NERONHA SAYS 'COMPASSION CENTERS' VIOLATE FEDERAL LAW

PROVIDENCE - U.S. Attorney Peter F. Neronha said Sunday that he hopes
that Rhode Island's three state-approved medical-marijuana
dispensaries don't open and that if they do, "I might have to take
some action" against them in court to prevent cultivation and
distribution of the cannabis.

"I don't think it would be a wise move" for them to start cultivating
large amounts of marijuana, or selling it, Neronha said in a
telephone interview. Asked if he was going to stage raids on the
dispensaries if they opened their doors, Neronha said, "I can't
answer that. We'll take each day as it comes. I hope that wiser heads prevail."

Neronha says he considers the planned dispensaries, which some call
"compassion centers," large-scale, for-profit cannabis production
businesses that are against federal law. "Under federal law, there's
a five-year mandatory-minimum sentence if you are growing 100
plants," he pointed out.

As to those who might be upset that he is threatening prosecution
after the dispensaries were given the green light by the state Health
Department to open -- and after three approved businesses have spent
considerable money starting their grows and acquiring supplies and
sites from which to operate -- the U.S. Attorney said: "I don't think
it's any mystery that growing marijuana on a large scale violates
federal law. These are large-scale industrial grows designed to
generate enormous grows and enormous profits."

He added: No one in state government -- not the Health Department,
Governor Chafee, nor the representatives and senators who sponsored
the legislation in 2009 establishing medical-marijuana dispensaries
- -- ever consulted him about the legality of the proposed operations.

"No one reached out to me, so I felt I finally had to make clear what
our position was," Neronha said. "I could have waited until they were
fully up and running, but felt that as soon as I was ready to
comment" and knew what the operations entailed, it was time to speak
out and issue a warning to everyone.

He said the only elected official who'd ever voiced concerns to him
was Cranston Mayor Allan W. Fung, who's a former state prosecutor.
Fung has said he will oppose the opening of any medical-marijuana
dispensaries in his city because they would be in violation of federal law.

In the interview, Neronha said it has never been his intention to
prosecute the "small-time caregivers" who are growing small amounts
of marijuana for ill people. "We've never brought, and I've never
said I'm going to bring cases against people growing for themselves
or who are growing for up to five people." But medical-marijuana
dispensaries are a different story, he said.

Neronha's comments to The Journal come on the heels of a letter
hand-delivered to Chafee Friday in which Neronha threatened to
prosecute and/or get civil injunctions against those involved in the
three dispensaries -- from the organizations that would run them, to
the landlords who rent them space to operate, to the financiers who
are fronting money to allow them to open their doors.

The dispensaries -- Summit Medical Compassion Center, in Warwick; the
Thomas C. Slater Compassion Center, in Providence; and Greenleaf
Compassionate Care Center in Portsmouth -- are supposedly nonprofit,
but "they're stating in their applications that they're going to make
millions, so that's for-profit," Neronha said. Summit's projections
are for $25 million in revenue by 2013 with 8,000 patients.

There are now about 3,400 Rhode Islanders licensed by the Health
Department to use marijuana to treat certain medical conditions.

"That's just not something that the United States can ignore, and I
don't intend to ignore it," Neronha said of the scale of the
dispensaries. "I don't think it's my job to advise people or remind
people what the law requires them to do ... My office and the
Department of Justice have never said we won't go after such
operations. In fact, we've said to the contrary, that we will."

Asked why he had waited so long to speak out, Neronha said that the
state did not approve the opening of any medical-marijuana
dispensaries until about six weeks ago and he needed time to digest
the detailed proposals that each submitted. The centers had forecast
opening in June and July.

He said he consulted with higher-ups in the Department of Justice in
Washington before writing to Chafee, and that he's also spoken about
the issue with other U.S. Attorneys around the country. A few of them
have written similar letters in recent weeks voicing concerns about
medical-marijuana operations in their states.