Owner of 6 Medical Marijuana Dispensaries Arrested

by Pao Tzu

2008-05-28 21:14:14

Pao Tzu: On The Beat

Reefer madness or a government fabrication?

Allegedly, this multiple medical marijuana dispensary raid was sparked by a fatal vehicle collision in Ventura County involving a driver under the influence of marijuana. The collision occured on December 19, 2007, thus prompting the arrest of club owner Virgil Edward Grant III on May 27th, 2008. It would seem a terrible thing indeed if Mr. Grant was selling a substance that was causing people to go driving off the side of the road. I must agree that it is criminally negligent to sell a substance that might cause reckless driving to someone that you know is going to drive away in a vehicle. Imagine if bars had parking lots, this type of thing would happen all the time.

This is not the end of the story, although the media would love for observers to think so. The blogosphere now appears to be full of people making comments about how marijuana should be illegal because of the tragic accident that it has been proven to cause. People are going so far as to debate whether medical marijuana could cause this much impairment to the driver, Jeremy White. I even started to reconsider my own belief that more DUI traffic accidents are caused by people under the influence of coffee than marijuana.

A quick search of the internet for "Jeremy White" revealed the truth. This Jeremy White guy wasn't just stoned. He was rollin, thizzin' under the influence of 3,4 methylenedioxy N-methylamphetamine. Now, I don't know if the readers have ever tried "ecstasy," but this is not something you want to go cruising the freeway on. Maybe an empty parking lot, but definitely not highway 101. If he is found guilty, this Jeremy White guy should be locked up for the truly negligent crime of killing a motorist while under the influence of MDMA.

The US Department of Justice omits the MDMA accusation from its press release Marijuana Dispensaries Linked to Fatal Car Crash. The Associated Press released the same diatribe, making no mention of the fact that this guy was on the "love drug" when he crashed. In fact, the only mention of this is on April 15 in the article Man accused in fatal crash is rearraigned. Note that since this article was not yet tied with a blatant violation of California law by the DEA, the Ventura County Star felt no need to change the facts.

It is not my intention to make light of this case. My heart goes out to the family of Andreas Parra, the man killed by Jeremy White's alleged negligence. I also hope that the officer involved, Anthony Pedeferri, fully recovers from his injuries. I was touched when I read Tony's journal from his hospital stay (written by his friend). I have compassion for people enduring pain and it is good to hear that Tony is doing better. The people of California surely share this compassion. This is why we voted for Proposition 215: to ensure those in pain could receive medical marijuana. Neither the propaganda perpetuated by the Federal Government nor the numerous phony press releases will make us feel otherwise.

Update: fixed the link to the mention of Ecstasy on the Ventura County Times article. By some coincidence, several other dispensaries were raided this same week including one in Oakland where the DEA left the back door open and two people broke in after the DEA was gone. They apparently closed the door by tying an extension cord around the handle. Every thug in Oakland can cut a wire, geniuses. Perhaps they left it like that on purpose hoping someone would finish the job for them. Either way, these "raids" were more like a street gang robbing the dispensaries than law enforcement enforcing unjust laws.

Speaking of unjust laws, the law enforcement against prohibition website has an excellent message about what is going on with the DEA raids in the article No Pattern or Rules to DEA Attacks.

sadist@pigdog.org