Oakland County raids marijuana complex, seizes $20,000

**devman1983** · January-13-11, 09:54 AM

http://www.freep.com/article/2011011...660/1001/RSS01

Unless something wasn't reported it is pretty obvious Oakland County is just intimidating the marijuana business entrepreneurs. No arrrests? $20,000 taken? Wallets of workers & customers taken?

Oakland County doesn't need the tax revenue from Marijuana businesses and they enjoy paying the costs incurred for locking up people for marijuana related crimes.

Legalize it, tax it, educate the people about it.

**gnome** · January-13-11, 10:53 AM

wtf? jessica cooper is off the chain. btw, I believe she was the prosecutor behind that bogus sex assault charge leveled against that family in West Bloomfield.

**Detroitnerd** · January-13-11, 10:56 AM

Wow, that's great. They just get to charge in and rob you, in a mask and at gunpoint. Hooray for public safety!

**Johnlodge** · January-13-11, 11:01 AM

Originally Posted by gnome

wtf? jessica cooper is off the chain. btw, I believe she was the prosecutor behind that bogus sex assault charge leveled against that family in West Bloomfield.

Yep. And then she wouldn't prosecute the guy who pistol whipped someone outside of Ferndale High School, and the Ferndale PD criticized her, to which her response was to make Ferndale submit all of its warrant requests in person, which seriously undermined their ability to deal with crime.

**Bigb23** · January-13-11, 11:05 AM

As the Sheriff's department takes over failing city Police departments, they will have a monopoly on cases such as this. As taxpayers, we need more insight on the goings on in this agency. Have they made a full statement on why this was done, or are they hoping it will soon be forgotten ?

**Gannon** · January-13-11, 11:48 AM

To be fair, they HAVE been told the lie all their lives that people who use marijuana have memory problems.

Legalize it, and force these fuckers to return the money PLUS the SAME usury interest they are now allowing the banks to charge for credit cards...or the IRS penalties, whichever is HIGHER.

Legalize it all, now. Prohibition must end.

**Baselinepunk** · January-13-11, 01:26 PM

Seriously what the fuck? If there were no arrests then what justification or law is there for taking the cash?

I thought forfeiture was only when you were breaking the law. And, if they took the cash why didn't they seize any other assets?

Something stinks here. Hopefully there will be some clarification; maybe the article is wrong or something because if this story is fully true there is some serious bullshit going on.

**Detroitnerd** · January-13-11, 01:42 PM

This is SOP now for "drug" busts: They take your money. They can take your cars too. And then try to get it all back. In these tough times, police rely quite a lot on money and property confiscated [[yeah, read: stolen) from busts. That Constitution thing is just a piece of paper.

DetroitPole · January-13-11, 02:11 PM

Yuck. Now this jackbooted nonsense after Bouchard thew a bitch fit and busted the pot guys after he bombed in the election.

Maybe Detroit and Wayne County can "poach" some of the pot business from Oakland Reich. Sucks to be them. Also sucks to be these legitimate business people being harassed. Come on, what about the "free market"?

**fryar** · January-13-11, 02:14 PM

Huzzah, that's great news! File this under Race to the Bottom. Where are we going, and why are we in these handbaskets?

I will have to join all of you on hellyes.com.

**Kevgoblue** · January-13-11, 03:14 PM

Originally Posted by gnome

wtf? jessica cooper is off the chain. btw, I believe she was the prosecutor behind that bogus sex assault charge leveled against that family in West Bloomfield.

I believe she's also the prosecutor who charged the guy for reading his wife's email when she was cheating on him.

**Bigb23** · January-13-11, 03:39 PM

Boy - you would think the Sheriffs would have enough work on their hands, just evicting the unemployed in the county.

**gnome** · January-13-11, 04:13 PM

Originally Posted by Kevgoblue

I believe she's also the prosecutor who charged the guy for reading his wife's email when she was cheating on him.

Wonder who crowned this woman the gatekeeper of moral outrage? Shariaesque imho

**Big Dog** · January-13-11, 04:17 PM

No charges filed, or arrests.Evidently, breaking the law to arrest and confiscate money and medicine, from legal citizens, is not against the law to police. Something is really wrong with this picture.

**Django** · January-13-11, 05:20 PM

This is just unbelievable. How can Bouchard keep getting away with this. Isnt this at least his second raid on a legal dispensary where they come in with guns and masks and just walk out with cash.

