Marijuana Anti-Prohibition Project 760.799.2055

Hi Everyone,
Well it's finally happened. The San Bernardino Sheriff's Department and the San Bernardino District Attorney's office are trying to put great grandma in jail. Just to make sure they succeed,they have assigned a special prosecutor to the case.

Special prosecutors are usually reserved for high-profile criminal gang or serial murder type prosecutions. Long-term high desert medical marijuana patients and MAPP activists, JoAnn and Rich McCabe have been arrested and are free on bail after being found cultivating marijuana by local police investigating possibly stolen property in possession of their son who was not living there. To say this is a total outrage would be the understatement of the decade. What makes it all the more intolerable is that if JoAnn and Rich had been able to obtain a MMJ ID card like patients in Riverside County, they would not have been arrested. We cannot totally blame law enforcement for arresting, prosecuting and trying to put great grandma in jail. The real culprits are the five members of the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors. As far as most law enforcement is concerned, a patient must have the mmj ID
card to not be arrested. A doctor's recommendation in and of itself is not good enough. By refusing to allow the San Bernardino Public Health Dept. to issue the state-mandated mmj ID cards, they allow the San Bernardino Sheriff's office to continue arresting legitimate medical marijuana patients like JoAnn and Rich. There have been many victims of this mean-spirited, illegal and
unethical action by the SB Board of Supervisors. A great grandma is just the latest in a way too long line of arrests and prosecutions. This needs to STOP and WE are the people who can STOP it. How we are going to do it is the subject of the Wednesday, December 12 High Desert MAPP meeting at the Red Barn Feed Store, 350 S. Old Woman Springs Road (Hwy. 247) in Flamingo Heights. Please note that the meetings now start at 7 p.m. Joann and Rich will be at the meeting to tell what really happened and why it is happening. Many residents believe that the police claim that they were looking for stolen property in possession of their son was bogus and used as a cover to get police into their home. We can no longer stand by idly and watch medical marijuana patients be subjected to the iron-fisted criminal justice system. This is especially egregious when our public officials allow our senior citizens to be put in harm's way by their refusal to implement state law. The first thing we need to do is work to establish a defense fund to help Joan and Rich raise the $$$$ to mount a successful defense. Since the SB DA's office considers this case to be of such high-priority that they are assigning a high priced special prosecutor to it, competent legal counsel will be needed by JoAnn and Rich to defeat the DA's lead crucifier. Second, we need to devise a public campaign to bring this outrage to the attention of the public. Trying to put a great grandma in jail is beyond the pale and the public knows it and the DA's office knows
the public knows it. It is expected that the DA's office will fight back and use the DA's newly created, federally funded, Drug Free Community Coalition to whip up public support against medicinal marijuana to justify their sordid effort to put great grandma JoAnn in jail. In addition to Joann and Rich, I will be at the meeting to discuss the continued flaunting of the law and waste of taxpayer's money by the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors which has lead to the
tragedy of the arrest of these two great grandparents and my recent arrest at the first meeting of Drug Free Coalition group formed at the behest of and with the assistance of the SB DA's office.
If you cannot make the meeting, have no regrets - you can still help. I am sure that the prospect of Great Grandma going to jail makes you MAD AS HELL AND YOU WON'T TAKE IT ANYMORE and you will want to help. How you can do that will be decided at this Wednesday's MAPP meeting. I am sure you will be one of many knights in shining armor that will ride to JoAnn and Rich's side when you receive the email with information on the actions that we will be taking. Following the regular meeting, there will be a special patient only meeting for patients looking to find a safe, reliable and more affordable way of obtaining medicinal marijuana through joining a
medical marijuana patient coop or collective. The meeting will be held this Wednesday, December 12 at 7 p.m. at the Red Barn Feed Store, 350 S. Old Woman Springs Road (Hwy. 247) in Flamingo Heights. For more information give me a call at 760-799-2055 or send me an email.
NOT GUILTY TO PUSHING - GUILTY TO BEING A MMJ ACTIVIST
Last Wednesday, I pleaded not guilty to pushing the organizer of an anti-drug meeting. I am not going to go into this whole stinking kettle of fish here, but I have printed at the end of this email an article that appeared in the Inland Valley Daily Bulleting relating to my arraignment. It pretty well sums the state of this ludicrous, pointless and moronic situation. I did go into it in more depth on Marijuana : Compassion and Common Sense, The Radio Show last Friday night on KCAA radio in San Bernardino. I am at my conspiracy theory best as I explain the connection between the person who has filed charges against me and the SB DA's office and their incestuous relationship which lead to the creation of the Inland Empire's only Drug Free Community Coaltion and my arrest.
If you would like to hear it, go to http://yardtv.gotdns.com/kcaa-podcasts/sense/ . Go to the first episode listed - the one for December 7. Click on Listen Now to, well, listen now. There is about five minutes of commercials before the show starts. If you do listen to it, I would be
very interested in knowing if you think I am a conspiracy theory nutcase. As for the next show, please join me next Friday, December 14 at 9 p.m. when my guest will be Margaret Dooley, Los Angeles Field Director and Proposition 36 Coordinator for the Drug Policy Alliance. Margaret
has just returned from the International Drug Policy conference in New Orleans and she will bring us up to date on the myraid iniatives to reform the world's insane and irrational prohibtion drug laws that have been total failures and brought so much misery and heartache to people everywhere.
This is a talk show, so you will be able to call-in and speak with Margaret and get answers to those burning questions you have always wanted to ask. If that isn't enough of an inducement, at the beginning of every show I give a way to a listener a copy of Chris Conrad's extraordinary book, Cannabis Yields and Dosage. So tune to radio station KCAA this Friday, December 14 at 9 p.m., and every Friday at 9 p.m. thereafter, and you can learn and WIN! If you live in the San Berndino/Riverside County broadcast area, you can hear the show at 1050 AM. If you live out of the area, you can hear the show streaming live at www.kcaaradio.org . At the top of the home page is a golden button that says LISTEN LIVE. Click on it and through the momentous invention of the Internet, you can hear and join in on what I believe you will find to be a show that is educational, entertaining and enthralling. You can also see me doing the show live in the KCAA studios by clicking on the gold button on the left hand column which reads KCAATV. Besides radio there is Marijuana : Compassion and Common, the television show. In the Coachella Valley the show is on Tuesday, Friday and Saturday at 10 p.m. on cable channel 99. In the High Desert from Morongo Valley to 29 Palms, the show can be seen on cable channel 10 on Tuesday nights at 9 p.m. Of ourse, it can also be accessed 24/7 by going to our ever expanding website – www.marijuananews.org . If you haven't checked it out lately, click on over to it and avail yourself of the latest news, discussion forums, TV shows and other information about the Inland Empire that can only be found at our website. Thanks for making it all the way to the end of this newsletter. I hope you found it of interest and of sufficient stimulation, to get you active to bring Compassion and Common Sense to our nation's marijuana laws. If you got any questions, need information or just want to chat, send me an email or give me a call at 760-799-2055.
Lanny
** **
**MEDICAL POT ACTIVIST ENTERS NOT-GUILTY PLEA**
By Will Bigham, Staff Writer
will.bigham@dailybulletin.com
(909) 483-8553
**Inland Valley Daily Bulletin**
12/05/2007
RANCHO CUCAMONGA - When Lanny Swerdlow decided to attend a meeting in
October of the Inland Valley Drug Free Community Coalition, he
intended to hear the group's message and pass out fliers in support of
medical marijuana
Instead, the activist ended up in the back of a San Bernardino County
sheriff's squad car, arrested for allegedly assaulting a guest speaker
who denied him entry to the public event.
On Wednesday Swerdlow pleaded not guilty to a misdemeanor battery
charge.
Swerdlow insists he did not push the speaker, Paul Chabot, and was
denied entry and subsequently arrested because of his stance on
medical marijuana.
"It's so bizarre," Swerdlow said. "I can't believe they're going
through with this nonsense."
The Inland Valley Drug Free Community Coalition was formed in August,
and its Oct. 2 meeting at the Brulte Senior Center was its first.
Chabot, the meeting's guest speaker, is married to the coalition's
president, Brenda Chabot.
When Swerdlow approached the sign-in desk before the meeting, Paul
Chabot was standing at the entrance next to a man who recognized
Swerdlow from a YouTube video supporting medical marijuana, Swerdlow
said.
Swerdlow, a Palm Springs resident, is one of the region's leading
advocates for medical marijuana. He hosts a weekly radio show,
"Marijuana: Compassion and Common Sense," on KCAA-AM (1050).
Swerdlow was holding a box of pro-marijuana fliers when he walked
into the event, and Chabot told authorities he was concerned for the
safety of those attending because Swerdlow would not show him its
contents. Swerdlow says he told Chabot it contained fliers on medical
marijuana.
Chabot tried to deny Swerdlow entry to the event, and Swerdlow
ignored him, stepping around him into the meeting room, according to
Swerdlow and a witness, Victor Martin.
Chabot said Swerdlow pushed him with two hands before entering the
event, according to a deputy's report. A witness, Mark Bradley,
confirmed Chabot's account.
After the encounter, Chabot called authorities, and a sheriff's
deputy arrested Swerdlow on battery charges.
Several other marijuana activists who also tried to attend the event
were ejected.
"The people who were having the meeting, in my opinion, were
basically going to lie, and they didn't want anyone to know the
truth," said Dave Matteson, an Upland resident who regularly attends
Claremont City Council meetings to lobby for a dispensary in the city.
Matteson and his wife, Darlene, were among those ejected from the
Oct. 2 meeting.
The Inland Valley Drug Free Community Coalition issued an unsigned
statement declining to comment on Swerdlow's battery arrest.
The coalition is opposed to all drug use, and as part of its platform
opposes medical-marijuana dispensaries.
The group is seeking federal funding for its operation, according to
its Web site.
Swerdlow says he "has a problem" with the group seeking federal
funding because it seeks to undermine the state's medical-marijuana
program.
"It's wrong to use federal tax money to arrest people for doing what
is legally permissible under state law," Swerdlow said.
"And why an anti-drug group would want to get involved in this battle
between state and federal law is beyond me."