December 10, 2009
United States Attorney Karen P. Hewitt announced that Joseph Nunes pled guilty today before Magistrate Judge William McCurine, Jr., to three felony counts of a superseding information: Count One manufacturing marijuana plants, in violation of Title 21, United States Code, Section 841(a)(1); Count Two renting, using and maintaining two drug-related premises, in violation of Title 21, United States Code, Section 856(a)(1); and Count Three – money laundering, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1956(a)(1)(A)(I). The plea is subject to final acceptance by United States District Court Judge Larry A. Burns at the time of sentencing.
According to Assistant U.S. Attorney Sherri Walker Hobson, who is prosecuting the case, Joseph Nunes was arrested following a federal search warrant executed at 3415 Mission Boulevard, San Diego, California, known as “Green Kross Collective,” where agents found marijuana plants, marijuana contained in bags and jars, cookies and brownies containing marijuana, sodas containing marijuana, lollipops containing marijuana, and other edible marijuana items. Agents also found $38,915 in cash at that location. Agents further discovered “sales receipts” books revealing that during a two-day period, Green Kross Collective sold approximately $16,000 of marijuana and marijuana products.
The Debate on California’s Pot Shops
Dec 30
Posted by admin in California Dispensaries, Commentary, Federal Enforcement, In The News, Marketing Illegal Drugs, Other State's Dispensaries | No Comments
Morley Shafer reports on Proposition 215
60 Minutes
December 30, 2007
(CBS) Hindsight. One more image in the hall of mirrors that medical marijuana in California has become. The Supreme Court has upheld the DEA’s right to go after dispensaries, no matter what state law might say. And even one of the key proponents of medical marijuana says things have gotten out of hand.
“It’s just ridiculous the amount of money that’s going through these cannabis clubs. It’s absolutely ridiculous,” says Scott Imler, a minister in the United Methodist Church who has long been active in promoting medical marijuana.
Eleven years ago, he was working to pass proposition 215, the ballot measure that legalized it. Today, Imler has second thoughts.
“The purpose of proposition 215 was not to create a new industry. It was to protect legitimate patients from criminal prosecution,” Imler says.
The aim back then, reflected in television spots, was for a highly regulated system in which licensed pharmacies would dispense medical marijuana to the seriously ill. Proposition 215’s backers had people with AIDS, cancer, and glaucoma in mind.
“What happened when we were writing it was, as you can imagine, every patient group in the state and they all have their lobbies. You know, the kidney patients and the heart patient. Every patient group wanted to be included in the list,” Imler recalls. “And so we didn’t wanna get in the position of deciding what it could be used for and what it couldn’t be used for. We weren’t doctors. We weren’t scientists. We weren’t researchers. We were just patients with a problem.”
Imler says they were forced to make the proposition vague.
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