MMJ producer facing two life sentences

Eddy Lepp has a 25 acre farm in California where he grows marijuana for seriously ill, legally certified marijuana patients that are unable to grow their own medicine. On Wednesday, August 18, 2004, a team of law enforcement led by the DEA raided his farm uprooting over 35,000 cannabis plants.

In the raid, Government Officials also took personal computers, souvenirs, and other artifacts that had nothing to do with EMG, and had no real significance to be considered evidence. They also confiscated a total of 2,300 dollars from members of EMG, never admitting it into evidence. Also, missing from the home was all of Lepp’s files and paper work for his civil case against the DEA for an illegal raid they conducted two years prior. “We have heard numerous reports that the DEA has pressured all local and national news not to cover the story,” Lepp said, “and we have reason to believe that the DEA shut down our email accounts for a period of time affecting our ability to conduct our business properly.”

Much of the DEA’s conduct in the raid left reason to question the warrants authenticity. Even the warrant itself left reason to raise a brow. It was a search warrant, with only the four addresses and the judges’ signature on it. They canceled EMG’s t-shirt, postcard, soil and fertilizer orders, as well as reservations and appointments for upcoming personal and professional events. This conduct seemed not only unprofessional, but childish and petty.

And that's not even the worst of it. This is how prohibitionists protect your children from marijuana.

Probably the most disturbing information received by EMG and their sources was, while moving the load off the premises the government officials involved spilled hundreds of pounds of cannabis all over highway 20’s roadside. Then when people walked up and down the road collecting the cannabis not one single officer even attempted to stop them. In a very recent report received by EMG it was established that some of the citizens gathering up the cannabis were small children and the officers continued to just drive on by. As these children continued to gather the cannabis there seemed to be little or no concern from the officers that these children had access to the cannabis. [emphasis mine]

This is a direct result of the Bush administration's recent vow to go after non-violent cannabis consumers and Lepp could not be an easier target. He operates openly and is a well-known activist for this medicinal herb who has received numerous awards for his work. The DEA didn't have to conduct an investigation to figure out what he was doing. MMJ growers don't shoot back. Busting real criminals is dangerous. This raid is not only underscores how misplaced the federal government's priorities are, it's also a testament to how lazy law enforcement has become in this war on some drugs. Lepp puts it this way.

“If the federal government has a problem with California law they should take the state of California to court and leave us the F215 alone!”

Eddy can be contacted at Eddy’s Medicinal Gardens And Multi-Denominational Ministry Of Cannabis And Rastafari at 707-275-8879, or on line at www.eddysmedicinalgardens.com. More information on the bust and the ministry is available at the website.