Posted by: Kim_Hamilton on 05/26/2011 08:59 AM
Updated by: Kim_Hamilton on 05/26/2011 09:29 PM
Expires: 01/01/2016 12:00 AM
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OPERATION: MEDDI- CAN’T!
Tuolumne County, CA...On May 25, 2011, The Tuolumne Narcotics Team (TNT) ,with the assistance of Tuolumne County Sheriff’s Office Patrol Division, Detective Division, Jail Division, Tuolumne County District Attorney’s Office Investigators, Sonora Police Department, California State Parole Agents, California Highway Patrol, and members of the California State Board of Equalization executed seventeen search warrants, and nine arrest warrants involving locations and persons involved with three Tuolumne County Marijuana Dispensaries. ....
Chinese Camp Dispensary
TNT agents received updated training on Marijuana Dispensaries while attending (CNOA) California Narcotics Officers Association, a yearly training attended by narcotics agents across the country. What agents learned is that numerous counties in the state have been inundated with marijuana dispensaries. Many of those counties have conducted investigations into those dispensaries and found most were operating illegally. Agents learned that in most instances, Marijuana dispensaries were nothing more than corner store, drug markets. The only difference is that you go into a building to buy marijuana rather than buying it from a guy on a street corner. Agents learned investigative techniques that were relevant to investigating marijuana dispensaries.
With the learned information TNT Agents began investigations into all three Tuolumne County Marijuana dispensaries. Foothill Care Collective (FCC), located on Mono Way in the city of Sonora, Today’s Health Collective (THC), Located in East Sonora, and Alternate Natural Solutions, (ANS) located in, Chinese Camp.
After a several month investigation into all three Marijuana Dispensaries, TNT Agents uncovered evidence of illegal activity including, Possession for sales, cultivation, sales, and Money Laundering.
There is nothing in the Law that allows a person to participate in Post Harvest activities such as selling marijuana. The legislative intent was for people to collectively cultivate marijuana for their medical purposes. The Law protects patients and their use of medical Marijuana, and their caregivers. The Marijuana Collectives or dispensaries are not afforded those same protections under California law if their only function is the sale of processed marijuana, marijuana plants, or products made of marijuana. Both the Tuolumne County Sheriff’s Office and Tuolumne County District Attorney’s Office are dedicated to arresting and prosecuting those people participating in any illegal activity. Marijuana dispensaries, Medical Marijuana, and Marijuana Collectives, as well as the cultivation of Marijuana are highly controversial topics. The involved agencies are compassionate towards those who use medical marijuana within the parameters of the law and to their individual immunities, however when the lines are crossed into the criminal realm, these Agencies are dedicated to enforcing the laws to their intent.
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