Remember Who Wants To Bust You

While optimism permeates the greater medical cannabis community in light
of the language coming from the new Obama Administration, we must keep in
mind that wars see the most casualties in their final battles. The Drug
War is no different and Southern California is the primary battlefield for
America’s failed drug policies. More raids, more arrests, more trials,
more threats, more seizures have occurred here in Southern California than
in any other medical cannabis state. We are taking the major blows for
the rest of the country and the world on this issue and will continue to
do so for a while. Let’s be braced.

And while I am optimistic that through our hard work we will finally
realize a change in policy sometime during the Obama Administration, I
know that our enemies will prolong this battle as long as possible, will
continue to raid patient collectives and cultivators and try to put our
brothers and sisters in prison until they are forced to quit. So, while
hope and optimism is growing across our country regarding cannabis policy,
we must remain vigilant in protecting ourselves and other patients from
these attacks from the DEA. Never forget who our enemies are.

It is also important to know that a moratorium on raids is ONLY the
beginning. There is much talk in Washington about HOW to deal with
medical cannabis. For the most part officials would like to give this
problem to the FDA, turn our herb into a pill, keep our cultivators in
prison, close our dispensaries and send us to the big pharma store.
Rescheduling cannabis is not a legal option for California, as the
Controlled Substances Act does not allow for our dispensaries or patient
cultivators. Even if cannabis was moved to a Schedule II – V, dispensaries
could still be raided and cultivators imprisoned with further
justification from the DEA telling us that our legal pot is available at
the local drug store. We must demonstrate nationally that our dispensary
system works and that patients are thriving as a result of access to a
variety of quality strains. (The ACP Report sites that the variety of
strains is a hindrance instead of a benefit.) There is still much
education PAN must provide and this will only increase the closer we get
to legalizing our medicine and our non-violent activities. We are not
criminals! We are the face of alternative healthcare and the new American
economy. Let’s change the world.