Tainted

Back in March 2006 I posted a little query about a group that manufactured pot based candies and edibles for caregiver clinics. That group was busted and at the time I'd originally thought it was the friends of friends of friends I knew, none of them Kevin Bacon. Well last week the group I was thinking of, Tainted Inc, were raided and it looked like the owner was on the lam from the feds until he turned himself in this morning.

Feds crack down on pot candy firm - 4 tied to business are charged (sfgate 9/28)

Pot-candy maker surrenders to feds (sfgate 10/04)

I knew business was good but I didn't realize how big of an operation it had become since its boutique size days:

"Over the past two years, Tainted bought nearly 4 tons of chocolate from Guittard Chocolate Co. in Burlingame for more than $14,000, Armstrong wrote. Tainted's candies and other food items sold for $2.50 to $20 apiece, depending on the strength of the product, authorities said."

While I haven't used, well anything, since 1993 my friends in LA *loved* the Tainted candy with the punny names like Buddafinga and Mr. Greenbud. Didn't hurt that they got them for free (and no I did not transport them down here). I wonder how the ice cream, peanut butter, granola bars and barbecue sauce would've have tasted.

As to why I care about all this, in 1989 my dad was diagnosed with cancer with three months to live and I believe in the benefit claimed in increasing appetite, among pain relief, that cancer patients receive from medical marijuana. there was no stopping the cancer but I like to think my dad would have suffered a little bit less if this was a well known option back then.

Anyhow these raids will just continue until federal laws are changed to allow California's passage of Proposition 215 initiative in 1996 which legalized the growing and use of marijuana for medical purposes with a doctor's recommendation to legally exist. While it would greatly help if better regulations were implemented as shown on 60 minutes last month (article and video), I sadly just don't see the federal law catching up anytime soon.

Pics from the DEA press release