Just two weeks after the Supreme Court ruled that state medical-marijuana laws could not supercede federal legislation, federal agents launched a giant buzz-kill as they raided three medical-marijuana clubs and 20 homes and businesses.
Meanwhile in Sacramento, a grand jury indicted a doctor and his wife for distributing medical marijuana. The doctor was arrested after he wrote a prescription for marijuana to an undercover DEA agent without obtaining medical records for him.
Most of the arrests seem to be for crimes other than or in addition to marijuana charges. The raids came after two years of investigation. It is unclear if the Supreme Court ruling had any affect on the timing of the raids.
“It involves large-scale marijuana trafficking and includes other illicit drugs and money laundering,” a federal agent said to the New York Times.
But other agents are none too ambiguous about the raids being part of a larger message from the federal government.
“We will not turn a blind eye to serious and flagrant disregard of federal law,” said Sacramento DEA agent Gordon Taylor. “There may be those who think we can disregard the court and Congress. DEA will not be among them.”
California is the most well known among ten other states that allow the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes. Other states that have medical marijuana provisions are Alaska, Colorado, Hawaii, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Montana, Maine, and Vermont.
Medical marijuana is used mostly to treat terminally ill cancer patients with excruciating pain, as well as nausea and loss of appetite that often occurs with chemotherapy. It is also used to alleviate the symptoms of glaucoma and other chronic pain conditions.
The issues surrounding the Supreme Court’s decision can be discussed here.
