The folks at the medical marijuana advocacy group Americans for Safe Access have reacted quickly to today’s federal raids in the Oaksterdam area of Oakland, CA. Below is an excerpt from an email they just sent out.

The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) raided a legally-permitted medical cannabis collective, a school, and at least two homes in Oakland this morning. As I am writing this, the DEA is still confiscating medicine and plants and detaining legal patients. This is a grave injustice against local patients and a slap in the face for a city that has led the state in sensible regulations for medical cannabis. Americans for Safe Access (ASA) helped to mobilize protesters this morning, and is working to frame this story in the media right now. We wish we did not need an Emergency Response Campaign, but today’s events show that we still do.

ASA has organized strategic responses to DEA raids since 2002, and our work has helped to shine a national media spotlight on federal interference and intimidation. We need your help to keep doing this important work.Can you make a special contribution to support ASA today?

ASA Executive Director Steph Sherer was one of many patients and advocates who responded to ASA’s early-morning call to action. She is in downtown Oakland right now with other protesters – supporting the victims of today’s raids, talking to the media, and holding the federal agents accountable. We know that our Emergency Response Campaign helps to support victims, influence media, and keep law enforcement in check. Your support and participation make that happen.

And more action is planned, including a protest and press conference tomorrow.

I hope you will plan to join us tomorrow in San Francisco for a press conference and rally against federal interference in local medical cannabis programs. The press conference will begin at 11:00 AM on Tuesday, April 3, on the steps of City Hall located at 1 Dr. Carlton B Goodlett Place in San Francisco.

More details on the raids are sure to come I’m sure, but right now these raids fit perfectly into the pattern began last October when the feds decided to crackdown on medical marijuana statewide in CA.

The decimation of MMJ in California continues.

- Joe Klare