CNN: Since 1996, the state has allowed marijuana growers and distributors to operate legally with little oversight. All it takes is a doctor’s note or a claim that one is a “caregiver,” a loosely interpreted term. More than 1,000 dispensaries are in business, employing thousands more and providing state and local governments as much as $105 million in taxes each year.
Marijuana advocates say the attack collides with California’s law and goes against a campaign promise by President Obama to not circumvent the state’s relaxed rules. But California’s four U.S. attorneys, who banded together last year, cite a need to combat spillover to states where the substance isn’t legal.
U.S. Attorney Ben Wagner justifies raids on the presumption that more marijuana is grown in the fertile lands of his Eastern District than can ever be legally consumed… (more)
