MARIJUANA DISPENSARIES: A LOT OF SMOKE
The Drug Enforcement Administration months ago served notice to medical marijuana dispensary landlords in the Santa Barbara area that they may face prosecution and confiscation of their deeds for tolerating the sale of an illegal substance on their property.
"Federal law takes precedence over state law," declared the letter, delivered to about a dozen such dispensaries in Santa Barbara and Goleta. "It is not a defense to this crime or to the seizure of the property that the facility is providing 'medical' marijuana under California law including the provisions of California Proposition 215," which was passed as the Compassionate Use Act of 1996 to ensure that seriously ill Californians have the right to obtain marijuana for medical purposes based upon a physician's determination.
"Violation of this law is a felony crime," the DEA letter continued, "and carries with it a penalty of up to 20 years in prison."
Special Agent Sarah Pullen, the DEA's public affairs officer in Los Angeles, provided The Investigator with a copy of the Notice Letter, but refused to identity its recipients or comment on whether the Santa Barbara Police Department or Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Department cooperated with them on this other than "the DEA maintains a good working relationship" with both departments.
However, Police Department spokesman Sgt. Lorenzo Duarte told The Investigator, "The only thing we have done with the DEA is, when they requested local addresses of dispensaries we suggested they contact the city licensing office."
The DEA has no special agents in Santa Barbara and runs its Santa Barbara and Goleta operations from a Ventura field office. Its aggressive policy, according to Rep. Lois Capps's office in Washington, D.C., reflects the Bush administration's hard line against states-rights medical marijuana laws, despite a campaign promise from George Bush in 2000 to allow states to decide the issue themselves.
Kris Hermes, a spokesman for Safe Access Now, told The Investigator that in the late 1990s the DEA targeted California medical doctors by threatening to revoke their prescription licenses if they recommended marijuana. "It didn't work, so now they're trying to frighten landlords into evicting their marijuana dispensing tenants," said Mr. Hermes. "Since July 2007 the DEA has sent 300 letters [throughout California], but has taken no action."
It would fall upon the Department of Justice to spearhead prosecutions and, according to Mr. Hermes, "there is no evidence that the U.S. Attorney's Office has shown any interest in getting involved.
"In a psychological campaign to undermine state law," he added, "the DEA has been able to intimidate an entire population of property owners. But it has no real teeth."
Thom Mrozek, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Los Angeles, seemed to confirm this. "The DEA can't file a criminal thing. I can't think of any cases in which we've prosecuted landlords." And it did not appear that any such action was in the pipeline.
Mr. Hermes said the feds are also providing "sensationalist information" to local public officials purporting that marijuana dispensaries are a public nuisance that attract crime. Sixty-three cities in California have banned marijuana dispensaries.
Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Department spokesman Sgt. Alex Tipolt told The Investigator, "I wouldn't say these dispensaries attract crime in general, and I wouldn't say they're a public nuisance."
Santa Barbara hosts a dispensary system open to abuse and, based upon The Investigator's random visits, some customers quite likely do not suffer the kinds of illnesses -- cancer or glaucoma -- for which the Compassionate Use Act was designed. There is no limit to the number of dispensaries that can be visited -- or how often -- by "certified patients," who are permitted to buy up to eight ounces of marijuana per visit.
Until recently, when the City Council placed a moratorium on the creation of new dispensaries, all any entrepreneur needed to dispense medical marijuana was a business license and a location from which to operate.
Senior Planner Danny Kato told The Investigator, "We informed the Grand Jury about the dispensaries that are not well run. Our focus is on good-neighbor issues." Mr. Kato added that the city is looking to Sacramento to regulate the amount of marijuana that can be dispensed and the use, by patients, of multiple dispensaries.
How do dispensary proprietors feel about the possibility of confiscation and imprisonment by the feds? Since they seem to understand that they are, at best, bending the rules, they're not saying -- nor have any of them contacted the office of Mrs. Capps, D-Santa Barbara, to complain about the DEA's intimidation campaign, according to her press spokeswoman Emily Kryder.
At Choice Collective, 6326 Lindmar Drive in Goleta, whose business owner is Michael James Warm, no one would speak to The Investigator about either the DEA's letter or its dispensing procedures. When asked the name of the business owner, a young male replied, "It's a collective. We don't have names."
He hung up when asked, "Do you realize how shady that sounds?" ( The Investigator could not find any record of a business license for Choice Collective. )
At Magic Dragon, also in Goleta, no one answered the phone, and the voice mailbox was full.
A call to Patrick Fourny, business owner of The Compassion Center on De la Vina Street in Santa Barbara, went unreturned.
Some say it is this lack of professionalism that prompted the city to place a six-month moratorium on new dispensaries and to subject them to zoning restrictions.
Said Mr. Kato, "Existing dispensaries have a three-year period to comply with the new ordinances."
Mrs. Capps supports medical marijuana and has, every year since 2001, signed the Hinchey/Rohrabacher Amendment, which would restrict the DEA from taking action against medical marijuana in the 12 states that allow it.
"The DEA should focus its efforts on stopping the real threats that illegal drugs pose to our society," Mrs. Capps told The Investigator.
![:\](https://bluelight.org/xf/BL_Images/Orig_Emoji/wrygrin.gif "wry grin :\")
