Doven claimed he was  allowed to transport the weed under the Medical Marijuana Program Act (known by it’s bill number in the legislature as “SB420″…no, we’re not kidding) and under the 2008 California Attorney General guidelines for medical marijuana collectives.

But these newfangled marijuana laws are not what won the day,  people make the same argument in courts all over the state and routinely lose.  The courts are under no obligation to follow the 2008 guidelines and many judges  are very skilled at finding ways to get around the Medical Marijuana Act.   In fact, Doven did lose at the preliminary hearing in this case.  He only won after filing a motion to dismiss with another judge in the courthouse (called a “995 motion” for those playing along at home).

So how did Doven win?  Good old-fashioned police incompetence.

It seems that the prosecution put up a CHP Sergeant who claimed to be an “expert” in narcotics and marijuana trafficking law.  Turns out this cop was not up to speed on the medical marijuana laws.  Under cross-exam from Doven’s attorney, the Sarge admitted that he  really had no idea what constituted legal possession of marijuana as opposed to illegal possession of marijuana under Califorinia’s medical marijuana laws.   Doven’s attorney then argued that since the cop didn’t know medical marijuana law,  he’s not really an “expert” on marijuana laws and his ” testimony must be disregarded.  Judge Sterling agreed and threw out the possession for sale charge, the DA then had no choice but to  drop the transportation charge and fold.  Once there were no more charges, Doven got his weed back because he was never found guilty of doing anything illegal with it.  The end.

The bottom line is this: If you think that this is some big victory for the marijuana legalization movement, think again.  All that happened here is that the police screwed up, a defense attorney did his job competently, and the judge followed the law.  It’s really no big deal.  And you better believe that the CHP  narcotic and marijuana “experts” are going to be getting some schooling from the DA’s Office about how to beat a medical marijuana defense.  This is not a mistake that the L.A. County CHP will make again.

The bummer for Doven is that the weed was confiscated back in December of 2008 and has likely been sitting in a CHP evidence locker since then..it won’t be the same fresh, green and shiny 60lbs he originally parted with, that’s for sure.

OK fine, the White House didn’t mention the “cash grab” part, but the cash grab can’t be ignored. When a local DEA office executes a search warrant, they are allowed keep a big chunk of the assets they seize — the money is then used for official purposes only, of course.

Here’s what usually happens at one of these raids: The DEA agents storm in and tell the patients/customers to leave, all the staff gets rounded up into one room and “detained.”   After that, the agents take all of the weed and all of the money.  They leave without arresting anyone.  This is not a raid, this is a robbery.

Yeah, the feds have brought some cases against a few dispensary operators, but mostly these  search warrants are “part of an ongoing investigation” which never seems to end.  Last week,  when asked how the feds decide which dispensaries to raid, one agent said “the ones that are targeted are the ones making millions and millions of dollars.”  Duh.

The LA Times reports:

At the heart of the controversy are places like the Beach Center Collective in Playa del Rey, where an employee said DEA officers confiscated so much property Tuesday that it would not be able to reopen.

“They took everything,” said the 32-year-old employee, who asked not to be named out of fear of prosecution.

“You name it, they took it — right down to the television. The computer, patient files, medicine, cash in the register — that’s it, we’re done.”

Before we get to the Obama Administration’s reaction to the latest DEA heists, we want to give a high-five to “The Field” over at Daily Kos for his/her beautifully delusional view of law enforcement culture.  The DEA didn’t inform the Los Angeles Police Department before the raids.  They’re not required to, but usually the feds let local cops know that they’re going to to be in the neighborhood kicking in doors.   “The Field” had an explanation for why it went down this way:

…the DEA was so worried that the LAPD might alert the White House of its plans beforehand and so it bypassed the normal procedure there.

OK, there’s many reasons why the DEA didn’t inform LAPD but we promise you, that is not one of them.  But kudos for proclaiming that the LAPD and the White House make secret phone calls to each other to gossip about the DEA.  No wonder newspapers are finished,  how can they compete with the crack investigative reporting at DailyKos?

And now here’s what the Obama administration had to say, as reported by the Washington Times:

The White House said it expects those kinds of raids to end once Mr. Obama nominates someone to take charge of DEA, which is still run by Bush administration holdovers.

“The president believes that federal resources should not be used to circumvent state laws, and as he continues to appoint senior leadership to fill out the ranks of the federal government, he expects them to review their policies with that in mind,” White House spokesman Nick Shapiro said.

Good news indeed.  The next step is consistent enforcement at the state level, but that’s for another day.

GavinTV - Mayor Newsom’s Seven-And-A-Half Hour snoozefest of a campaign commercial disguised as a  “State of the City Address” is getting VERY bad reviews and nobody is watching it.: One county Supervisor compared Newsom’s performance to Fidel Castro.  Yes, even in San Francisco that’s an insult.  Newsom’s strategist is a bit more optimistic. “By next year or two years from now, everybody will be doing this” he says.  That sounds awful.   [SF Chronicle]

The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the city of Garden Grove’s appeal of a lower court ruling ordering the city to return marijuana to a medical marijuana patient.   Bottom line:  The guy gets his weed back and California police have to enforce state law, not federal law. [OC Register]

Los Angeles Mayoral candidate Craig X Rubin loses his appeal on pot-selling charges.  Rubin is a pastor at a church he started called “Temple 420.”  Temple 420 sold weed out of vending machines and claimed that it wasn’t selling weed as weed, it was selling weed as a sacrament.  Pastor Rubin tried to claim that his temple’s use of marijuana is the same as Native American tribes who are allowed to use peyote for their rituals.  Um. No.  It’s not really the same at all “Pastor” Rubin — and by the way, if you were serious about marijuana decriminalization you wouldn’t pull stunts like this, it does not help the cause. Oh well.   The opinion itself is a good read, even for non-lawyers. [Metropolitain News/California Courts of Appeal]

Jack-In-The-Box has a coupla new logos they’re testing and is moving from the NYSE to the NASDAQ.  Now being traded under the ticker “JACK.” [Fast Food Maven]

California’s Fair Political Practices Commission is investigating the Mormon’s Church’s non-monetary contributions to the Yes-On-8 campaign. [SacBee]

California Supreme Court tightens rules for individuals who supply patients with medical marijuana.  We’ll have full analysis of this later. [SF Chronicle]

Floods are coming to Southern California.  Yes, we’ll have full coverage [Daily Breeze]

The lawsuit claims that when Ms. Johnson went to the DMV to renew her license last April. The DMV clerk saw her moving slowly which prompted the DMV to re-examine her eligibility to drive. The DMV obtained her medical records, found out that she was a medical marijuana patient, and refused to grant her a license based on her “habitual use” of marijuana. This suspension was ordered despite the fact that Ms. Johnson has never been arrested or suspected of driving while under the influence of marijuana and despite the DMV’s admission that she “has an excellent driving record.” Stay tuned.

Here’s a copy of the lawsuit:

Here’s a link to the story in the Merced Sun-Star.