You should all be put down like animals. ~ Los Angeles Police Detective Salb December 17, 2009, 10:30 AM. It was almost Christmas, but the clatter
outside was definitely not Santa’s reindeer. It was helicopters, SWAT
teams, and police dogs. A total of one-hundred-and-twenty armed police
officers swarmed seventeen locations across three Southern California
counties in a highly-coordinated raid on legally sanctioned medical
marijuana dispensaries, as well as the homes and businesses of everybody
connected with them. According to The Orange County Register,
Long Beach police officials, with the help of the Los Angeles County
District Attorney’s office, served “a series of warrants” at locations
in Orange, Los Angeles and Riverside Counties. Fifteen people were
arrested. At Unit D, a medical marijuana dispensary
in Orange County’s Garden Grove, co-owner Joe Grumbine had just finished
making a pot of coffee. When he opened the front door he found himself
staring down the barrel of a 9-millimeter handgun. “I saw the round that
would have taken my life. The officer had his finger on the trigger. If
I’d sneezed…. I thought, Wow, that could be the last thing I see.” There were an estimated ten police
vehicles, including SUVs, in the Unit D parking lot. Joe was kept
handcuffed in one room, with two female employees handcuffed in another,
while sixteen police officers ransacked the place. He was then arrested
at the site along with both employees. At the same time, in Perris, a small city
in Riverside County, Joe’s wife Liz was out in the yard of the family
home as more than twenty police officers broke through the gate with
guns drawn. Their nineteen-year-old daughter Candace was in her bedroom,
playing guitar. Both Liz and Candace Grumbine were
handcuffed for hours while drug-sniffing dogs and police agents tore
their property apart. Two volunteers at work in the family nursery,
Willow Creek Springs, were detained for over six hours. A Detective Salb of the Los Angeles Impact Division told Liz, “You should all be put down like animals.” After trashing the place, the police left
human feces in all three toilets of the Grumbine home. In the end, all
they got was Joe’s personal meds and a scale Liz used to weigh bee’s
wax. At the Unit D dispensary, they wrote a message on the wall: Merry Xmas. In Long Beach that morning, Unit D co-owner
Joe Byron fared no better. He was at the “collective grow” on Long
Beach Boulevard when he was arrested. Also raided were Byron’s home,
real estate business, and restaurant, Egg Heaven. Byron’s and Grumbine’s
new Long Beach dispensary “2200,” opened a couple of months earlier at
the request of patients who wanted a collective closer to them, was also
included in the raids, along with two other buildings leased for future
grows. The third dispensary raid occurred at 4th
and Elm Natural Health in Long Beach. The rest of the Orange County
raids took place at the homes of employees and volunteers, and
“everywhere they raided,” said Grumbine, “everybody looked at guns.” In a December 9, 2010 article by Nick Schou in OC Weekly,
Katherine Hamel, one of those arrested in the 2009 raids, “blasted city
officials for terrorizing legitimate cannabis patients.” According to
her account, “twenty uniformed Long Beach officers busted down our
doors, pointed guns at my head and my friend’s head, handcuffed us, and
took us to jail.” Long Beach Police Commander Laura Farinella
claimed “the enforcement” was a result of complaints from city
residents about illegal marijuana sales in their neighborhoods.
Ironically, co-owner Joe Grumbine had been found in full compliance with
California law by a judge in a prior case five weeks before the raids. Compassionate Use A year earlier, motivated by the shared
tragedy of seeing a close friend suffer and die of brain cancer,
Grumbine, an organic gardener, and Byron, a local businessman, decided
to open a medical marijuana dispensary. They’d seen cannabis tincture
ease their friend’s pain in a way that morphine could not, and wanted to
help others who were suffering. In December 2008 they opened Unit D
(officially called Unit D/Tangent Retail) in Garden Grove. The
collective was created in accordance with existing California law, based
on the Compassionate Use Act of 1996. On January 1, 2004, California Senate Bill
420 went into effect, establishing statewide guidelines for the
enforcement of the Compassionate Use Act. “Those guidelines are not
specific on how to operate a collective,” said Joe. “They have
recommendations, implications and innuendo, but no clear definition.” The Compassionate Use Act, added to the
California Health and Safety Code in 1996, was intended to “ensure that
seriously ill Californians have the right to obtain and use marijuana
for medical purposes… and that patients and their primary caregivers who
obtain and use marijuana for medical purposes upon the recommendation
of a physician are not subject to criminal prosecution or sanction.”
