Spokane7
59°
November 23, 2011 in City
Two plead guilty following medical marijuana raids
Two men have pleaded guilty to felony possession of marijuana following raids in April of several marijuana dispensaries in the Spokane area.
Charles W. Wright, 41, of Rathdrum, and Jon R. Vivian, 31, of Spokane, pleaded guilty this week to the charges in U.S. District Court. They were charged following raids of more than 40 businesses that were selling marijuana to medical patients.
Wright and Vivian were business partners in a dispensary called THC Pharmacy, located at 1108 S. Perry St.
A search conducted on April 28 netted 36 plants, $12,706 in cash and bottles full of marijuana buds. Sentencing for both men has been set in February.
“Our goal was to seek voluntary compliance with the federal law,” U.S. Attorney Mike Ormsby said in a news release. “Absent that, we were left with no other alternative than to enforce the law with quick and direct action.”
1992 murder trial begins against sex offender 
force_vector on November 23 at 4:53 p.m.
Ahhhh, the obligatory medical marijuana arrest article on a slow news day.
misjustice on November 23 at 5:23 p.m.
“…we were left with no other alternative…”
Not true; there are plenty of alternatives.
liberal_in_right_wing_land on November 23 at 5:42 p.m.
Every tea partier and conservative fighting for smaller, less intrusive government should be furious about the federal government wasting tax money to fight this silly battle they are clearly losing - wether you agree with marijuna or not, you should be 100% against the federal governments drug war, just like your hero Ron Paul.
Al_Loysius on November 23 at 5:49 p.m.
The average Washingtonian was willing to support medical marijuana for people dying of cancer, AIDS, etc. The medical marijuana movement has lost a lot of credibility by these outlets using docs to give quickie exams and giving it to people with hangnails and ingrown toenails. In other words, plain old potheads.
The medical marijuana industry is its own worst enemy. Too many of these operators saw dollar signs and were unwilling to self-police.
Ultimately the issue of marijuana is only going to be resolved when Congress makes it a prescription substance subject to medical standards and the threat of malpractice suits if docs start getting careless in who they prescribe to.
Hunterman on November 23 at 5:54 p.m.
Once again, the hard drug (alcohol) users are going after those who use a soft drug. It’s especially disgusting when so many are using marijuana to relieve pain without opiats.
detroitdude on November 23 at 6:03 p.m.
Al_Loysius said: “Ultimately the issue of marijuana is only going to be resolved when Congress makes it a prescription substance subject to medical standards and the threat of malpractice suits if docs start getting careless in who they prescribe to.”
No, the issue will be resolved when Congress and the Federal government remove themselves from an arena where they really have no right to dictate what substances are “good or bad” for people. That is not a decision for government to make. You OD or drink yourself to death, so be it. Most people have the common sense not to do that, and would not do it were drug laws relaxed.
The war on drugs, especially soft and recreational ones is a failure. Some people don’t like the way alcohol makes them feel, and some are content with the way they feel if they get stoned. You can’t stop people from doing that, and it is foolish to try. Again, this is a plant that whatever “God” you believe in put here, this is a waste of money and the perfect example of bloat that permeates government spending.
detroitdude on November 23 at 6:05 p.m.
Wow, could someone from SR please tell me why my post was yanked? Was it because I used the word “ass”? If so, could you restore it without the classless and petty profanity I used? Mr. Pitts? Addy Hatch? Anyone?
mrd on November 23 at 6:14 p.m.
Al, I pretty much agree with you. It seemed anyone could get an mj card, like you said, basically potheads. They were their own worse enemies. Too much money, too much greed.
gonzomo on November 23 at 6:15 p.m.
Liberal-I actually agree with you. The federal war on drugs is the biggest failure of government in the last 50 years. And this was done entirely done by democrats, in direct opposition to many campaign promises. Only Ron Paul and Gary Johnson are willing to say this in public. I can’t wait to see Obama try to defend this next year.
But hey, at least noone is Spokane can buy pot anymore!
liberal_in_right_wing_land on November 23 at 6:28 p.m.
gonzomo, ummm…..it isn’t a democrat or republican thing. But if you want to make it one, no, it was the republicans that started this. Most drug laws and the government stance on marijuana was started under in the 1920’s under Hoover and continued under FDR. Then it was Nixon who coined the term “War on Drugs” and put this movement on steroids, but lets also not forget Reagan’s stance on the “War on Drugs” including his wife Nancy’s stance as first lady, I think we all remember DARE.
I will say one thing, I also can’t wait to see Obama defend his policies on this issues either. When he took office he said his administration would stop busting medical marijuana grows and dispensaries and focus instead on the illegal growers and the Mexican growers on public lands.
However, as we can all see, his administration is no better than anyone before him, which is a shame. Over half the country now believes marijuana should be legal and taxed like tobacco and alcohol and it’s a shame our elected officials (like with everything else in the country) fail to see what the country wants and instead do what their lobbyist masters tell them to do.
misjustice on November 23 at 6:51 p.m.
Awww, just do like I do; grow your own, fly under the radar, and give the federal gubmint the finger.
