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.