[Italics mine.] It also encourages federal and state governments “to
implement a plan to provide for the safe and affordable distribution of
marijuana to all patients in medical need of marijuana.” In
the spirit of compassionate use, Byron and Grumbine gave medicine to
people who couldn’t afford it. They spent a great deal of time with
patients, providing food, clothing, wheelchairs, jobs and job placement
outside of their collective to those who needed it. They built
wheelchair ramps and gave bus passes to people who couldn’t afford to
drive. In addition to the collective, in early
2009 Joe Grumbine and a small group of medical marijuana advocates
founded The Human Solution, a non-profit grassroots organization
offering free seminars on the anti-aging and health benefits of
marijuana, along with other services, to patients, caregivers, and the
local community. They created, and wear, green Solidarity Ribbons
championing patient rights and supporting medical marijuana defendants
in court. Perfect Storm On November 2, 2009, just five weeks prior
to the December 2009 raid, Grumbine was exonerated of all charges in a
similar arrest. He described that event on the internet forum,
InSession. “At the time of my arrest, we still didn’t
have a big safe. So one of the managers or owners would literally
package up the contents of the collective and we would take it to one of
our homes. It happened to be
my night. It was a perfect storm. We had made some significant purchases
that day and I had much more medicine than we normally carry. Then,
literally, a mile and a half from my house, the Riverside County Sheriff
pulled me over and lit me up for having a trailer ball on my bumper. No
moving violation. I haven’t had a moving violation in twenty years.”
Other than the trailer ball, he was in compliance with the law. When asked if he thought he’d been
targeted, Joe said, “No. It was just his lucky day. He was parked there
and I happened to drive by.” He added that there was only one police
officer involved, noting with bitter wisdom that there’s never a “raid
of one.” Seventeen trips to court and four
prosecutors later, on November 2, 2009, Grumbine was exonerated. The
judge stated that, based on proof of patients, patient outreach programs
and a huge witness list, “the court finds that Mr. Grumbine was acting
in accordance with California law.” But it was a costly arrest. To this
day, Joe has not recovered financially. And, of course, the worst wasn’t
over. According to online publication MedicalMarijuana411.com’s The Daily Dose,
after Grumbine was exonerated of all charges, Long Beach Police
Detective Valenzuela, apparently unwilling to let the judge’s findings
stand, consoled the Riverside County District Attorney, saying “Don’t
worry. We’ve got him good.” Sure enough, five weeks later Grumbine’s home and business were raided. Taking a Stand Of the fifteen people rounded up in the raid, felony charges were brought against only two – Joe Grumbine and Joe Byron. Having established their dispensaries in
full compliance with state law, as found by the court just five weeks
earlier, Byron and Grumbine refused to “confess to crimes they did not
commit,” insisting instead on their right to trial by jury. A jury trial
is a rare occurrence in Long Beach and the many other jurisdictions
where dispensary owners find themselves under intense pressure to take
plea deals. The outcome may have repercussions for every dispensary in
California, and perhaps the nation. Grumbine understands that theirs may be
seen as a test case. What’s being tested is the right of law enforcement
to attempt to erode medical marijuana protections by charging
collective owners with sales, using Los Angeles County District Attorney
Steve Cooley’s interpretation of the law to mean any sale is illegal.
“If they win enough cases, it undermines the protection collectives
have…. This is the precedent they are trying to set. By claiming all
sales are illegal, then charging people with sales, they are saying
there can be no legal dispensary. If they win, everybody goes down.” They Chose the Wrong Guys I already assumed That we’re in the felony room But I ain’t a judge, you don’t have to be nice to me. Bob Dylan ~ “She’s Your Lover Now” Nearly a year later, in December 2010, a Bail Reduction Hearing for the two Joes was conducted in Long Beach Superior Court.
