XPost: alt.drugs.pot, alt.drugs.hard, rec.sport.pro-wrestling   
   From: Vindris2@webtv.net   
      
   US: California pot crackdown targets large dispensaries   
      
   Those near children also targeted in state, which allows medical   
   marijuana   
   msnbc.com staff and news service reports   
   SACRAMENTO, Calif. â€" Marijuana dispensaries that have large   
   operations or are close to areas with children will be the focus of a   
   federal crackdown in California, U.S. prosecutors said Friday in   
   explaining a campaign that some activists said goes far beyond the Bush   
   administration's policies.   
   Not all of the thousands of storefront marijuana dispensaries operating   
   in the state are being targeted, U.S. Attorney Benjamin Wagner said at a   
   press conference.   
   Instead officials initially are going after shops close to schools and   
   other places with lots of children, as well as what Wagner called   
   "significant commercial operations." He said that includes farmland   
   where marijuana is grown.   
   The prosecutors said California's medical marijuana law has given cover   
   for large-scale commercial operations to engage in drug trafficking   
   across state lines, with thousands of pounds of marijuana worth tens of   
   millions of dollars flowing across the country from California.   
   "That is not what the California voters intended or authorized, and it   
   is illegal under California law," said Andre Birotte, U.S. attorney for   
   the Central District of California.   
   Letters sent to those dispensaries, as well as to landlords, ordered   
   them to shut down or face criminal charges and confiscation of property   
   â€" even if they are operating legally under California's   
   15-year-old medical marijuana law.   
   Group: Obama 'betraying promises'   
   Advocates of the law legalizing pot for medical use were livid.   
   President "Barack Obama is betraying promises made when he ran for   
   president and turning his back on the sensible policies announced during   
   his first year in office," Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of the   
   Drug Policy Alliance, said in a statement Friday.   
   The group called it a "full scale assault on medical marijuana patients'   
   rights," citing other recent actions as well:   
   In Colorado, which also allowed medical marijuana, the Treasury   
   Department is requiring that banks close accounts of legal medical   
   marijuana businesses.   
   The IRS says dispensaries may not deduct standard business expenses such   
   as payroll, security or rent. "The result will be closure of the most   
   well regulated dispensaries and loss of millions of dollars in tax   
   revenue for local governments," the group stated.   
   The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives last month ruled   
   that medical marijuana patients sanctioned by states cannot legally   
   possess firearms.   
   Another group backing the law said users would still find ways to get   
   medical pot.   
   "The only question is if we're going to force patients to buy their   
   medicine from the violent black market or if we would rather them obtain   
   labeled and tested product from a safe, state-regulated facility that   
   pays taxes," said Neill Franklin, head of Law Enforcement Against   
   Prohibition.   
   David McNew / Getty Images   
   A former adviser to Obama's drug czar office challenged those views,   
   saying many people misread a 2009 Justice Department memo that, while   
   stating users would not be prosecuted, did not take large dispensaries   
   off the hook.   
   "The memo wasn't read carefully," Kevin Sabet said, calling Friday's   
   move "the actions that those words were based upon."   
   As for using marijuana as medicine, Sabet said the proper path should be   
   one where components of marijuana are studied and possibly approved by   
   the Food & Drug Administration for use in pharmaceuticals.   
   "You synthesize and deliver it in the way we deliver medicines in this   
   country," he said, "through pharmacies â€" not dispensaries with   
   300-pound bouncers, bars on the windows and neon lights."   
   The federal campaign marks an escalation of the conflict between the   
   U.S. government and the nation's burgeoning medical marijuana industry   
   â€" pot is legal in 16 states for people with doctors'   
   recommendations.   
   Moreover, said Sabet, "it does send a strong warning signal to states   
   considering" similar legalization laws.   
   The letters sent out emphasize that federal law "takes precedence over   
   state law and applies regardless of the particular uses for which a   
   dispensary is selling and distributing marijuana."   
   "Under United States law, a dispensary's operations involving sales and   
   distribution of marijuana are illegal and subject to criminal   
   prosecution and civil enforcement actions," according to the letters.   
   "Real and personal property involved in such operations are subject to   
   seizure by and forfeiture to the United States ... regardless of the   
   purported purpose of the dispensary."   
   "The real power is with the federal government," said San Diego City   
   Attorney Jan Goldsmith. "They have the asset forfeiture, and that means   
   either the federal government will own a lot of property or these   
   landlords will evict a lot of dispensaries."   
   The letters also invoke a federal law that imposes additional penalties   
   for selling drugs within 1,000 feet of schools, parks and playgrounds.   
   'Tons of money ... drug trafficking' targeted   
   Melinda Haag, U.S. attorney for the Northern District of California,   
   said Friday that the 2009 memo was "never intended to shield commercial   
   operations or industrial-size growth," said   
   "People are using medical marijuana to make tons of money, and sometimes   
   engage in drug trafficking," Haag said.   
   "The intention regarding medical marijuana under California state law   
   was to allow marijuana to be supplied to seriously ill people on a   
   nonprofit basis," she added. "What we are finding, however, is that   
   California's laws have been hijacked by people who are in this to get   
   rich and don't care at all about sick people."   
   The letters that went out this week follow a Department of Justice   
   policy memo issued last June to federal prosecutors stating that   
   marijuana dispensaries and licensed growers in states with medical   
   marijuana laws could face prosecution for violating federal drug and   
   money-laundering laws.   
   Greg Anton, a lawyer who represents the dispensary Marin Alliance for   
   Medical Marijuana, said its landlord received an "extremely threatening"   
   letter Wednesday ordering it to evict the 14-year-old pot club or risk   
   imprisonment, plus forfeiture of the property and all the rent he has   
   collected.   
   Marin Alliance "has been paying state and federal taxes for 14 years,   
   and they have cashed all the checks," he said. "All I hear from Obama is   
   whining about his budget, but he has money to do this which will   
   actually reduce revenues."   
   Going after property owners is not a new tactic though, said Kris   
   Hermes, a spokesman for the medical marijuana advocacy group Americans   
   for Safe Access. Five years ago, the Department of Justice under   
   President George W. Bush made similar threats to about 300 Los   
      
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