[Medpatient]

Proprietors of Hayward medical pot club face federal drug charges

Henry K. Lee, Chronicle Staff Writer

Friday, June 1, 2007



(06-01) 11:47 PDT HAYWARD -- The owner and manager of a Hayward medical marijuana dispensary were charged in federal court today with using the business as a front to sell pot for profit.

Hayward residents Shon Squier, 34, owner of the Local Patients Cooperative, and Valerie Herschel, 23, its manager, were charged with distribution of marijuana, maintaining drug-involved premises and money laundering.

Squier allegedly used the profit from marijuana sales to buy a Hayward home on Chronicle Avenue in the hills above Cal State East Bay for $532,107 and a Dodge pickup truck for $40,200, authorities said. Herschel allegedly used $85,853 for a down payment on a home on nearby Parkside Drive.

The two, who were arrested Dec. 11, were named today in a document known as an information, which in federal court typically signifies that a defendant intends to plead guilty. Their attorneys were not immediately available to comment today.

Authorities seized indoor growing equipment, hundreds of plants and cookies, brownies and other food that contained marijuana during raids of the dispensary, located at 22612 through 22630 Foothill Blvd.

In 1996, California voters approved Proposition 215, which allows the use of marijuana for medical purposes with a doctor's recommendation. Under federal law, possessing marijuana in any form remains illegal.

Local officials recently ordered the dispensary, one of two in Hayward, to close because it had more marijuana on site than the city allowed. In an affidavit, Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent Kenny Lee cited a newspaper article to show that police had found 30 pounds of marijuana at the dispensary, 10 times the amount as allowed by the city of Hayward.

Agents staked out the dispensary five times in October and November, and saw healthy-looking men entering and leaving the building each time, carrying bags with the word "prescription" on it. Agents believed that the bags contained marijuana, according to the affidavit.

[JDub420]

I cant stand people taking advantage of proposition 215. We are fortunate enough to be able to get medical marjuana, but people keep taking advantage. Like this motherfucker. All the money he taxed for the herb went towards a nice house and car for him, that really pisses me off. Instead of being compassionate to the people, he put on a front, taxed his prices and instead of helping the cause he decided he was going to treat himself nice off the patients money. I'm not saying he cant make himself some money, cuz of course he does, they all have to, but having 10 times the amount of marijuana allowed by prop. 215 seems rediculous. I mean shit, if have that much on deck, lets see some good deals for the people. I'm sorry, i mean i really dont have a lot of hate for this man or this business, I'm just tired to people not being compassionate for the patients when we are forunate enough to even have prop. 215, I mean its not legal but its something. I'm sick of people giving me a bad name for being a patient. Sorry, I just ahd a vent a little. Lets come together for the cause. Hit up the rallies

[CDXX]

Originally Posted by ;258842

Agents staked out the dispensary five times in October and November, and saw healthy-looking men entering and leaving the building .

Is that some sort of training the cops get now? To have the ability to tell how much pain someone is in by just looking at them. Wow I wish my Dr. could do that.

[MMM420SoCal]

Originally Posted by Medpatient

Agents staked out the dispensary five times in October and November, and saw healthy-looking men entering and leaving the building each time, carrying bags with the word "prescription" on it. Agents believed that the bags contained marijuana, according to the affidavit.

Uh..WTF?? No kiddin, now if you dont roll in a wheel chair or drag a limb or act 1/2 dead, you must be a 100% healthy person...

I wish more patients would take the time to put their meds away (hoodies, purses, backpacks, whatever) before leaving the club... Why broadcast?

Usually by the time I get to a club, being so far away and infrequently being able to due to financial concerns...Im pretty fuggin messed up, back and leg pain its a bad deal for sure. I feel for the patiets who are post-op from surgical issues and those who are severely injured like me but not visibly so, I hate how everyone assumes if you're young and "normal" looking you use MMJ to "get stoned legally dude"

Fuck that shit. This is medicine, I REPEAT MEDICINE... Please use it responsibly and also act accordingly. Especially when not in your home (I.E. leaving a club in the community eye.....)

