CRIMES SOAR IN LEGAL POT AREAS

Medical Marijuana Linked to Robberies, Shootings, Murders

SAN FRANCISCO -- Patients, growers and clinics in some of the 14
states that allow medical marijuana are falling victim to robberies,
home invasions, shootings and even murders at the hands of pot thieves.

There have been dozens of cases in recent months alone. The issue
received more attention this week after a prominent medical marijuana
activist in a Seattle suburb nearly killed a robber in a shootout --
the eighth time thieves had targeted his pot-growing operation.

Critics say the heists and holdups prove that marijuana and crime are
inseparable, though marijuana advocates contend that further
legalization is the answer. News of crimes related to medical
marijuana comes at an awkward time for California and Washington
advocates who are pushing to pass ballot measures to allow all
adults, not just the chronically ill, to possess the drug.

"Whenever you are dealing with drugs and money, there is going to be
crime. If people think otherwise, they are very naive," said Scott
Kirkland, the police chief in El Cerrito, Calif., and a vocal critic
of his state's voter-approved medical marijuana law.

"People think if we decriminalize it, the Mexican cartels and Asian
gangs are going to walk away. That's not the world I live in," Kirkland said.

Activists and law enforcement officials say it is difficult to get an
accurate picture of crimes linked to medical marijuana because many
victims don't notify the police for fear of drawing unwanted
attention to their own activities. But the California Police Chiefs
Association used press clippings to compile 52 medical
marijuana-related crimes - including seven homicides - from April
2008 to March 2009.

There also is plenty of anecdotal evidence:

* A man in Washington state was beaten to death last week with what
is believed to be a crowbar after confronting an intruder on the
rural property where he was growing cannabis to treat painful back problems.

* Medical marijuana activist Steve Sarich exchanged gunfire with
intruders in his home Monday in Kirkland, Wash., shooting and
critically injuring one of them.

* In California, a boy was shot to death in 2007 while allegedly
trying to steal a cancer patient's pot plants from his home garden.

* A respected magazine editor was killed that same year by robbers
who targeted his Northern California home for marijuana and money
after hearing that his teenage son was growing pot with a doctor's approval.

* Robbers killed a security guard at a Los Angeles medical marijuana
dispensary in 2008. Police and marijuana opponents say the violence
is further proof that the proliferation of medical marijuana carries
problems that would worsen if pot is legalized or decriminalized.

Pot activists say the opposite: that prohibition breeds crime and
legalization would solve the problem. They also say the robberies
have exposed the need for more regulation of medical marijuana laws.

"The potential for people to get ripped off and for people to use
guns to have to defend themselves against robbers is very real," said
Keith Stroup, founder and chief legal counsel for the National
Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. "But it's nothing to
do with medical marijuana. It is to do with the failure of states to
regulate this."