Global Ganja Report

Less than two months after patient advocates filed a lawsuit compelling the federal government to answer a nine-year-old petition to reschedule medical marijuana, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) on July 8 made official its denial of the petition in the Federal Register. The Coalition for Rescheduling Cannabis (CRC), which includes patient advocacy group Americans for Safe Access (ASA), filed the petition in 2002 seeking to reclassify cannabis from its current status as a dangerous drug with no medical value, but never heard from the federal government until it received the denial.

During last year's Prop 19 fight in California, we noted the strange phenomenon of "Stoners Against Legalization"—tokers who opposed the legalization measure, sometimes spouting bizarre conspiracy theories that the ballot initiative was all a plot by Monsanto and other big corporations to corner the cannabis market and squeeze out independent growers with bio-engineered patented varieties. We noted that even if Prop 19 passed, "cannabis will remain illegal at the federal level, allowing Monsanto to be shut down if they dabble in the Evil Weed." But now it emerges that—surprise, surprise!—the feds have actually been giving multi-national corporations the legal right to grow cannabis that us commoners are denied.

Patients and their supporters rallied at the Justice Department in Washington DC on May 2 to protest increased federal interference in medical marijuana states. More than 200 supporters also rallied in Sacramento for medical marijuana patients Dr. Mollie Fry and her husband Dale Schafer as they surrendered to federal authorities to serve out five-year prison terms. Last week, the DEA raided several distribution centers in Spokane, Wash., as a state bill to license such facilities was vetoed the next day by Gov. Christine Gregoire. The Spokane actions are the latest in a string of more than 100 aggressive SWAT-style federal raids carried out since President Obama took office.

The DEA conducted aggressive SWAT-style raids April 29 on three distribution facilities in Spokane, Wash., that provided medical cannabis to qualified patients. Earlier this month, numerous facilities shut down after US Attorney Michael Ormsby threatened  landlords in Spokane with seizure of their property if they continue to let their tenants provide medical cannabis. These actions come as the state is trying to pass Senate Bill 5073, which modifies its current medical marijuana law to set up a licensed distribution system.

By the end of 2011, 81 US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) special agents will be deployed in Afghanistan, up from 13 just three years ago, according to the agency's chief of operations Tom Harrigan. "Afghanistan is the most prolific producer of opium," said Harrigan. "We are working very closely with our Afghan counterparts. We're there to extend the rule of law." (Federal News Radio, July 23)

Coordinated protests were held July 21 by medical marijuana patient advocates in both Saginaw, Mich., and San Diego, Calif., against the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) over several raids it conducted earlier this month. The raids came despite a Justice Department policy issued last October discouraging such actions.

A multi-agency federal task force on July 7 descended on the property of Joy Greenfield of Covelo, the first Mendocino County patient to pay the $1,050 application fee under the county medical marijuana ordinance, which allows collectives to grow up to 99 plants provided they comply with regulations. Greenfield had applied in the name of her collective, Light The Way, which opened in San Diego earlier this year.

The DEA is said to be preparing a new crackdown on khat, the mildly psychoactive leaf grown in Yemen and the Horn of Africa, in response to a boom in domestic demand as more Somali, Ethiopian and Eritrean immigrants arrive in the US. In a joint raid with local police, US Customs and Border Patrol intercepted a 22-pound package of the leaf in Wisconsin's La Crosse County March 13. It was apparently bound for the Twin Cities area. (La Crosse Tribune, March 13)