Kharla Vezzetti

Cal NORML Release Sept. 1, 2010

According to data from the Bureau of Criminal Statistics, California reported nearly the same number of marijuana arrests in 2009 as in the previous, record year.

In 2009, there were 17,008 felony and 61,164 misdemeanor marijuana arrests, for a total of 78,172. In 2008, there were 17,126 felonies and 61,388 misdemeanors, for a total of 78,514. This was the highest number of arrests since marijuana was decriminalized in 1976.

Arrests for other drugs have been declining.…

SANTA ROSA, CA May 29, 2002 – The Aiko Compassionate Center, a medical marijuana patients’ group in Santa Rosa, was raided by a team of DEA agents today. Two suspects were arrested in what is thought to be the outgrowth of an ongoing DEA investigation of medical marijuana cultivation in Sonoma County.

This is the fourth DEA raid of a medical cannabis club since Sept. 11th. Over a dozen medical marijuana cases are pending in federal court in California.

A nationwide protest against the raids is planned for June 6th at noon at DEA offices around the country.…

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 11, 2002. In a foretaste of what could await the defendants in the DEA’s medical MJ raids, a Sonoma County patient, Keith Alden, was summarily convicted of marijuana cultivation in the first federal jury trial of a medical cannabis grower in San Francisco.

The proceedings were a travesty of justice, as Alden was effectively precluded from presenting any real defense. Alden had been growing some 300 plants, ostensibly for medical use by himself and other patients. This being in excess of Sonoma’s guidelines, his case was handed over to the feds for prosecution.…

Jun 6, 2002 – California saw spirited rallies against the DEA in a nationwide day of protest organized by Americans for Safe Access.

Santa Rosa, where the DEA recently raided the Aiko patients’ co-operative, was the scene of the nation’s largest protest. Some 300 demonstrators turned out, closing the federal building to the public. KSRO talk show host Pat Thurston joined five or six others to block the doorway in civil disobedience. Police were highly cooperative, and no one was arrested.…

OAKLAND, Jan 14 2002. BART announced that it has scrapped plants to deploy drug-sniffing dogs on its trains following a flood of protests from angry patrons and NORML supporters.

BART had deployed canine units on loan from US Customs to sniff out passengers for two nights in December. They succeeded in nabbing 12 passengers for misdemeanor marijuana possession and a 13th for petty pot dealing, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. No hard drugs were found in the searches.

In a letter to the BART Board, California NORML coordinator Dale Gieringer denounced the searches as an “obnoxious invasion of personal privacy that will do nothing to enhance public safety.”…

1999 – Marijuana activists are pushing the city of Berkeley to stop police from arresting minor pot offenders in violation of the city’s 20-year-old Marijuana Ordinance, which declares that marijuana should be lowest enforcement priority.

Police statistics show a dramatic doubling in the number of marijuana arrests last year following a crackdown aimed at clearing street people off Telegraph Ave. The increase was driven by a near tripling in the number of felony pot arrests, mainly for petty sales or intent to sell..…