Why is L.A.'s district attorney helping Mexican drug cartels?

LAST Thursday, Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley announced a sweeping new plan to boost the profits of Mexican drug cartels, a plan almost certain to increase the slaughter these vicious gangs are perpetrating on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border.

[pablo escobar]

boo hoo please hand me tissue so i can wipe the tears from my eyes.. dont you idiots have other things to worry about in the great united states of america ?

[frank rizzo]

You are looking at a career politician. Plain and simple. Don't be distracted by this newspapers attempt to sensationalize the situation. There are thousands more just like this guy throughout the USA. In fact the whole world. Welcome to politics.

[Dee420]

Steve Cooley is nothing more than a rogue bully picking on the disabled and the sick! Just because he doesn't want to use cannabis(marijuana) doesn't make it morally wrong to do so. If eyes could tell a whole story just by appearance the world would be a different place, do your job and start helping instead of hurting, Mr. Cooley. People who visit medical marijuana stores really are in need of supplying themselves with the drug whether they run, walk, or roll through the doors. Trust this Mr. Cooley, the people who care are the ones that you seem to be your target, dispensaries are more than just marijuana stores. I support any establishment which is for helping anyone even "Rite-Aid", you wouldn't go raiding those would you? You can put all your resources into stopping what is legal and seemly innocuous compared to raging gang wars, or you could impress the people you work for(me and every other person in Los Angeles) and do your job. Wake up!! Don't be a douche bag, get the ball rolling toward regulation and legalization of store front dispensaries or face career suicide, you decide. Besides marijuana legalization is on the board for next years' ballot initiatives, you will look like a fool if it is legalized.

[Bureaucratic Mess]

Like I always say ... there are two forces that love the fruitless and massively expensive "war on drugs" 1) organized crime and 2) government. Why? Because they profit from it and don't want the profits going to legitimate businesses.

Govenment has NO business dictating what consenting adults are allowed and not allowed to do to their own bodies and minds.

[kma]

It's also long past time for Los Angeles to pass the regulation it has had for over two years. None of this mess would have happened if they had done so when it was finished. And Cooley and Trutanich would have not had soap boxes to stand on!

[Greg Meyer]

Imagine, a District Attorney who actually wants people to follow the law.

Quote from the LA Times (Oct. 9): Cooley said he believes that under state law, collectives must raise their own marijuana and can only recoup their costs. "That's absolutely legal," he said. "We're going to respect that."

So what exactly is the problem here? Looks like the problem speaks is that the pro-marijuana folks don't want the estimated 800 medical marijuana outlets in Los Angeles to follow the law.

Following the law. What a unique concept.

[Bureaucratic Mess]

Only sheep blindly accept that all laws are good laws.

Why is LA so "liberal" when it comes to taxing working people and businesses and redistributing that wealth to bureaucrats, union slugs, and the poor and illegal aliens ... but so fascist when it comes to allowing consenting adults to make the choice to consume whatever they want? More damage is caused by alcohol than pot.

[daytimedrama]

He is probably an active member in the cartel...

[Ken E Bis]

Sr. Cooley, go hunt some gangsters or taggers, maybe go after the thugs attacking old folks, amigo presdiente~ Jorge Washington grew & smoked MJ, you would kikely next arrest the growers as that is illegal under Fed/State law notwithstanding medical MJ law.....priorities, the City Counsel has never dealt with this they have been too busy passing amendments supporting gay rights in Iraq, outlawing more then 1 rooster (a real issue her in the CITY!) and making a law requiring the setting up day care lounges for illegal immigrant day workers @ Home Depot...meanwhile movies fless LA, the taxpayers are ripped off by the City & LADWP & the thugs @ City Hall collect their $200,000+ salaries touting a living wage for boxboys & gardeners while we the taxpayers or property owners get a stick enema...COOLEY pull your head out of your a$$ & get on some real crime....send agents in to buy dope w/o a State card, if they do it close OK...but you as the fuherer cannot just decide that ALL are illegal.....and get those moles off your face!

[Steve Smith]

I used to have to go buy Marijuana illegally from a guy in Long Beach... the weed was awful, the neighborhood terrible, the guy unreliable, and when asked where it came from, I was told 'Some Mexicans bring it over'. Since getting MM certified I am pain-free with good quality product, grown in N. California, bought about 1 mile from my house, and sold to me by incredibly helpful and knowledgeable people. Not to mention there's no way anyone can buy from this outlet without thorough documentation - it's like getting into the white house or fort knox.

