FEDERAL AGENTS RAID MARIJUANA DISPENSARY

Activists Protest Arrests of Two Alameda County Business Owners

CHERRYLAND -- Federal agents raided a medical marijuana dispensary in
Cherryland early Tuesday, prompting activists to converge on the
location in protest.

The Compassionate Collective of Alameda County, at 21222 Mission
Blvd. near Blossom Way, just north of Hayward, was invaded at 6 a.m.
by employees of the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Internal
Revenue Service. The Alameda County Sheriff's Office provided
security and traffic control during the raid.

Sites in Oakland, Berkeley, Lafayette and Albany also were raided in
connection with the dispensary bust, officials said.

The dispensary's owners -- Winslow Norton, 26, of Lafayette and
Abraham Norton, 23, of Oakland, who are brothers -- were arrested and
held without bail in connection with the raid.

A federal grand jury indicted the Norton brothers for conspiracy to
distribute more than 100 kilograms of marijuana, maintaining
drug-involved premises, conspiracy to launder money and money
laundering, according to a press release from the Department of Justice.

In the raid, agents reportedly seized several hundred pounds of
marijuana, packaging materials and about $200,000 in cash. Several
vehicles including two late-model Mercedes cars and a Ford F-250
pickup, three motorcycles, two bank accounts, two IRAs, a home in
Lafayette and acommercial building in Albany also were seized.

The DEA and IRS began investigating the Nortons' dispensary about a
year ago. The dispensary generated sales of more than $74,000 in
2004, $1.3 million in 2005, $21.5 million in 2006 and $26.3 million through
June 2007, according to the Department of Justice.

The drug conspiracy count has a statutory maximum term of
imprisonment of 40 years and a minimum of five years, along with a $2
million fine and at least five years of supervised release.

Bob Swanson, constituent liaison to Alameda County Supervisor Nate
Miley, said he was on the scene observing the raid and would be
reporting back to the county Board of Supervisors.

"This is a federal raid based on federal law. It's truly unfortunate
that the DEA feels they have to come in and waste taxpayer dollars to
keep medical marijuana from patients.

"As far as we know, (Winslow and Abraham Norton) were operating
within the (county) ordinance and within state law," Swanson said.

Two other permitted marijuana dispensaries in unincorporated Alameda
County were not raided Tuesday, Swanson said.

A DEA van and sheriff's patrol cars were parked in front of the
dispensary for much of the day Tuesday as agents searched the
building. Agents had gone in through a window, leaving shattered
glass on the sidewalk. Sheriff's deputies kept a crowd of more than a
dozen protesters behind a police line.

Oakland resident Sonnet Seborg-Gabbard, 24, a member of the medical
marijuana advocacy group Americans For Safe Access, arrived on the
scene after members of her group were alerted to the raid.

"We've alerted all of our patients," she said. "We're here to show
support for the operators."

Seborg-Gabbard handed out signs in English and Spanish to the
gathering crowd. Patients of the clinic held up signs that said,
"We're patients. We are not criminals."

Charles Matthews, 21, a patient from Alameda, said he uses marijuana
for back pain and migraines. "We're not criminals," Matthews said.

Adam Haselben, 21, of San Jose said he suffers from severe headaches.

"This is the best pharmacy around. It has the highest-quality
medicine at the most compassionate prices."

Americans For Safe Access spokesman Kris Hermes said his organization
has tracked 46 DEA raids of medical marijuana dispensaries this year.
He said there were 20 raids last year.

"This facility was permitted by Alameda County," Hermes said. "The
DEA is intent on undermining local and state law."

In 2005, The Daily Review reported that Winslow Norton was arrested
with his girlfriend in Mendocino County in April of that year on
suspicion of transporting 40 pounds of marijuana. Norton apparently
had told Mendocino County deputies that he was transporting the
marijuana to the Compassionate Cooperative of Alameda County.

Norton's father, Michael Norton, tried to post their bail but had
$150,000 seized by Mendocino County deputies.

In March 2001, Michael Norton of Berkeley was sentenced to 21/2 years
in federal prison for wire fraud and tax evasion in connection with a
coffee importation business, according to FDA Consumer Magazine.
Apparently, Michael Norton was mixing coffee imported from Central
America with Kona coffee and falsely labeling it as 100 percent Kona
coffee, which costs more.