California's U.S. attorneys say they are going after for-profit
marijuana sellers. Advocates of the sales say they are concerned about
buyers with health needs.
At a news conference in Sacramento, Andre Birotte Jr., the U.S. attorney
for the Central District of California, displays an enlarged copy of a
marijuana magazine cover that cites California as the most profitable
state for marijuana sales. With him is U.S. Atty. Melinda Haag of the
Northern District.
(Rich Pedroncelli, Associated Press / October 7, 2011)
The Obama administration's crackdown on California's highly profitable medical marijuana industry represents a dramatic departure from the low-key approach it has long pursued.
California's four U.S. attorneys said Friday that they are taking aim at
large-scale growers and dispensary owners who are raking in millions of
dollars while falsely claiming that their medical marijuana operations
comply with state law, which does not allow for-profit sales.
In the early days of President Obama's tenure, Atty. Gen. Eric Holder
announced that prosecutors would not target medical marijuana users and
caregivers, as long as they followed state laws. But as the risk of
prosecution diminished, storefront dispensaries and enormous growing
operations proliferated in California, often in brazen defiance of
zoning laws and local bans.
"That is not what the California voters intended or authorized, and it
is illegal under federal law," said Andre Birotte Jr., the Los
Angeles-based U.S. attorney for the Central District. "It does not allow
this brick-and-mortar, Costco-Wal-Mart-type model that we see across California."
The step comes as the Obama administration has been steadily ratcheting
up enforcement efforts. Last month, a federal firearms official sent a
letter to gun dealers warning them against selling to medical marijuana
users. The last bank in Colorado willing to handle money from
dispensaries closed those accounts last week, concerned about federal
prosecution. And the Internal Revenue Service
has begun to order some dispensaries to pay millions of dollars in back
taxes and penalties, ruling that they can't deduct expenses because
their business is illegal.
The prosecutors, who held a news conference in Sacramento to underscore
their commitment to the campaign, said they are trying to enforce
federal laws while respecting the intent of the state's voters, who
passed the nation's first initiative to allow marijuana for medical
purposes.
Birotte noted that his Southern California region is home to the highest
concentration of dispensaries in the nation. "We have yet to find a
single instance in which a marijuana store was able to prove that it was
a not-for-profit organization," he said.
Medical marijuana advocates, including state Sen. Mark Leno (D-San
Francisco), decried the intensified enforcement effort. "The concern
here is that the intimidation factor will directly impact safe and
affordable access for patients," he said.
The sudden escalation has baffled advocates who note that the use of
medical marijuana now has broad popular support, as shown in nationwide
polls. "From a political perspective, it's hard to see how this serves
Obama's interest," said Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of the Drug
Policy Alliance. "It feels like it's being driven by law enforcement and
anti-drug folks."
The threat of stepped-up federal prosecutions could accomplish what city
and district attorneys have so far struggled to achieve. The
prosecutors are targeting landlords who rent to marijuana operations and
could lose their property through civil forfeiture. "That hits right in
the sweet spot because it deals with money," Birotte said.
The tactic was employed by the Bush administration in 2007. Many
dispensaries were forced by landlords to move, but — able to pay
top-dollar rents in a lousy economy — they easily found new locations.
But Birotte said that this time, prosecutors intend to follow through
with forfeitures. To underscore that, he announced that he has filed
lawsuits to seize buildings in Wildomar, an unincorporated part of
Montclair and Lake Forest. The Lake Forest strip mall has eight
dispensaries.
The state's four federal prosecutors have each also sent dozens of
warning letters. Birotte has focused on 38 dispensaries in 13 cities
where dispensaries are not allowed and where local officials have
pleaded for help. He gave them two weeks to start ending pot sales. In
Northern California, the prosecutor is focusing on pot stores within
1,000 feet of schools and playgrounds, an approach that could threaten
many dispensaries in dense Bay Area cities.
The prosecutors also announced some indictments. Birotte said an
indictment unsealed this week seeks the forfeiture of $14.7 million,
accusing six people linked with NoHo
Caregivers in North Hollywood of dealing in up to 700 pounds of
marijuana a month and selling to affiliates in New York and
Pennsylvania.
"They're showing their muscle: 'Here we are, we're here, we're
coordinated, you guys better watch out,'" said Matt Kumin, a lawyer who
specializes in medical marijuana. "The total amount of cannabis that is
cultivated in California is not going to go down. It just goes back
underground."
Birotte said the new strategy was not triggered by any specific event
but was inspired by a stream of complaints from California law
enforcement officials. The crackdown announced Friday came after months
of consultation between the U.S. attorneys and Justice Department officials in Washington. The prosecutors acknowledged that they are not getting more money or prosecutors.
Steve Cooley,
the Los Angeles County district attorney, predicted that intense
coordination with federal prosecutors would make a huge difference.
"It's advancing in the right direction from our perspective," he said.
In Los Angeles, Jane Usher, a special assistant city attorney, said her
office intended to work closely with Birotte's. "We're gratified that
they see what we see, which is what began as an opportunity to help
seriously ill patients has evolved into storefront drug sales and
trafficking," she said.
California's attorney general, Kamala Harris, declined to discuss the announcement. Her office is revising the medical marijuana guidelines that Jerry Brown
issued in 2008 when he was attorney general. Those guidelines note that
state law does not allow "collectives, cooperatives or individuals to
profit from the sale or distribution of marijuana" and advises that
storefront dispensaries "may be legal."
Medical marijuana advocates were also perplexed that a federal
department reporting to Obama is launching a crackdown that promises to
be more fearsome than any under former President Bush.
They believe that Obama betrayed a commitment he made as a candidate
who casually joked about smoking marijuana and has strayed from the
issues he was elected to address.
"They're wasting money they don't have," Leno said. "This is not the
issue of the day. This doesn't create jobs. This does not keep the
security of the nation intact. It doesn't clean the environment."
Leno said he believed the Obama administration has missed an opportunity
to end the 15 years of legal chaos that began in 1996 when California
voters passed Proposition 215. "If anything, they should be
demonstrating leadership in resolving the conflict between federal and
state laws," he said. "Until we deal with that, we're going to be going
around in circles here."
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