1326 Grove St. was robbed Feb. 3, San Francisco Police Lt. John Loftus said. There were four such robberies in 2005, Loftus said. Loftus said clubs are attractive to thieves because "it's a big cash business, and marijuana is expensive." He said that so far, none of the victims with whom the department has worked has been able to recover their inventory. Emmalyn's proprietor John Baumgartner said he and his staff felt safe in their trade until Sunday. "We never felt threatened," he said in an interview Monday. "We usually have two people on duty. Because of the gay pride day, I happened to be out with other staff passing out fliers and left one person in the store. We left ourselves open." The two m.en who robbed the dispensary had been in about an hour prior to the crime and bought some marijuana. 22 75A-31