HELL-BENT ON SHUTTING MEDICAL MARIJUANA DISPENSARIES

This will be a make-or-break year for medical marijuana dispensaries
- - if they can survive the tactics employed by the federal Drug
Enforcement Administration (DEA), which recently added busting
dispensaries' landlords to its repertoire of raids and fear. As urged
by Senate Joint Resolution 20 by state Sen. Carole Migden, D-San
Francisco, the federal government needs to back off and respect state
compassionate use laws that authorize a network of responsible, law
abiding and tax-paying medical marijuana providers.

In 1996, California voters passed Proposition 215 to exempt patients
and caregivers from criminal penalties when they possess or cultivate
marijuana for medical use as recommended by a physician. On the heels
of voters approving the initiative, the Legislature enacted a
regulatory framework that authorizes local governments to work with
dispensaries so medical cannabis could be provided to seriously and
terminally ill patients. Eleven other states have similar laws
following California's model.

Since 2005, the DEA has raided dozens of medical marijuana
dispensaries and collectives, with 28 of these raids occurring since
June 2007 in 11 counties in California. Los Angeles County saw a
record of four raids in a single day last year. Although the U.S.
Supreme Court upheld the DEA's authority to conduct these raids in
Gonzales vs. Raich, it left state medical marijuana laws intact.
Angel Raich of Oakland had sued the federal government in 2002 to
prevent it from interfering with her right to use medical cannabis
for an inoperable brain tumor, seizures, life-threatening wasting
syndrome and severe chronic pain.

The DEA believes these dispensaries are illegal drug dealers
facilitating recreational drug use. However, most of the dispensary
operators who have contacted the State Board of Equalization for
information about how to obtain seller's permits for collecting and
remitting sales taxes are not fugitives, but responsible persons
willing to abide by the laws to conduct their businesses.

For example, the Compassion Center for Alameda County was licensed by
Alameda County. It paid $3 million in sales taxes prior to being shut
down by the DEA at the end of October. The center had employed about
50 workers who earned a living wage and were provided health
benefits, unemployment insurance and workers' compensation coverage.
Take another example. Nature's Medicinal in Bakersfield had been
licensed by Kern County. It paid almost $1 million in taxes until its
closure in 2007, including $203,000 in federal and state income
taxes, $365,000 in payroll taxes and $427,000 in sales taxes.
Nature's had 25 employees: eight were indicted, and the rest were
left unemployed and without health insurance after the raid.

Multiply these examples by the 300 medical cannabis businesses of
which the DEA has sent letters to landlords, and what do we get?
Millions of dollars in lost tax revenue for the state and
municipalities, thousands are well-paying jobs with benefits
disappearing from our economy, and scores of dispensaries forced to
close or move underground for unregulated operations. However, the
most significant setback of the DEA's actions will be to the
thousands of California patients who suffer from the effects, pain
and discomfort of chemotherapy, HIV/AIDS, glaucoma and neurological
disorders. Where is the compassion when these individuals can no
longer access medical marijuana to relieve their chronic pain,
debilitating symptoms and treatment side-effects?

We applaud the leadership of House Judiciary Committee Chairman John
Conyers, D-Mich., in his oversight of the DEA's property forfeiture
threats. Recognizing the conflict between federal and state law, we
will continue to exercise our responsibilities as state policymakers
to the fullest extent and uphold the will of California voters to
regulate the provision and availability of medical marijuana for
those in need. Meanwhile the Legislature should approve SJR20, urging
the federal government to honor California law and respect
state-sanctioned dispensaries so medical marijuana patients can treat
their pain, pay their taxes, and live in peace.