In what can only be described as a frontal assault on medical marijuana, federal agents are currently raiding Northstone Organics.  The Mendocino collective is a well known provider of medical marijuana. The Executive Director, Matt Cohen, has recently been featured on Frontline’s epsisode, The Pot Republic. This not-for-profit co-op offers home delivery of cannabis grown organically in Mendocino county to patients throughout the Bay Area and beyond. Cohen and Northstone Organics have been pioneers in Mendocino County’s “ziptie” program which allows medical marijuana growers to pay a fee for a permit to grow a number of plants up to 99 in certain conditions.

The website of Northstone Organics appears to be partially taken down.  The site is showing a “Due to Technical Difficulties, our web site is currently unavailable” message. Speculation is that this is related to the raid.

California  NORML Coordinator, Dale Gieringer, denounced the raid as  a “shameful and despicable” attack on California’s most successful legally regulated marijuana cultivation program.  ”The DEA  is doing nothing but encouraging lawlessness and disobedience to the law,” said Gieringer, “This is a victory for the Mexican cartels.”

The US Attorney Laura Duffy says that she’ll go after media outlets that advertise marijuana products.  According to 420 Medicated,

U.S. Attorney Laura E. Duffy, whose district includes Imperial and San Diego counties, said marijuana advertising is the next area she’s “going to be moving onto as part of the enforcement efforts in Southern California.” Duffy said she could not speak for the three other U.S. attorneys covering the state, but noted their efforts have been coordinated so far.

“I’m not just seeing print advertising,” Duffy said in an interview with California Watch and KQED. “I’m actually hearing radio and seeing TV advertising. It’s gone mainstream. Not only is it inappropriate – one has to wonder what kind of message we’re sending to our children – it’s against the law.”

This is going to radically affect the climate for cannabis in California.  The question is will patients, the growers, and the businesses that rely on them fight back or once again go underground?