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Mother of ex-medical marijuana activist sentenced
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LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
The mother of former medical marijuana activist Pierre Werner was sentenced to four months in prison and four months of home detention Thursday for her participation in a family-run marijuana dispensary.
U.S. District Judge Philip Pro also sentenced Reynalda Barnett, 60, to five years of supervised release and ordered her to stay away from businesses that sell medical marijuana.
Pro allowed Barnett, a 50 percent owner in the dispensary once known as Dr. Reefer, to surrender to federal prison authorities by Feb. 17.
"I apologize to you and the federal government for breaking the rules," an emotional Barnett told the judge. "And I apologize to my sons, and I ask for forgiveness."
Her lawyer said she no longer wants anything to do with dispensing marijuana and cries every day over her actions, which had a negative effect on the lives of her sons.
But Pro told Barnett, "You went beyond the line, and there has to be a penalty for that. There has to be consequences."
Last month, Pro placed Barnett's son, Clyde Barnett, 22, on three years of supervised release and ordered him to serve 120 hours of community service and stay away from medical marijuana businesses.
Werner, 39, who has served two stints in prison for possessing marijuana with intent to sell, is to be sentenced Monday.
The three family members each pleaded guilty June 30 to one count of conspiracy to distribute less than 50 kilograms of marijuana. They were among 14 people arrested Jan. 6 in a federal investigation into marijuana sales at local dispensaries.
The arrests followed the September 2010 raids of several dispensaries, including Dr. Reefer, once operated by the Barnetts at 8975 S. Pecos Road. Clark County suspended Dr. Reefer's business license last November.
Storefront marijuana dispensaries are not recognized under Nevada's Medical Marijuana Act, the U.S. attorney's office has said, and it is illegal to sell medical marijuana in Nevada. Medical marijuana patients and caregivers in the state must grow their own.
Contact Jeff German at jgerman@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-8135.
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This is unbelievable!! This mother is going to PRISON over a plant that kills NOBODY!!!! Our politicians screw hookers and screw us. Give us back our CIVIL RIGHT to put in OUR OWN BODIES that which we choose!! Google JURY NULLIFICATION. It is the one way we citizens can fight the insanity.
People thought Obama was going to take care of this. Well we thought we was going to take care of a lot of things. After the Supreme Court overturns the socialist medical bill that leaves Obama with his legacy of putting gays in the military and bankrupting America. Worse than Jimmy Carter. Legalize pot. Outlaw booze.
Mrnoitall....You hit the nail right on the head. An officer of the court takes money to rig HOA elections....probation...push your wife off a cliff....probation....sell marijuana to cancer patients, time to go to jail...
Their mistake was being so open about it. The powers that be do not like having billboards and storefronts that openly flout the law. Neither does Big Pharma.
Careers and industries are MADE out of trying to eradicate a weed. Remember prohibition? Around that time, marijuana was legal in the US. Now, people get their stripes by chasing down purveyors of a harmless plant.
Legitimate and independent studies have confirmed that marijuana helps to PREVENT cancer. The instances of lung cancer in marijuana smokers (who dont smoke tobacco) is lower than non-smokers. Look it up. High concentrations of chemicals found only in marijuana actually kill cancer cells and leave the healthy cells alone (unlike chemo).
Yet, we have all of these goofy cowboy cops making their living off of terrorizing peaceful citizens who want to smoke a plant.
The system is corrupt. What can you do to fix it? Vote every time and tell your friends.
Nevada needs to change the law and make it legal to have dispenseries as some cancer patients may not feel well enough to grow their own.
An appeal to all Prohibitionists:
Most of us are aware by now that individuals who use illegal drugs are going to get high, 'no matter what.' So why do you not prefer they acquire them in stores that check IDs and pay taxes? Gifting the market in narcotics to ruthless criminals, foreign terrorists and corrupt law enforcement officials is seriously compromising our future. If you remotely believe that people will one day quit using any of these 'at present' illegal drugs, then you are exhibiting a degree of naivety parallel only with those poor wretches who voluntarily drank the poisoned Kool-Aid in Jonestown.
Even if you cannot stand the thought of people using drugs, there is absolutely nothing you, or any government, can do to stop them. We have spent 40 years and over a trillion dollars on this dangerous farce. Practically everybody is now aware that Prohibition will not suddenly and miraculously start showing different results. So why do you wish to continue with it? Do you actually think you may have something to lose If we were to start basing drug policy on science & logic instead of ignorance, hate and lies?
Maybe you're a police officer, a prison guard or a local politician. Possibly you're scared of losing employment, overtime-pay, the many kick-backs and those regular fat bribes. But what good will any of that do you once our society has followed Mexico over the dystopian abyss of dismembered bodies, vats of acid and marauding thugs carrying gold-plated AK-47s with leopard-skinned gunstocks?
Kindly allow us to forgo the next level of your sycophantic prohibition-engendered mayhem.
Prohibition Prevents Regulation : Legalize, Regulate and Tax!
It is time to stop locking people up for low-level drug crimes. Those incarcerated for marijuana offenses do not belong in prison, as they represent little or no risk to public safety.
Isn't it crazy, a guy pushes his wife off a cliff, and gets probation?
Drugs are big business, Meth is by far the most dangerous, most addictive. I have seen it bring down educated teachers, Masters degree folks. It is incidious, the people get felonies there goes any career, children are the biggest victims. States get funding for fighting Meth so they bust more people to get more funding to bust more people, A circle that ruins lives and cost billions but more importantly it doesn't work. The Meth head goes to prison for meth and while in prison learns to become a meth cook. At some point we are going to run out of prison space. This is a behavior problem and really the violence comes from the addicts getting money to buy more. Let Pot alone we have enough and much more severe problems we had better get a hold on and quick.
Gotta love Vegas-smoke a joint & go to jail, an illegal blows a stop sign killing someone & gets less than a month house arrest-nice.
It is the idiot nanny state by conservatives instead of liberals.
Go back 120 years and drugs were legal as no one cared, cocaine was in hundreds of products and this country managed just fine.
the whole thing is a waste of time and effort and the judge is protecting NO ONE, just showing his arrogance along with Metro, the D.A. etc.