California Weeding Out Illegal Sales by Pot Clubs

Posted on August 27, 2008
Filed Under Criminal Law, Drugs, Felonies, Law, Los Angeles, News, misdemeanor |

California Attorney General Jerry Brown has ordered a crackdown on medical pot clubs, charging that some are illegally selling marijuana for profit. In an 11-page directive issued this week, Brown laid out the guidelines medical marijuana cooperatives must follow to be in compliance with Proposition 215. “The voters wanted medical marijuana dispensaries to be used for seriously ill patients and their caregivers — not as million-dollar businesses,” Brown said.

The newly issued guidelines direct that medical marijuana cooperatives must be nonprofit, must sell only to legitimate patients, must buy pot only from fellow cooperative members and only at prices that cover costs. Purchasing from professional growers for profit is forbidden.

In one of the first busts, the owner and alleged middleman of Today’s Health Care club in Northridge in Los Angeles County were arrested for drug dealing by state narcotic agents. More drug busts will follow, warned Brown. Since the passage of Proposition 215 in 1996, which gave California patients the right to use cannabis to treat their ills, the state has seen a proliferation of marijuana dispensaries that it says are illegally selling the drug for non-medical purposes. Authorities estimated that one-third to one-half of the state’s pot clubs may be operating illegally.

While marijuana dispensaries have been targeted by federal drug agents — the federal government does not recognize medical marijuana — this is the first crackdown by state agencies since enactment of Proposition 215. “We are not out to harass legitimate clubs,” Brown said. “The targets are those clubs that are part of a larger criminal operation where medical marijuana winds up being sold on the street and contributing to crime and violence.” If your business is targeted by the AG’s crackdown, consult a skilled criminal defense attorney to protect your rights.

-LegalPro

Written by LegalPro

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