It’s not like the gubmint is ever going to do away with weed, all they are doing is making felons of otherwise lawabiding, tax payin’ citizens, and providing fodder for the prison-industrial-complex.
And this behavior by the feds and our own local “law” enforcement, in supposedly the land of the frickin’ free?
Free the weed!
And keep it lit!
; )
johnclarke on November 23 at 6:58 p.m.
Some people don’t like the way alcohol makes them feel, and some are content with the way they feel if they get stoned.
and some people like both at once. Not me mind you.
gonzomo on November 23 at 7:05 p.m.
Liberal-
I would agree that almost all republicans are on the wrong side of this issue. But Obama and Gregoire and pretty much all dems have said the opposite during their campaigns. I did not vote for Obama but I thought he might be the first president in a long time to bring a reasonable approach to it.
He also recently pardoned a handful of people with marijuana convictions. I wonder if these two will be on his next list.
D Statler on November 23 at 8:12 p.m.
Gotta keep those prisons full don’t we ? Maybe we could build another new jail or prison or three. This stinks of the local drug task force making a grab for assets under the guise of a federal law. Get all you can now you corrupt a-wadds.The end is near for Spokane’s corrupt police force.
nslopeofw on November 23 at 8:24 p.m.
and, by gawd Liberal in rt wing land- we teabaggers are pissed at the Obama government for wasting our damn tax dollars on something that should be freakin legal. Maybe you could give him a call and ask him to legalize it?
misjustice on November 23 at 8:49 p.m.
Right you are, Undooley, ONLY with drug busts can the coppers take your stuff. And that is what this is about more than anything; forfeiture of assests!
Kill someone and you still get to keep your house, your business, your car, your bank account, your kids…
Get caught with a “felony” amount of weed? Lose your house, your business, your car, your bank account, your kids…to the gubmint…
Weird, huh????
Keep it lit; just don’t get caught doin’ it!
; )
liveinfearoftheSPD on November 23 at 9:04 p.m.
@Gonzomo
Would you like to place a small wager on that?
D Statler on November 23 at 9:20 p.m.
http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2009/feb/12/spokane-police-deposited-millions-into/
This is just the tip of the iceberg. $600K unducumented by the drug task force alone should trigger a deep investigation. This behavior is still happening today. The accounting procedures may be alittle different. The tactics are very corrupt also. These guys have been passing drugs out also. At what point will the Feds do something about this. Lets hope Mrs. Vernor’s procedural request includes a very deep look at this department and their practices.
D Statler on November 23 at 9:25 p.m.
http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2009/feb/11/auditor-spd-spent-millions-without-oversight/
Need any more proof ? This has been going on for decades :^(
selkirk on November 23 at 10:48 p.m.
And don’t forget the “educational” visits our good ol’ boys are continuing to employ where they hear about a medicinal grow and pleasantly knock on the door and politely ask if they can see the grow.
“We know you are growing and if you refuse to allow us to see it, we will go get a warrant and tear your entire house apart. Do you really want that?”
Who would want to have to clean up that mess? It is very believable as well as very ILLEGAL!!! So most will let them in because most do follow the law.
However, if you are one plant or one gram over the state law, you are “educated” by losing EVERY plant and your ENTIRE stash of medicine. They break your lights and toss everything out on your lawn so the entire neighborhood knows what you were doing.
I know of one person who went through this absolute violation of civil liberties. His medicine is very unique and 2 days after he was educated, his medicine was being sold on the street. The coppers took it and sold it, PERIOD!!!
And the reason they “educated” him? Because he had one clone over his limit and because it had a root established, it was determined by the POLICE (not a court of law) he was in violation.
They are JUDGE, JURY, and EXECUTIONERS!!! Where is the oversight? Where are the controls? Oh yeah, we live in Spokanistan where the cops do what they want and thumb their noses at the Feds cuz they think they are invincible!
I had heard rumors years ago that a retired FBI agent who was instrumental in cleaning up New Jersey’s corrupt police, who moved to Spokane and started investigating the SPD on his own. He said that the SPD was 10 times as corrupt as New Jersey’s, as corrupt as any force in this country.
His “discovery” is finally being played out in front of us, the public, and we are no longer content to sit on our hands and let the good ol’ boys do what they want.
D Statler on November 24 at 7:40 a.m.
It is not about helping society. It is about taking for themselves. Every crew member in the taskforces are paid $50K to $100K a year by us,the taxpayers. It appears that their wages are not good enough. There are some good fellas in the gang. Unfortunately, the bad far out number the good in this gang. They are armed to the teeth with military style weaponry. The tactics used for these home invasions / robberies is less than savory as the last post explains. The term robbery is used because the assets seized don’t always make it to the property room downtown.The stash that does make it downtown is misappropriated. Seized drugs are passed out on street corners for informant hook-ups.This is WRONG!
I do not par-take in drugs or MJ. I do see and have witnessed the damage done to families by the task force along with their corrupt detectives,attourneys and specially appointed judges. Just like Chevrolet. “Tradition runs deep” :^(
D Statler on November 24 at 7:47 a.m.
http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2010/oct/22/police-divvy-drugs-to-catch-dealers/
I just goes on and on and on :^(