[Oscar]

Yeah Dude..........let's, like...legalize the bud so intellectuals can think at higher levels, and,....everyone will, like....stop with all the NOTICE ME drama, and get DIVERSE. More White girls will be giving-it-up to more Brothers. And Terrible acting Blacks and Asians might actually have a chance to be nominated for Oscars. Maybe if we have more homosexual Oscar Judges.(It seems to work for Music Awards and Miss America Contests.) Legalizing the bud can cure all Cali's Social and Financial problems. ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION. Who will care if YOUR neighbor's house next door is renting out to 20 ILLEGALS, if YOU are stoned every night? You won't. Who will care that California High School dropout rates for Blacks and Browns is at 65%, if you are doing bong-hits for dinner? You won't. Even the under-performing kiddies won't mind failing or dropping out, if the schools give each of them a baggie of weed as a Consolation Prize for failing Society and Themselves. Who will care if all the ILLEGALS in your neighborhood, are going to collect the same Social Security payments you had to work for all your life, as long as you still have some bud left in your stash? You won't. Who will care if a Minority person is promoted at work over you, not because of MERIT, or ABILITY, but because of "Diversity" that all highly over- paid executives are terrified to NOT embrace, for fear of being fired themselves? It won't bother you to be passed over at work for that promotion, if you have a couple of doobies at home waiting for you after work each night. Will you care if Cali releases low-risk criminal offenders, like Rapists, Car-jackers, Store Robbers, Home Invaders, Child Molesters who promise to be good, and armed Gang Members, and Drug Dealers.......... to reduce Prison overcrowding. It won't bother you a bit, if the quality of your Legalized Weed at home is fresh, and plentiful. Yes,....even political candidates can benefit, by voters who keep voting for the same candidate over and over,because Stoned Voters keep forgetting if they voted yet. And the economy will benefit, because Stoners get the ravenous munchies. They will patronize restaurants, fast food joints, grocery stores, and curbside food vendors MORE OFTEN than non-Stoners. They will instantly STIMULATE the economy, bigtime. See, all positives, and no negatives. Win/Win Situation. So, anyway,....what WAS the TOPIC?

[Gregory P]

Cooley is cool. About time someone get their head out of the sand. Stop lying to the public about marijuana. Stop screwing up a persons life over a joint. Go after REAL crime.

[Mr Math]

The pot clinic I go to is legit. I walk in, buy it, smoke a bit and then go to my job as a pilot for a commercial airline. It's cool, it takes the edge off all that take-off and landing stuff.

[Herb Green]

All I can say is Cooley is blowing smoke...

[Nancy RE]

maybe he feels that when people go to the streets there will be more arrest. the drug dealer goes to jail for sales of an illegal substance and the buyer for purchasing illegal substance. double wammy... you want to catch a criminal think like one. but try to be smarter...

[jane]

You're absolutely right on this one, Bruce. And to make it worse and show what ethically challenged low-lifes Cooley and Trutanich are, Trutanich RAN for City Attorney by promising the pro-medical cannabis community that he would be MORE sympathetic to their cause than his opponent Jack Weiss - but clearly intended to lie to them all along after he got them to work actively for him, walking precincts as well as making phone calls and voting in numbers.

The day after on May 20th their magazines were joyously heralding happy days to come;

The only thing worse than a pair of grandstanding rightwing idiots who waste our money and human resources pursuing an agenda counter to the Will of the People in passing 215 is a pair of lying, cheating grandstanding rightwing idiots.

[Skoobusnla]

Maybe he should try putting as much an effort against the Gangs, as he does against "medical marijuana" dispensaries. Im sure they have done way more damage than the dispensaries.

[Bureaucratic Mess]

Some cops would rather arrest stoners because they're chemically subdued and less dangerous, and hookers because that's more fun ... than go out and do the more risky business of arresting gang bangers and other violent predators.

[Phil]

Bureaucratic Mess wrote:

Some cops would rather arrest stoners because they're chemically subdued and less dangerous, and hookers because that's more fun ... than go out and do the more risky business of arresting gang bangers and other violent predators.

BM can talk big like that when there is an internet between him and the hard realities of the street. He thinks fire fighters are whimps too, though he has never once cracked the valve on a 2 1/2 inch fire hose or dragged a chain saw up a ladder to the roof of a burning building so he can cut holes in the roof and vent the fire. He'd probably fall over backward firing a hand gun. I guess only guys with baby-soft hands and an 80 word per minute typing speed are worthy of their hormones.

[Bureaucratic Mess]

Phil wrote:

<quoted text>
BM can talk big like that when there is an internet between him and the hard realities of the street. He thinks fire fighters are whimps too, though he has never once cracked the valve on a 2 1/2 inch fire hose or dragged a chain saw up a ladder to the roof of a burning building so he can cut holes in the roof and vent the fire. He'd probably fall over backward firing a hand gun. I guess only guys with baby-soft hands and an 80 word per minute typing speed are worthy of their hormones.

Did you say something relevant to this matter, Philis, or are you just doing exactly what you accuse me of doing ... playing tough guy with the anonymity of the Web?