The courtroom, as well as the hallway outside, was filled with people –
some in wheelchairs, some with walkers or on crutches – all wearing The
Human Solution’s green Solidarity Ribbon with a red cross in the
middle. They had come to support these men whose actions had made such a
difference in their lives. In a December 10, 2010 article in OC Weekly, Nick
Schou quotes attorney Chris Glew, who at the time was representing both
Joes, as saying, “If they could pick anybody in Long Beach to
prosecute, they chose the wrong guys. These guys are representative of
the true intention of this whole industry and what it should be. That’s
who they are…They are the Mother Teresas of medical marijuana.” At the hearing, the judge set bail for the
two Joes at half a million dollars – two hundred thousand for Grumbine,
three hundred thousand for Byron – more than Los Angeles County charges
for rapists, kidnappers and child molesters. And without the help of
several “angels” who put their retirement money and life savings on the
line to make his bail, Joe Grumbine would still be sitting in the
slammer. Add to that his massive legal bills, and regardless of the
outcome, he will spend many years paying for these raids. Grumbine remains very moved and encouraged
by the show of support at his bail hearing, as this photo taken by
MedicalMarijuana411.com attests. Grumbine told Cheri Sicard of The Daily Dose, that “for the two seconds I was able to scan the courtroom, I saw it filled with caring faces. I knew that this was a sacrifice for everyone, to take time out of their lives to travel, pay for parking and gas, and to be treated poorly by the court. I knew that whatever happened to me in there was going to be witnessed by everyone. I will remember that moment all my life. I am almost brought to tears every time I think about it. Those people gave me strength to endure the rest of my stay in custody. “Court support is one of the most powerful
things an individual can do with the least amount of effort,” he went
on. “Some folks say that it makes no difference, that judges are above
reproach and can’t be touched by such a statement, but I say this: there
are few cases where people act the same when they are being watched and
scrutinized as they do when they are all alone with nobody watching.” How You Can Help If you’re in the Southern California area,
and especially if you’re a medical marijuana patient, put your boots on
the ground. Bear witness. Stand in solidarity. Wear the green ribbon. By
raising public awareness, we not only hold our justice system
accountable, we educate the jury pool. “Jurors have an obligation to do
the right thing,” said Joe Grumbine. “They cannot be punished for that.”
After all these years of raids and
prosecutions and politics and wasted tax dollars and lawyerly wrangling,
it all boils down to one simple thing: Nobody should go to jail for using or providing, as medicine, a plant that is safer and more beneficial than aspirin. On Thursday, June 9, 2011, trial
proceedings begin for Grumbine and Byron at Long Beach Superior Court.
Thus begins another round of lawyerly wrangling over whether the two
Joes will be allowed to tell the jury they were providing medical
marijuana in compliance with California law. A date for jury selection
will be set. The Human Solution plans a rally on the day jury selection
begins. Court attendance is needed and requested. By our actions today we help set the legal precedents for tomorrow. Please Attend: Thursday, June 9, 2011 Trial Proceedings Begin 9:00 am to 12:00 pm Long Beach Courthouse 415 West Ocean Boulevard Long Beach, California 90802 In addition to court attendance, supporters are needed to help plan and coordinate a courthouse rally. Please call 951-436-6312 for information. Contributions to the defense fund of Joe Grumbine and Joe Byron can be made by clicking the Donate button on The Human Solution webpage. Or by sending checks to: 26521 Hammack Avenue Perris, California 92570
****** In 1995 Cynthia Johnston directed public relations for an online publication, Sources eJournal,
covering intelligence, espionage and terrorism. There, she wrote a
three-part series, “Confessions of a CIA Brat.” She also wrote a
business column, “In the Loop,” for an independent filmmaking web
publication and several pieces for Bay Area computer magazine Micro Times. After Sources
went down in the dot.com crash of the late Nineties, she took a leap of
faith, moved into a funky cab-over camper, and started living curbside
on the streets of San Francisco. She began her first blog before
blogging was a word. Her online journal earned her the opportunity to
write a piece, “Mobile Homeless,” for The San Francisco Chronicle. She’s been blogging ever since. Johnston
began writing about her experience as a medical marijuana patient as
soon as she “got legal.” She went public on behalf of legalization in
1980 with the California Marijuana Initiative and a headline: “Marijuana
Protester Busted at High Noon.” ****** Originally published June 4, 2011 at unitedstatesvmarijuana.blogspot.com |