M3

[Cuddy Rock]

Originally Posted by JDub420

I cant stand people taking advantage of proposition 215. We are fortunate enough to be able to get medical marjuana, but people keep taking advantage. Like this motherfucker. All the money he taxed for the herb went towards a nice house and car for him, that really pisses me off. Instead of being compassionate to the people, he put on a front, taxed his prices and instead of helping the cause he decided he was going to treat himself nice off the patients money. I'm not saying he cant make himself some money, cuz of course he does, they all have to, but having 10 times the amount of marijuana allowed by prop. 215 seems rediculous. I mean shit, if have that much on deck, lets see some good deals for the people. I'm sorry, i mean i really dont have a lot of hate for this man or this business, I'm just tired to people not being compassionate for the patients when we are forunate enough to even have prop. 215, I mean its not legal but its something. I'm sick of people giving me a bad name for being a patient. Sorry, I just ahd a vent a little. Lets come together for the cause. Hit up the rallies

Dont believe everything you read!!! Of course the feds are trying to make them out to be drug dealers there trying to make us all look like criminals their crooked!! I used to go this club and they were very compassionate you could get eigths of top grade for $45 no tax!! Very friendly staff and very compassionate people!! Yah they were making money but so what, this is a naturual herb, how do you think they paid the bills and continued to supply patients with medicine without making profit? Not to mention the risk they took to supply people in need!! As far as having 10 times the city limit or whatever the crooked feds claim you guys have to understand how many patients relied on this place for there medicine!! Im sorry, but no one deserves to be prosecuted like this for selling a therapeutic plant that was legalized over 10 years ago, its a joke!!! The feds need to respect the states laws and back off!!

[JDub420]

What are you talking about, I asked my friend (after i read your reply) who has been to this facility and he paid 65 for some pure OG, thats a long way off 45. Plus, Prop. 215 was made for us patients. We are allowed to medicate legally, all we have to do is follow the rules and respect it. I highly doubt the feds made all this up because they thought he was just some no good drug dealer. All we gotta do is respect the rules, it's so easy. If more people did, we wouldnt have problems like this obvously. We are so lucky to have prop. 215, remember that. It's like spitting in every patients face when you direspect the rules. Rules are rules, you wouldnt call people in the pharmacy or show off your bag of med's to people outside the store would you ? no, because we play by the rules. places are getting raided cuz people are disrespecting 215. period.

Originally Posted by JDub420

all we have to do is follow the rules and respect it. All we gotta do is respect the rules, it's so easy.... the rules....Rules are rules....we play by the rules....places are getting raided cuz people are disrespecting 215. period.

You like following rules? Follow the federal law then, which supercedes your precious little prop. 215, and stop using cannabis immediately. Hey, gotta follow the rules! Especially the big ones, made by the big boys at the top! Yeah!

Who cares if he bought a house and a car. What the hell is wrong with that? What if I buy a house and a car? All of the sudden I'm a bad guy? He's a working man & he supplies people with what they need. Doesn't matter what business you're in, you're doing something for society, and you deserve to be compensated for it. He's helping people. Just because it doesn't fit into the category of what a few old fat bastards in congress believe in, doesn't mean it's actually a shady thing.

Remember, the government are the ones who are wrong in the first place by outlawing a fucking plant, and then telling us what we can and can't put into our own bodies as if they own us. Fuckin' shit. I don't care what they think, and when people get mad about someone treating themselves to something, it seems like their on the enemies' side.

Dispensary operators are just way ahead of the government, socially; it's the feds who need to catch up to the rest of us, and realize that cannabis is what the people want. Cannabis is also a natural organism that has been living and breathing on this planet way before any of us silly little monkeys were even born. So where the hell does anyone get off telling anyone else what they can or can't do with it. Fuck it all.

