Thursday, April 1, 2010

PLN 21

I just read "Restaurant owner with connections gets 18 months in prison" in The Denver Post, by Felisa Cardona. This story is about how a Thornton restaurant owner, Dan Tang was ordered Wednesday to serve 18 months in prison for funding a major marijuana growing operation. Chief of U.S. District Judge Wiley Y. Daniel decided Tang's crimes were too serious to grant a probationary sentence requested by his attorneys who said his mental and physical ailments were mitigating factors. Tang, the 47-year-old owner of the Heaven Dragon restaurant cried throughout the hearing and looked regretful as he addressed the judge in both English and Cantonese. In November, Tang pleaded guilty to money laundering and was ordered to forfeit $1 million to the government. In exchange, prosecutors agreed to request a sentence of 11 to 30 months, which is below the guideline range for his offense which could carry a term of 70 to 87 months in prison. Two police officers from Northglenn and Thornton have sued their chiefs and supervisors on the North Metro Task Force because they said they were retaliated against for cooperating with the DEA's investigation into the leak. After psychiatrist Dr. David Kan testified about Tang's depression, anxiety, obsessive compulsive disorder and physical problems - including hepatitis B and psoriatic arthritis - Daniel asked whether the Bureau of Prisons could handle his medical needs. A medical director for the BOP testified those conditions could be managed within the prison system.

This matters to the State of Colorado because we do not need restaurant owners, or any kind of business owner to be involved in this kind of stuff. When people passed the bill to legalize "medical" marijuana, what did they think was going to happen? Marijuana is a drug and should be kept that way. There are many other problems (money laundering) and doors that can be opened that go along with the whole marijuana "businesses". When this gets out, you will be a little scared because you do not know if the owner is putting a little something extra in your food or not!

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