Oakland Protesters Tell Obama to Fight Crime, Not CannabisPhillip Smith The crowd was up in arms over the federal offensive that has seen hundreds of California dispensaries shuttered by threats of asset forfeiture or criminal prosecution since the states four US Attorneys announced the joint offensive last fall. But it was even more incensed by the May raids on Richard Lees Oaksterdam University and last weeks issuance of asset forfeiture lawsuits aimed Harborside Health Center, the nations largest medical marijuana dispensary. Steve DeAngelo, Harborsides chief executive officer, led the raucous march past Oaksterdam University as it circled the Fox Theater before returning to Frank Ogawa Plaza. Waving signs saying Fight Crime, Not Cannabis and Save Harborside, Save My Job, demonstrators chanted Obama, keep your promise! and shouted obscene references to the drug war. Local businesses around Oaksterdam showed their support by displaying green flags. And numerous passing motorists honked in support, drawing huge cheers from the crowd. Im not going to be using Justice Department resources to try to circumvent state laws on this issue, Obama pledgedduring the 2008 campaign. The patients, providers, and political figures who stood before the microphones and TV cameras demanded that he and the federal agencies he controls abide by that pledge. This is a watershed moment for our movement, said De Angelo. If the US Attorneys are able to come after Harborside, no other dispensary will be safe. We want an immediate freeze on all such law enforcement actions until the highest levels of Justice can review them to ensure they are consistent with administration policy not to target organizations compliant with state law. Today, we are sending the president a message that will be too powerful to ignore. An attack on providers is an attack on patients, said Oaksterdam University executive chancellor Dale Sky Jones. Attacking the providers keeps the criminals in charge of distribution and profits the cartels, she charged. Name the advantages of continuing this failed policy, Mr. President. Bob Swanson, a spokesman for Alameda County Supervisor Nate Miley, was there to show Mileys support for the medical marijuana community. Miley was going to take a resolution passed by the county Democratic Party Central Council condemning the crackdown before the county board of supervisors, he announced. Were spending millions to bust dispensaries providing services to sick people, Swanson said. President Obama needs to understand that his prosecutors have gone rogue theyve gone Sarah Palin on him. This may cost him votes, and he needs every vote he can get. Local officials have reason to support the dispensaries. In addition to providing services for the sick, they provide jobs and tax revenues. With its 100,000 patients, Harborside alone employs more than a hundred people and did more than $22 million in business last year, generating $1 million in tax revenues for the city of Oakland and another $2 million for the state of California. But it wasnt just local officials. The press conference also drew Libertarian Party vice-presidential candidate Judge Jim Gray, hoping to find support for himself and the top half of his ticket, former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson, among those disenchanted with the administrations medical marijuana policies. Nothing good will come from closing down places like Harborside and Oaksterdam, said Gray, a longtime critic of drug prohibition. Patients will have to go underground to get their medicine, and it wont result in less availability; itll just make it illegal, giving more money to the drug cartels and criminal gangs, he argued. I proudly represent Gary Johnson, who understands this whole drug war system, Gray said, garnering loud applause. He stands with you today, and I stand with him. There is no hope for medical marijuana dispensaries if either Obama or Romney is elected only Gary Johnson will ensure their survival. This federal crackdown is the broadest and most serious since voters here approved medical marijuana in 1996, said Don Duncan, California coordinator for Americans for Safe Access. Weve got paramilitary-style raids, weve got intimidation in the financial sector, weve got denial of gun rights. An attack on patients access is an attack on medical cannabis patients. It is legal patients and their caregivers who comprise our co-ops and collectives, thats whos going to suffer. If the administration wants the support and enthusiasm of our people, theyre going to have to stop attacking medical cannabis patients. There were several wheelchair-bound medical marijuana patients on stage as well, including Yvonne Westbrook-Whig, a multiple sclerosis sufferer who asked the president to please show some compassion, but it was Jason David, whose young son, Jayden, suffers from a severe seizure syndrome, who most vividly brought home the impact of the attack on dispensaries. You have two beautiful daughters, Mr. President, you can imagine how it would feel, but youre going to shut down Harborside, the medical marijuana facility that takes care of my sons needs. What am I going to do? We use a CBD tincture that is non-psychoactive to reduce his seizures hes had more than 300 of them please help me save my son and help out the medical marijuana community. Hes had to make 45 trips in the ambulance, but not one since medical marijuana. Everything you said before the election turned out to be a lie. Mr. Obama, I want some answers. None have been forthcoming so far, but the medical marijuana community in Oakland and its supporters are doing everything they can to get the president to notice he has a problem. You cans support this information by voting on Reddit HERE This article was published by StoptheDrugWar.orgs lobbying arm, the Drug Reform Coordination Network, which also shares the cost of maintaining this web site. DRCNet Foundation takes no positions on candidates for public office, in compliance with section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, and does not pay for reporting that could be interpreted or misinterpreted as doing so. linkwithin_text=Related Articles: 