I forgot to say, society never got anywhere by following all the rules, all the time. Rebels are heroes, and some of them are revolutionaries.

It sure as hell beats bending over and taking Uncle Sams' shaft up the ass...

Do you realize that the government sees people with money as people with power? Don't you see that if they let anyone who makes a lot of money in a business that clashes with their interests, that it raises a huge red flag to them? Rebels with money (power, pull) are extremely threatening to the established power. Their only doing all of this because they don't want to lose what they've worked (scammed) so hard to get.

Also, don't forget how when these reports come out, the truth is usually stretched to make it look like the worst possible scenario. We don't know all the particulars. Words are crafted carefully to paint a picture of these people who are threats to the government, as also threats to our society and families. That's where they pull in much of their support. Through the exploitation of the fears of the misled.

I do not side with that approach at all. Could this guy have maybe laid a little lower? Possibly. But I guarantee you he is not our enemy. Hell, he was offering a service that you are happily a recipient of. How is your career any more worthy of comfortable compensation than his? I really don't see how.

[eclecticreason]

I think I am going to make a little documentary, and entitle it "My Day". It's going to show how sexy and healthy I look at first. 27, male, 155 and baby blues, people love it. After the health and good look are established, the plotline will EXPLODE. 10-15 times (10 is what I call a "good day", so my "good days can be subjective)in "My Day" will I run to the bathroom, and have explosive diaherreha due to Crohn's. After each time, and the extreme pain, I will smoke and alleviate. That is my day. I go to dispensaries when my stomach is calm, so the truth isn't always seen. If these cops saw me walk in, they would assume. They would also be wrong, as I wouldn't wish my normal day on my worst enemy. They seem like complete Asses when the assume the status of a person by sight alone.

Originally Posted by MMM420SoCal

Uh..WTF?? No kiddin, now if you dont roll in a wheel chair or drag a limb or act 1/2 dead, you must be a 100% healthy person...

I wish more patients would take the time to put their meds away (hoodies, purses, backpacks, whatever) before leaving the club... Why broadcast?

Usually by the time I get to a club, being so far away and infrequently being able to due to financial concerns...Im pretty fuggin messed up, back and leg pain its a bad deal for sure. I feel for the patiets who are post-op from surgical issues and those who are severely injured like me but not visibly so, I hate how everyone assumes if you're young and "normal" looking you use MMJ to "get stoned legally dude"

Fuck that shit. This is medicine, I REPEAT MEDICINE... Please use it responsibly and also act accordingly. Especially when not in your home (I.E. leaving a club in the community eye.....)

M3

[eclecticreason]

Originally Posted by JDub420

I cant stand people taking advantage of proposition 215. We are fortunate enough to be able to get medical marjuana, but people keep taking advantage. Like this motherfucker. All the money he taxed for the herb went towards a nice house and car for him, that really pisses me off. Instead of being compassionate to the people, he put on a front, taxed his prices and instead of helping the cause he decided he was going to treat himself nice off the patients money. I'm not saying he cant make himself some money, cuz of course he does, they all have to, but having 10 times the amount of marijuana allowed by prop. 215 seems rediculous. I mean shit, if have that much on deck, lets see some good deals for the people. I'm sorry, i mean i really dont have a lot of hate for this man or this business, I'm just tired to people not being compassionate for the patients when we are forunate enough to even have prop. 215, I mean its not legal but its something. I'm sick of people giving me a bad name for being a patient. Sorry, I just ahd a vent a little. Lets come together for the cause. Hit up the rallies

they are giving up their time, and working full time. Do you have dreams? What is health worth to you? Why not spend some time railing your rich doctors who charge 100 bucks a visit to not even listen a bit to what you have to say? They have sports cars and houses. They must be evil, right?

You are putting much faith in a poorly written, and probably propagandistic article. They don't try to paint a real picture, the try to paint an ugly one.