Anyone know who to complain to, would it be the prosecutor? Who is the prosecutors boss? Calling or writing the sheriffs office obviously wouldn't do any good. How does the hierarchy work? Lansing maybe.

**jerrytimes** · January-14-11, 12:45 AM

The thing that's funny is that the cops know that pot doesn't harm you, and the only thing about it that causes crime is the fact that it's illegal. Marijuana is safer than alcohol.

citylover · January-14-11, 07:08 AM

Originally Posted by jerrytimes

The thing that's funny is that the cops know that pot doesn't harm you, and the only thing about it that causes crime is the fact that it's illegal. Marijuana is safer than alcohol.

In Calif the vote to legalize for recreational purposes was overwhelmingly defeated_ so forget the idea of legalizing. Of course we all know that the "medical" use of marijuana is a scam and that recreational use is what it is all about.

The problem is that the way it is set up in Mich leaves a lot in the air legally.State vs fed laws and what various towns/cities/counties go by.The article was so uninformative as to be useless.Were they selling to some other then designated clients?

**Mikeg** · January-14-11, 07:29 AM

Here's some more information about the raid from this article in today's Macomb Daily:

......Rick Thompson, who writes for Michigan Medical Marijuana Magazine, a publication located in the same building as the dispensary and Big Daddy’s Hydro, said between eight and 10 officers came into the building at 5 p.m.

“They were very polite, there was no yelling or flash grenades,” he said, noting three officers were masked.

“They were courteous to the 10 patients and employees, and even let one pregnant woman go to the bathroom.”

Thompson said he believes the raid was a response to recent court matters involving the DEA’s request for patient information.........

Officers asked to see drivers licenses and medical marijuana cards.

“Since everybody had proper ID, there were no concerns,” said Thompson.

Officers seized $15,000-$20,000 and some medical marijuana, said Thompson.

No one was arrested.

“They didn’t take patients’ money or medicine, but they have done that in the past,” he said.

“They took some medication, whatever we had on hand, and brownies and suckers.”.........

Thompson said officers said, “‘Don’t blame us, it comes from above.’”

No undercover officers first attempted to buy medical marijuana, he said.

“Now they [[officers) come in almost apologetic,” he said

“This tells me this wasn’t directed by the Oakland County Sheriff.”

The version of this article behind the Macomb Daily's subscription firewall also included the following information released by the Oakland Co. Sheriff's Office:

Undersheriff Michael McCabe.... stated the raid was the result of a months-long investigation.

McCabe said the Sheriff's Office arrested drug dealers who were selling marijuana out of their homes.

The dealers told the Sheriff's Office that they were "purchasing all of their marijuana at Big Daddy's and then selling them [[from their homes) illegally," said McCabe.

McCabe said officers seized 9 pounds of harvested marijuana, 5 pounds of packaged marijuana, 10 pounds of baked goods with marijuana, documents, a digital scale and a laptop computer.

..... Officers seized $2,874, said officials.

So even though there are some discrepancies between the Sheriff's Office and the owner's account, it is clear that none of the customers in the shop at the time of the raid had their money taken.

**Gannon** · January-14-11, 08:57 AM

Originally Posted by citylover

In Calif the vote to legalize for recreational purposes was overwhelmingly defeated_ so forget the idea of legalizing. Of course we all know that the "medical" use of marijuana is a scam and that recreational use is what it is all about.

The problem is that the way it is set up in Mich leaves a lot in the air legally.State vs fed laws and what various towns/cities/counties go by.The article was so uninformative as to be useless.Were they selling to some other then designated clients?

Careful, your programming is showing. It is anti-nature and anti-human, to the extreme.

This is an interesting article from Salon regarding the California Proposition 19 issue:

http://www.salon.com/news/politics/2...ation_defeated

They say that old-timers, who also bought the same national media-induced and federal government-approved programming YOU are apparently affected by, came out to the polls in droves to reverse the trend in the polls.

The exit polls tell part of the story here, via the AP's Jennifer Agiesta:

Generation gap on Prop. 19 was enormous: six in 10 under 30 say they voted yes, seven in 10 seniors say no.

We don't have the final vote tally yet. But in some ways it's remarkable that Proposition 19 attracted as much support as it did in the face of fierce opposition from the entire political establishment, including the Republicans running for statewide office, the Democrats running for statewide office, and the Obama administration.

It was NOT overwhelmingly defeated. That would be a supermajority...something above 60 percent, maybe towards 70%.

