Trying to make sense of feds' Oaksterdam raid (by: Tom Barnidge)

http://www.contracostatimes.com/news/ci_20353333/barnidge-trying-make-sense-feds-oaksterdam-raid

Medical marijuana has been legal in California for more than 15 years. Regulated dispensaries have been so well-received in Oakland -- $1.68 million in tax revenue last year -- that the City Council has voted to double the permits it issues.

So it's difficult to understand why federal agents last week raided Oaksterdam University, where students learn how to grow, harvest and sell cannabis in compliance with state law.

"That was quite an unfortunate event," said Sean Dunagan, who served 13 years with the Drug Enforcement Administration.

"It's baffling why it happened," said Steve Downing, former Los Angeles deputy police chief and head of the city's narcotics enforcement unit.

Dunagan and Downing are members of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, an organization of former law officers who once waged and now oppose what they call the country's failed war on drugs.

They are puzzled by what the feds were trying to accomplish.

"Nothing about those raids contributed to the safety of the community," Downing said. "They killed a lot of jobs. They put an important educational institution out of business. I can't find any merit to them."

Dunagan said the operation smacked of intimidation. "I think it was done to send a message to the industry, not just in California but in other states that they would be taking as hard of a line as possible."

What made the raids on four Oaksterdam sites difficult to rationalize
-- not to mention many other raids across California in recent months -- is the contradiction they represent to the position previously announced by President Barack Obama.

Marijuana distribution is a federal violation, but before Obama's 2008 election he said he was opposed to the feds intervening where states had approved medical use. Deputy Attorney General David Ogden said as much again in 2009 with a memo calling such interdictions an imprudent use of federal resources.

But actions speak louder than words, and according to spokesman Morgan Fox of the Marijuana Policy Project, "Obama has increased the raids on medical marijuana dispensaries, presiding over more than George W. Bush in a single term."