[Cuddy Rock]

Originally Posted by JDub420

What are you talking about, I asked my friend (after i read your reply) who has been to this facility and he paid 65 for some pure OG, thats a long way off 45. Plus, Prop. 215 was made for us patients. We are allowed to medicate legally, all we have to do is follow the rules and respect it. I highly doubt the feds made all this up because they thought he was just some no good drug dealer. All we gotta do is respect the rules, it's so easy. If more people did, we wouldnt have problems like this obvously. We are so lucky to have prop. 215, remember that. It's like spitting in every patients face when you direspect the rules. Rules are rules, you wouldnt call people in the pharmacy or show off your bag of med's to people outside the store would you ? no, because we play by the rules. places are getting raided cuz people are disrespecting 215. period.

Your friend is full of shit!!! LPC never had anything over $55 an eigth I went to this co-op all the time and even $55 was rare usually top grade topped out at $50.

peace cuddy,

Originally Posted by eclecticreason

they are giving up their time, and working full time. Do you have dreams? What is health worth to you? Why not spend some time railing your rich doctors who charge 100 bucks a visit to not even listen a bit to what you have to say? They have sports cars and houses. They must be evil, right?

You are putting much faith in a poorly written, and probably propagandistic article. They don't try to paint a real picture, the try to paint an ugly one.

^^^ Hey look! Somebody understands!

[Cuddy Rock]

Originally Posted by Cannabliss

I forgot to say, society never got anywhere by following all the rules, all the time. Rebels are heroes, and some of them are revolutionaries.

It sure as hell beats bending over and taking Uncle Sams' shaft up the ass...

Do you realize that the government sees people with money as people with power? Don't you see that if they let anyone who makes a lot of money in a business that clashes with their interests, that it raises a huge red flag to them? Rebels with money (power, pull) are extremely threatening to the established power. Their only doing all of this because they don't want to lose what they've worked (scammed) so hard to get.

Also, don't forget how when these reports come out, the truth is usually stretched to make it look like the worst possible scenario. We don't know all the particulars. Words are crafted carefully to paint a picture of these people who are threats to the government, as also threats to our society and families. That's where they pull in much of their support. Through the exploitation of the fears of the misled.

I do not side with that approach at all. Could this guy have maybe laid a little lower? Possibly. But I guarantee you he is not our enemy. Hell, he was offering a service that you are happily a recipient of. How is your career any more worthy of comfortable compensation than his? I really don't see how.

^^^^^ What He Said^^^^^ Cannabliss I couldnt agree with you more!!

[JDub420]

o man, deepest apologies, i didnt know you guys were that close. Sorry my brothers. Now i feel like an ass

[DSW90049]

"saw healthy-looking men entering and leaving the building each time, carrying bags with the word "prescription" on it. Agents believed that the bags contained marijuana, according to the affidavit."

This is the concept that makes me furious.

I am one of those "healthy-looking men," who stuggles every day with chronic pain of rheumatoid arthritis, and who legally (at least according to CA) medicates with MMJ so I can get through to another day and keep my deep dark secret that, despite how robust and healthy and young for my age I may look, I am screaming inside with the pain some times.

Do I have to rent a wheelchair or a pair of crutches to go buy my MMJ so the media is convinced that I am really sick enough to be worthy?

What a crock of biased, unfair, stereotyping horseshit!

[labrat]

Originally Posted by JDub420

I cant stand people taking advantage of proposition 215. We are fortunate enough to be able to get medical marjuana, but people keep taking advantage. Like this motherfucker. All the money he taxed for the herb went towards a nice house and car for him, that really pisses me off. Instead of being compassionate to the people, he put on a front, taxed his prices and instead of helping the cause he decided he was going to treat himself nice off the patients money. I'm not saying he cant make himself some money, cuz of course he does, they all have to, but having 10 times the amount of marijuana allowed by prop. 215 seems rediculous. I mean shit, if have that much on deck, lets see some good deals for the people. I'm sorry, i mean i really dont have a lot of hate for this man or this business, I'm just tired to people not being compassionate for the patients when we are forunate enough to even have prop. 215, I mean its not legal but its something. I'm sick of people giving me a bad name for being a patient. Sorry, I just ahd a vent a little. Lets come together for the cause. Hit up the rallies

lets see a 530,000 dolla house!!! thats about a step up from a card board box in calif !!! 40,000 dolla pick up !!! thats average price!!! buying a second house with 80,000 !! that pocket change!!! sounds normal to me!! peace lab rat

