DEA Seizes Toka-Cola And Buddafingers In Big Pot Raid

[kemistudent]

http://www.nbc11.com/news/8070190/detail.html
Vid Clip at the above link.

OAKLAND, Calif. -- Members of the Drug Enforcement Administration announced a huge marijuana bust in Oakland Thursday.

Among the confiscated items were thousands of pot plants and hundreds of pot-laced candy bars made to look like popular candy bars.
Agents arrested 39-year-old Kenneth Affolte, of Lafayette. Twelve other people were also arrested on charges of distribution of marijuana.
Agents served five federal search warrants without incident. Three of them were served at warehouses located in Emeryville and Oakland and one at Affolter's home in Lafayette.

All searches conducted were at locations associated with Affolter.

Agents seized four indoor marijuana growing operations, between 4,000 and 5,000 marijuana plants, $100,000 in cash, three weapons and hundreds of marijuana-laced candy and soft drinks, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration.
Special Agent in Charge Javier Peña said, "In a way, this case sort of answers the question, 'What will they think of next?' What so many people don't realize is that innocent children will somehow get their hands on these products and think they are just normal candy or soft drinks, thus making this action not only illegal, but potentially tragic."
The investigation began in October 2005, when the DEA Oakland Resident Office obtained information that said Affolter was operating "Beyond Bomb," a manufacturer of marijuana candy in Oakland.
The marijuana-laced candy and other edibles manufactured by the company mimic the name and appearance of well-known name brand candies and products. Some of the product labels seized by investigators include Stoney Ranchers, Munchy Way, Rasta Reese's, Buddafingers, Pot Tarts, Double Puff Oeo, Tri-Chrome Crunch, Keef Kat, Twixed, Budtella, Puff-A-Mint Pattie, Puffsi, Bong's Root Beer, and Toka-Cola.
The investigation was conducted with the assistance of the Richmond Police Department, Oakland Police Department, Vallejo Police Department, Lafayette Police Department, Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement, Contra Costa County Narcotics Enforcement Team, and the Alameda County Narcotics Task Force.
The case is being prosecuted by the United States Attorney's Office in the Northern District of California.

This made my day! Too crazy to even make up! Sucks they got busted, I would of liked to try a Tri-Chrome Crunch!!

[Solidly-here]

What a Bummer!

One of my Fun things is to get a few "candy" bars. Ken has been making them for several years, but now the Market is collapsed. Oh well, I will just have to make-do with Chocolate Chip cookies, for a while.

The Joke of this story is: The DEA has known about this operation for years, but ONLY now have they moved to close it down. They act like this was the fruit of a vast investigation (ha ha). Yeah, sure. This candy factory has not been a well-kept secret.

Then the DEA states that several Police Departments have helped (Richmond, Vallejo, Oakland and Lafayette), as well as Alameda County (Oakland), and Contra Costa County (Lafayette). It boggles the mind, how 2 Police Departments in cities which have little-or-nothing to do with this case, could have been needed.

If Ken needs a Character Witness, I will come forward and tell what a great job he has done: Good flavor, well packaged, good medicine.

Another version of the story has this quote: "We've seen a few of these products ["candy" bars] out there, but never in this magnitude," DEA Special Agent Lawrence Mendosa said. "It's the largest marijuana factory we've ever seen. Hundreds and hundreds of boxes. They were cooking the candies in a kitchen facility, labeling, packaging it and shipping it, mainly from the Oakland warehouse on the Emeryville border.

Well, DUH. This is THE place where all of the candy is made. So saying that it's the biggest operation they've ever seen, does not mean much.

[old hippie 56]

Why did they need weapons, swim learned a long time ago that weapons and drugs do not sit well with LEO.

[hazeinmybong2]

Because they are in oakland. haha

[motorhead]

US CA: Raided Pot 'Edibles' Trouble Advocates
by John Simerman, Contra Costa Times, (18 Mar 2006) Contra Costa Times California
A day after federal agents seized thousands of marijuana plants and a booty of pot-laced candy and soda pop in raids on warehouses in Emeryville and Oakland, local medical cannabis advocates reacted coolly -- bitter at another federal plunder on a substance the state deems legal for the sick, but leery of an operation that packaged its products to mimic popular brands of sweets.

The raids on a business called Beyond Bomb netted some 10,000 rooted plants, thousands of tiny plant "clones," as well as boxes of candy and soda with take-off names such as "Pot Tarts," "Toka-Cola," "Stoney Rancher" and "Munchy Way," with labels to match.

Agents also raided the Lafayette home of Kenneth Dean Affolter, 39, who they say ran the business. He and 11 others were taken into custody and charged with of distributing marijuana.

Authorities say they believe the snacks and soda were headed to pot dispensaries and cooperatives across the Bay Area and California, said Special Agent Casey McEnry, a spokeswoman for the federal Drug Enforcement Administration.

"We don't have any information that these products did ultimately end up in the hands of minors, but that doesn't mean it didn't happen," she said. "They look so similar to the real products, it would almost suggest ... that's the way it looks."

Medicinal marijuana advocates pointed to state law and said it was doubtful the THC-laden snacks and soda were aimed at children.

"There's actually a lot of product like that, and dispensaries are the places they can be had. They're the only places that marijuana is retailed in California," said Dale Gieringer, California coordinator for the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, or NORML.

