Lilibet
Southern Oregon
- Joined
- Apr 13, 2013
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Thank you for your comprehensive summary of this case. It's been a while since I delved into it. Regarding Jeff's connection to the drug trade, it might be worth noting that there were mentions of his involvement in advocacy efforts related to marijuana laws, possibly even aiding in medical marijuana access. Distinguishing between these endeavors and the broader implications associated with the term "drug trade" is crucial. Using such a term might inadvertently suggest connections to more nefarious activities which is not supported by the evidence as far as I remember, which could be misleading.
You make an interesting point regarding the use of the term “drug trade” and “nefarious” (wicked) activities in connection with Jeff’s endeavors. It’s certainly true that Jeff had a close connection to medical marijuana advocacy and access, which became legal in CA in 1997 IIRC, under very strict regulation.
Chronological history:
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Medical Marijuana | Law Offices of Benjamin Okin
Medical marijuana is legal in California. If you have been charged with illegal possession, the firm can help you defend your charges if you have a medical card.
www.eurekacriminaldefenselawyer.com
But Jeff’s commercial activities and shop got him into big trouble in 2011, preceded by a large bust in 2009. It appears that he was not “playing by the rules” in effect at that time. Individual members may differ as to whether this counts as nefarious or civil disobedience or somewhere in between.
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Pot Shop Owner Charged With Money Laundering - LA Weekly
The owner of a medical marijuana dispensary in L.A.'s Del Rey neighborhood has been charged with 24 counts, including money laundering, following last week's actions against 21 pot shops in the city of Los Angeles. The complaint against Jeffrey Joseph was filed Monday in Los Angeles, according...
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The Los Angeles City Attorney's office stated that Joseph's retail operation was targeted because the city had received complaints accusing the store of marketing its wares to children outside Culver City High School. Undercover “officers have found students to be in possession of marijuana apparently purchased from Organica,” according to the office.
All 21 of the pots shops targeted in abatement actions by the City Attorney's office last week, in fact, were the subject of complaints. Interestingly, the main legal weapon the office is using against all of them is that they sold medical marijuana over-the-counter. That's what pot dispensaries do, but the office maintains that California's medical marijuana law never intended to allow sales — it only outlined nonprofit, collective activities to get weed to the seriously ill.
BBM
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Jeffrey Joseph, Convicted Pot Shop Owner, Missing in Marijuana Country - LA Weekly
An L.A. man on probation for running a rogue pot shop in Venice has gone missing in Northern California's marijuana country, his family says. The last known whereabouts of 45-year-old Jeffrey Keith Joseph was the Hoopa, California area of Humboldt County — the location of a cellphone tower that...
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Prosecutors also claimed that the dispensary did $400,000 a month in business and that, in one raid in 2009, 80 kilos of marijuana were found on-site.
As part of his sentence, Joseph was ordered to serve one year behind bars and then do five years of probation. (His sister says he was indeed still on probation despite a recent attempt to shorten that part of his punishment).
The judge also forbade him from “selling, serving, storing, keeping, manufacturing, cultivating or giving away marijuana.”
(More at link)
BBM
Regardless of how fair Jeff or anyone felt about the laws in effect before 2018, given this information, IMO it’s fair to say that Jeff was indeed involved in the “drug trade” as a money-maker under laws that prohibited that at the time. That doesn’t negate his efforts on behalf of medical marijuana or make Jeff any less worthy of being found, of course. But he was playing with fire if he was headed for a “farm” in Humboldt county (I used to live there). Even now that recreational marijuana is legal in CA (since 2018) it is still an extremely dangerous line of work because there continue to be plenty of illegal (unregulated) grows.
I don’t say any of this to trash Jeff’s memory. It’s simply reality. There are plenty of very nice people who have disappeared or been murdered in The Emerald Triangle under similar circumstances. Someone can have personally noble motives and still be involved in illegal and dangerous activity because of civil disobedience, if not greed. The trouble is, nefarious (wicked) people are also involved and can murder or disappear you. Here’s an example:
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CA - CA - Rev. Leslie Crane, 39, Laytonville, 18 Nov 2005
Reverend Leslie Charles Crane Mendocino County Sheriff's Office Case# 05-3982 Date of birth: 4 February 1966 Place of birth: Norwich, CT White male, 6 feet 1 inch tall, 210 pounds, brown hair and eyes. Leslie Crane moved to Mendocino County CA three years before his death. He sold out a...
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JMO