[MMM420SoCal]

Originally Posted by eclecticreason

I think I am going to make a little documentary, and entitle it "My Day". It's going to show how sexy and healthy I look at first. 27, male, 155 and baby blues, people love it. After the health and good look are established, the plotline will EXPLODE. 10-15 times (10 is what I call a "good day", so my "good days can be subjective)in "My Day" will I run to the bathroom, and have explosive diaherreha due to Crohn's. After each time, and the extreme pain, I will smoke and alleviate. That is my day. I go to dispensaries when my stomach is calm, so the truth isn't always seen. If these cops saw me walk in, they would assume. They would also be wrong, as I wouldn't wish my normal day on my worst enemy. They seem like complete Asses when the assume the status of a person by sight alone.

I totally understand...I have paralytic pressure on my spinal column, specifically T5/T6....Those branch nerves control your GI tract and other areas of your body (breathing too I believe)...

As such, when my vertebrae shift location and pinch the nerves (happens 2-3 times a day easily) I can have some very interesting GI-tract conditions emerge with an immediacy I can't control... I.E. I have a lot of the symptoms of Chrons without actually having IBS/Chrons.... So I can relate.

Ive lost about 30# from the chronic pain. Sometimes I can't eat cuz I hurt so much its just not what my body wants to do at the time, or I can't eat because I will vomit the food because of my symptoms, OR when I do eat I get diarrhea like you describe and all my nutritional value is literally flushed away.

I have actually been accused of being a "hard drug" user/addict because of the weight I have lost dealing with these symptoms and related issues...

So next time the DEA man sees me lookin healthy and normal walkin into a club I hope he remembers I prolly had or will have diarrhea and massive spasms within a short time before or after the time I go into the club for meds....

Maybe we should have to go in with a back brace and neck brace and crutches, so we will be "real" patients in the eye of the all-seeing media... (Im kidding of course)

M3

Originally Posted by DSW90049

I am one of those "healthy-looking men," who stuggles every day with chronic pain of rheumatoid arthritis, and who legally (at least according to CA) medicates with MMJ so I can get through to another day and keep my deep dark secret that, despite how robust and healthy and young for my age I may look, I am screaming inside with the pain some times.

Do I have to rent a wheelchair or a pair of crutches to go buy my MMJ so the media is convinced that I am really sick enough to be worthy?

What a crock of biased, unfair, stereotyping horseshit!

Agreed! I look healthy as well, but I assure you I feel like crap most of the day. Fibro is killing my motivation, and my back and neck hasn't been without pain for years now. I haven't really felt truly healthy since I was a teenager.

Wheelchair rentals! That's funny. I need to rent a wheelchair too! You never know when the DEA is watching! Hee hee.

Cannabis helps with so many different ailments, don't they know that? You don't have to be crippled, hopping around on one leg, with cancer in your nuts to benefit from cannabis. Plus, I can use whatever remedy I choose, to help me feel better! I have that right!

Fuckin idiot feds....cannabis helps even with headaches. It can be an alternative to Advil or Tylenol. If I feel like taking an Advil, so be it. Caffeine can numb headache pain a little bit too, so if I feel like drinking a soda, I can do that if I want! Or, I can flick my Bic, set the flame against a little piece of a cannabis flower, and inhale the smoke that results from it. It's my body! Not yours! Fuck you, and fuck off! Thanks. :smile2: