POT OPERATION

Two men, one of whom owns a marijuana dispensary in Northridge, were
arrested on suspicion of illegal possession, transportation and sale
of more than $6.6 million worth of the drug, it was announced today.

According to California Attorney General Jerry Brown's office, search
warrants were served over the weekend at five residences where
marijuana was allegedly being grown and at Today's Healthcare, a
marijuana dispensary at 18118 Parthenia St.

The homes were "linked" to suspects Nathan Holtz and Louis Goodman,
who were taken into custody in a North Hollywood parking lot, said
Christine Gasparac of Brown's office.

The location of the parking lot and the grow operations were withheld
"because they are part of an ongoing investigation," Gasparac said.

Brown said in a statement that "medical marijuana collectives or
cooperatives should operate as not-for-profits only, serving qualified
patients who've been examined by a doctor and issued a
medical marijuana identification card."

He described the operation allegedly run by the two suspects as a
"criminal enterprise (that) bears no resemblance to the purposes of
Proposition 215, which authorized the use of medical marijuana for
seriously sick patients."

"Today's Healthcare is a large scale, for-profit, commercial business,"
Brown said. "This deceptively named drug ring is reaping huge profits
and flaunting the state's laws that allow qualified patients to use
marijuana for medicinal purposes."

The AG's office described Holtz as "the suspected middleman between
Northern California marijuana growers and the Today's Healthcare
marijuana dispensary in Southern California."

Goodman, owner of the dispensary, "admitted he conducted a profitable
business with the majority of his customers being between the ages of
18 and 29 years old," Brown alleged.

The raids and arrests were made by the Los Angeles Interagency
Metropolitan Police Apprehension Crime Task Force led by the
California Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement. The task force includes
federal, state and municipal law enforcement members.