DELIVERIES USE LAW'S LOOPHOLE TO TRAFFIC MARIJUANA IN MODESTO AREA

Medical Pot Services Are Operating in Gray Area

Law enforcement officials in Stanislaus County say medical marijuana
delivery services are nothing but clandestine pot operations hiding
behind the state law that protects people using the drug to alleviate
chronic afflictions.

"They're a fraud; they're a sham," said Stanislaus County Deputy
District Attorney Shawn Barlow, who prosecutes major narcotics cases.
"It's just people growing marijuana, putting it in their car and
delivering it to people."

Since there is hardly any regulation of delivery services, he said
it's highly unlikely that every delivery customer is a qualified patient.

"A vast majority of these types of businesses are operating against
the law," Barlow said. "These businesses are supposed to be
nonprofits, but they're making thousands and thousands of dollars."

The trend has spread to Stanislaus County, where at least six delivery
services were operating in April, according to a survey conducted by
California Watch, a nonprofit investigative news outlet.

Attempts by The Bee to contact all of the delivery services operating
in the county were unsuccessful. When The Bee reached the manager of
one delivery service, Mr. Purple Skunk Delivery, he said he was too
busy to talk and hung up the phone.

Modesto police Sgt. Al Brocchini said these delivery services want to
avoid drawing attention to themselves, fearing it would attract
scrutiny by law enforcement.

"They don't want you to know where they are," said Brocchini, who
works with department's narcotics enforcement team. "They're pretty
covert."

Like hundreds of others across the state, Mr. Purple Skunk Delivery
advertised its services on Weedmaps.com, a commercial listing service.
The Web site provides a location for the business, but it's only
latitude and longitude designations on a map.

The delivery service's location listed on the Web site is actually an
empty lot just north of Kaiser Modesto Medical Center on Dale Road.

Brocchini said delivery services can operate below the government's
radar much more easily in cyberspace than by providing medical
marijuana from a storefront.

Modesto and four other Stanislaus County cities have banned medical
marijuana sales, according to Americans for Safe Access, a pro-medical
marijuana group.

Earlier this month in Merced County, the Livingston City Council voted
unanimously to ban medical marijuana dispensaries.

But no city council or board of supervisors has explicitly outlawed or
legalized delivery services, according to Americans for Safe Access.

"They found a hole in the market," said Barlow, who is prosecuting a
man suspected of advertising on Craigslist to deliver medical
marijuana and selling the drug to undercover narcotics
investigators.

He said the marijuana delivery case, which is still pending, is the
only case of its kind to be prosecuted in Stanislaus County.

"I'm surprised we only have one (prosecution)," Barlow said. "It's
booming."

While Barlow expects more delivery services to surface in the area,
the number in Stanislaus County, six, pales in comparison to nearby
Sacramento County, with 24.

Brocchini said there are probably fewer delivery services in
Stanislaus County because of its proximity to nearby metropolitan
cities such as San Francisco and Sacramento.

California Watch's survey revealed that some delivery services operate
in multiple counties.

MediHarvest.com, for instance, was listed on Weedmaps.com as operating
in Oakdale.

The delivery service's Web site says MediHarvest.com is a nonprofit
organization legally dispensing medical marijuana to California
residents via the Internet -- and shipping is free. Attempts by The
Bee to reach this delivery service were not successful.

MediHarvest pledges its members are verified, and money that exceeds
the nonprofit's operating costs will be used to fund worthy community
projects. According to the Web site, a quarter of an ounce of
marijuana ranges from $70 to $120 and is available in a variety of
strains -- including one called "Train Wreck."

Brocchini said he would need another narcotics investigative unit to
look into each tip he gets of someone selling medical marijuana on the
Internet.

He said law enforcement, however, can push back this trend and prevent
illegal delivery services from becoming more established here.

"If we crack down on a few, they're not going to want do it in
Modesto," Brocchini said. "We'll have to nip that problem in the bud."

[SIDEBAR]

AREA SERVICES

These are medical marijuana delivery services operating in the region.
These delivery services were listed in April on a commercial listing
Web site for medical marijuana. The delivery services must pay for the
advertisement each month and may no longer be listed on the Web site.

Stanislaus County

Mr. Purple Skunk Delivery -- north Modesto

PCC-Central Valley Co-Op -- north Modesto

Mary Jane Medicine -- central Modesto

Real Meds Collective -- west of Riverbank

MediHarvest.com -- Oakdale

Healing Meds -- Oakdale

Tuolumne County

High Sierra Delivery -- Sonora

Merced County

Med Star Delivery -- northwest of Los Banos

Source: California Watch, a nonprofit investigative news outlet