From USA TODAY / AP:
Federal prosecutors in California are cracking down on some of the state’s medical marijuana dispensaries, signaling an escalation of the ongoing conflict between the U.S. government and the nation’s burgeoning medical marijuana industry.
The four U.S. attorneys in California, the first state to pass a law legalizing marijuana use for patients with doctors’ recommendations, have scheduled a joint news conference Friday where they plan to “outline actions targeting the sale, distribution and cultivation of marijuana.”
Their offices refused to provide details in advance what moves the officials are taking or how many of the state’s hundreds of storefront pot shops would be affected. But at least 16 pot shops or their landlords received letters this week warning face they would face criminal charges and confiscation of their property if the dispensaries do not shut down in 45 days…
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EDITOR: If true, this is so stupid, so against the will of the population, so against scientific research, and so against what President Barack Obama indicated as a candidate, as to be believed…especially heading into an election year. It is especially ironic at a tmie when PBS has just run a series of programs on the history and folly of alcohol prohibition that the federal government would continue down the same path.
Perhaps there is concern that in 2012 an initiative taxing, regulating and controlling marijuana will pass in California. But if they close the dispensaries, the chance of enactment may be even greater. And then how are they going to crack down when the state and local police are not be allowed to prosecute under California law?
Sometimes, in the words of the late Senator Patrick Moynihan, “benign neglect” is the best approach. Let the Feds worry about tax scoffs and hard drug distribution and keep their hands off relatively benign marijuana.
If they’re using the 1,000 foot rule as defined in 21 USC Section 860 regarding distribution or manufacturing in or near schools and colleges (“within one thousand feet of, the real property comprising a public or private elementary, vocational, or secondary school or a public or private college, junior college, or university, or a playground, or housing facility owned by a public housing authority, or within 100 feet of a public or private youth center, public swimming pool, or video arcade facility” – full section text below) then a lot of medical cannabis dispensing collectives in CA will face pressure, or rather their landlords will feel fresh pressure to evict.
How to lose California. Very foolish.
K.Z.