Activists’ Marijuana Ranch Raided Again

For the second time in two years, authorities have raided the Lockwood Valley ranch of marijuana activists Lynn and Judy Osburn, uprooting more than 200 pot plants that supply hundreds of medicinal users in Ventura and Los Angeles counties.

As the Osburns watched, two dozen investigators from the federal Drug Enforcement Agency, assisted by Ventura County sheriff’s deputies, last week searched their wooded property 45 miles north of Ojai. No one was arrested.

The Osburns, who maintain they are medicinal marijuana users with written recommendations from doctors, grow marijuana for the 900 members of the Los Angeles Cannabis Resource Cooperative, which dispenses the drug as allowed under the state’s 1996 voter-approved Proposition 215.

Lynn Osburn, 51, uses marijuana to ease severe back pain from a swimming accident that occurred several years ago, and Judy, 47, smokes to relieve constant muscle spasms in her lower back.

While the seizure Friday was the second raid at the couple’s 60-acre farm, it’s the first time federal authorities have been involved.

Ventura County sheriff’s deputies descended on the property Aug. 4, 2000, and confiscated 342 marijuana plants. The couple and two colleagues were arrested and freed on bail within hours. Local prosecutors did not file charges.

The most recent raid at the property, where the Osburns have lived for 25 years, comes in the wake of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in May upholding a federal ban on dispensing marijuana to ill people.

There is ambiguity in the 1996 state law about how much marijuana medicinal users are allowed to grow and whether distributors can operate legally, Ventura County Deputy Dist. Atty. Ron Carpenter said.

“The way the law is written, it’s very vague,” said Carpenter, who is working with sheriff’s officials on drafting guidelines for local law enforcement agencies concerning medicinal use and growing of the plant.

“We want something acceptable to all arms of the county,” the prosecutor said. “We do not want to see someone who is sick end up being incarcerated, but we also don’t want someone taking advantage of the law.”

Case to Be Forwarded to U.S. Attorney’s Office

Jose Martinez, a DEA spokesman in Los Angeles, declined to say how federal authorities learned of the couple’s current growing operation.

” I cannot go into details except to say the investigation is continuing,” Martinez said. “Marijuana is a controlled substance and there is no accepted medicinal use.”

The case will be forwarded to the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles for review, Martinez said.

John Duran, a Los Angeles attorney who has represented the cooperative and the Osburns for several years, said he has seen charges dismissed in more than two dozen similar state cases but that federal involvement in this recent seizure is troubling.

“The federal jurisdiction would be a lot tougher game,” Duran said this week. “But even a federal court has to rely on a jury of Californians, if the case ultimately went before a jury--and Californians are a bit more in sync with the Osburns than federal prosecutors.”

Scott Imler, president of the Los Angeles-area cannabis cooperative, said he was devastated to learn of the latest raid at the Osburn ranch.

“This is an incredibly serious setback for us. That was 30% to 40% of our annual supply,” said Imler, adding that many of the cooperative’s members have AIDS.

The Osburns are reimbursed by the cooperative, which charges users a small fee per gram. No legitimate medicinal user, however, is denied marijuana if he or she lacks money, according to the Osburns.

The 1996 law, approved by 56% of state voters, allows seriously ill people to use pot to treat a wide range of symptoms, as long as they have a written recommendation from a doctor.

Along with the marijuana plants, some of which were up to 4 inches in diameter, federal agents seized two computers, tax records, Judy Osburn’s unregistered pistol and other personal documents.

The Osburns say they intend to plant pot again.

“We have no choice,” Judy Osburn said. “It’s a life-and-death situation.”