"They're usually five bucks, three bucks, about like a joint. They're good. A lot of them are very professionally made."

For patients who have trouble smoking, or for whom doctors are concerned about them smoking, "edibles" are the age-old alternative. Droplets and sprays are other options, advocates say.

Gary Ainsworth, who suffers chronic pain, said he likes the taste and medicinal quality of the company's sodas, with names such as "Puffsi" and "Joint," after Pepsi and Jolt. He bought some at an Oakland dispensary but said he doesn't drink it much because of the cost and the long drive from his home in Clovis.

"It works real well for the medication part. But I think it was like $12 for an 8-ounce bottle," he said.

Still, "I'm not hip with the idea of using Jolly Ranchers and ( candy ) names like that," said Ainsworth. "I think it should be packaged as medicine. If a patient were to have that laying out, somebody might think it's something else -- like, 'have a lollipop.' "

Jeff Jones, executive director of the Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative, said he has the same concerns over confusion, and another one: that one of the raided warehouses was in an area near homes and schools. Jones favors regulating the suppliers like other businesses.

"If there were permits, they would not have been allowed to be in the neighborhood," said Jones. "That's what this calls for, in my mind. Businesses this big need regulations."

The four warehouses -- three in Emeryville, one in Oakland -- each had sophisticated growing equipment and "looked like they had been in operation for quite some time," said McEnry. The workers all wore gray collared work shorts, and white lab coats were found there, according to agents and the criminal complaint released Friday.

Authorities also found more than $150,000 in cash.

It was the second federal raid in a week on a California medical marijuana supplier, after a raid Tuesday of a Desert Hot Springs farmer who supplied a dispensary in Palm Desert. Federal authorities have been emboldened by a U.S. Supreme Court ruling last summer, in a case against an Oakland woman, that they can prosecute patients who keep and grow marijuana in states that allow it for medical use.

The conflict between state and federal law "means that if you are growing large quantities of marijuana for medical use, you're always going to be a target for the federal government, and the piece of the puzzle that's taking the most risk," said Camilla Norman Field, deputy director of the Drug Policy Alliance in San Francisco.

Under pressure from the federal clash, state lawmakers have tried to clarify the guidelines for medical marijuana and Proposition 215, the medical marijuana law passed in 1996 by 56 percent of California voters.

A 2004 law established a voluntary ID system, recognized the right for patient and caregiver collectives to cultivate pot, and set out restrictions for how much pot patients could keep: up to six mature or 12 immature plants and up to a half-pound of dried, processed marijuana.

The law, however, did not authorize "any individual or group to cultivate or distribute marijuana for profit." The extent to which Affolter may have profited from Beyond Bomb was unclear Friday. Luke Macaulay, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office, declined to comment.

One medical marijuana advocate said it appeared the operation was professional, concerned with the quality and cleanliness of the product, and "most likely doing this with the best intentions of it being medical."

Still, Caren Woodson, campaign director of Americans for Safe Access, acknowledged that the packaging is somewhat hard to defend.

"But that is part of waging the debate around medical cannabis, trying to figure out what works with the public and what doesn't work," she said.

"Unfortunately, yes, the names are kid-friendly. But who's to say medical cannabis patients can't have fun, too? It's not just kids who eat Milky Ways."

[MrJim]

Drug Ring Sold Pot-Laced Candy, Soda
Pot Tarts, Toka-Cola, Munchy Ways seized in DEA raids
MARCH 17--A California drug operation manufactured marijuana-laced candy and soft drinks that were packaged to resemble popular products like Jolly Ranchers, Milky Way, and Pop Tarts. The pot ring, busted yesterday by Drug Enforcement Administration agents, was headquartered in Oakland and allegedly headed by Kenneth Affolter, 39, who was one of 12 alleged dealers nabbed. DEA raids at indoor pot-growing facilities turned up the marijuana-infused products, which carried labels such as Toka-Cola, Pot Tarts, Puff-A-Mint Pattie, Stoney Ranchers, Munchy Way, and Buddahfinger. A DEA spokesperson told TSG that the pot was baked into chocolate bars and hard candies and that the soda contained concentrated hash oil. A label on the ring's Nestle Crunch knockoff describes the item's ingredients as "milk chocolate with crisped rice dipped in hash oil rich chocolate." Some of the seized items can be seen in the evidence photos on the following pages. In a statement, DEA agent Javier Pena noted that Affolter's pot ring, which operated under the name Beyond Bomb, was "not only illegal, but potentially tragic," since "innocent children will somehow get their hands on these products and think they are just normal candy or soft drinks." (7 pages)

[Pinkavvy]

I wish they would leave our medicine alone.

[motorhead]

Right on, cool that u dug up those pics mrjim.

[searcher]

I'm hungry for pot tarts...

[kemistudent]

lol, AWsome pics MrJim!!! Stoney Ranchers!! Thats so creative.. The more and more I pondered this case, I just kept coming back to the same theory. These guys just didn't give a fuck if they got caught, OR!!! They were just so bored with growing (which swim can relate too) that they decided to make use of the waste (which is highly potent when extracted) in a positive way.

Either way it sucks I live on the other side of the country. None of this shit ever made it way out here. I would have loved to try at least one of their products. :/