As it was, the vote went 53.5 versus 46.5, hardly anything NEAR what it should be to eliminate access to an abundant WEED which grows ubiquitously around the world, and has been the basis for numerous medicinal drugs...and even has been implicated in the complete CURE of more than a few cancers.

Your brain is fried, CityLover. Your logic does not compute. Overwhelmingly!

Legalize it. Mother Nature's Most Amusing Analgesic should not be restricted in any way, shape, or form!

Cheers

**Gannon** · January-14-11, 09:10 AM

MikeG,

Thanks for that update, and it seems the Freep article has been modified to remove the comments about seizure of client's wallets and money, too. Curious.

But they still use the word 'burst' to describe how the police entered, when it seems they were apologizing for their boss's idiocy. If anything, it seems they merely burst the fellow's buzz!

Either way, my comments still stand. It is NOT the distributor's responsibility to police the behavior of all patients. Not by a l-o-n-g shot, there is NO mechanism which would allow that, unless the police want to surveil all patients.

They will be VERY sorry they put themselves onto that government list...and I'll be found to be right about the whole thing.

The scam, CL, isn't that we're trying to sneak cannabis into legality through this back door...THAT is a given, the herb should be totally legal and unregulated...the SCAM is that the government will use all in their power to have users reveal themselves, and THEN put them under some form of extra-constitutional control.

It sucks to see this trend develop...but that is how I see it today.

Sincerely,
John

**Baselinepunk** · January-14-11, 10:00 AM

So as this story develops, my questions are: so what if the dope dealers were buying the pot at this place? Did they have faked ID's like the coppers had in the other raids and bought it illegally? Did the clinic operate under a best practices model for protection? Did the dope dealers just get busted and pulled that place outta their hat because they're afraid of the Federal Kingpin Law?

I'm still stuck on no arrests. If there was an illegal activity, then someone should have gotten arrested. What does this say about how the coppers operated with the Ferndale and other clinic were raided and people were arrested?

Inconsistency may be Bouchie and Coopie's demise; they look completely out of control and rouge at the moment.

**Gannon** · January-14-11, 10:30 AM

So did Elliot Ness and his 'Untouchables' during alcohol prohibition.

Very revealing, isn't it?!

VERY revealing...especially the unconstitutional drug-asset forfeiture laws.

But those FUND so much within our current police state...

**Pickford-Bentler** · January-14-11, 10:43 AM

Originally Posted by Gannon

Careful, your programming is showing. It is anti-nature and anti-human, to the extreme.

This is an interesting article from Salon regarding the California Proposition 19 issue:

http://www.salon.com/news/politics/2...ation_defeated

They say that old-timers, who also bought the same national media-induced and federal government-approved programming YOU are apparently affected by, came out to the polls in droves to reverse the trend in the polls.

It was NOT overwhelmingly defeated. That would be a supermajority...something above 60 percent, maybe towards 70%.

As it was, the vote went 53.5 versus 46.5, hardly anything NEAR what it should be to eliminate access to an abundant WEED which grows ubiquitously around the world, and has been the basis for numerous medicinal drugs...and even has been implicated in the complete CURE of more than a few cancers.

Your brain is fried, CityLover. Your logic does not compute. Overwhelmingly!

Legalize it. Mother Nature's Most Amusing Analgesic should not be restricted in any way, shape, or form!

Cheers

A sad irony is that those seniors consume more government approved expensive drugs with adverse side effects than any other population segment on the planet.

The dangerous side effects listed at the end of the commercials for drugs to help gramps sleep are troubling to say the least.

I believe that Bill Bennett was a chain smoker and consumed large quantities of alcohol when he was the leader in the fight to make the USA "drug free".

The intellectual dishonesty is astounding. Arnold consumed massive amounts of steroids and ganja during his wild young days when he was working hard and playing by the rules to succeed in America as an example "for da children".

In my opinion, any time an official uses the "for the children" line, I think "liar, liar, pants on fire".

Anyhow, if we can not legalize weed, then I think there should be mandatory steroid testing of all agents involved in the war on drugs.

**Gannon** · January-14-11, 11:52 AM

NICE!

Cheers, sincerely...

**Big Dog** · January-14-11, 02:54 PM

The police said they pulled the raid, because of a tip. Did they investigate the tip first? If anyone can give a tip, and the police respond to the tip, without investigating it, isn't that how the nazi gestapo operated? The next step, will be raiding, without a tip. It appears to be a police state, being birthed in oakland county.