A LETTER TO PRESIDENT OBAMA

The Crackdown on Medical-Cannabis Dispensaries Is a Mistake, Sir

This week I'm turning over my column to Jeff vonKaenel, president and
CEO of the News & Review papers. This letter appears in the current
issue of the Sacramento News & Review.

- -Robert Speer

Dear President Obama,

Two years ago, you said your administration would not go after
dispensaries in states where marijuana is legal for medicinal use.
But last Friday (Oct. 7), your U.S. Department of Justice attorneys
announced a crackdown on medical-marijuana dispensaries and
cultivators in California. In addition, they questioned the right of
local jurisdictions to regulate this growing industry. I believe that
this shift in policy will do significantly more harm than good.

Specifically, I'm concerned about the economic impact of this
decision. Closing California's dispensaries could jeopardize
thousands of jobs. Not just those that are directly linked to medical
marijuana, but also physicians, security guards, solar-panel
specialists, delivery drivers, lab techs, marketing specialists,
attorneys, insurance agents, specialized government jobs, media jobs
and many others. Local TV, radio, online and print media including
The Sacramento Bee, the Business Journal and especially (full
disclosure) the Sacramento News & Review have been helped by
medical-marijuana advertising dollars. And the money that's pumped
into the local economy by these dispensaries is spent on rent,
groceries and at local restaurants and retail stores.

One of the worst consequences of this crackdown could be to drive
this industry back underground. The biggest beneficiary of this would
be Mexican drug cartels. An unregulated underground drug trade would
potentially leave about a million Californians who now use medical
marijuana with nowhere to turn but an illegal drug dealer on the corner.

Medical marijuana is one of the few sectors of the economy that are
growing during these difficult economic times. Our state Board of
Equalization estimates that medical-marijuana dispensaries have
annual revenues of up to $1.3 billion and produce sales taxes of as
much as $105 million. Legal dispensaries can be regulated and taxed.
Illegal drug cartels can't. Rather than using government dollars to
close down medical-marijuana dispensaries that are operating legally
within California state law, let's allow California to regulate and
tax them. It's change we can believe in.

Just as prohibition of alcohol did not work, prohibition of marijuana
will not work. The prosecution of medical-marijuana dispensaries has
worse consequences than the use and possible misuse of marijuana. If
anyone should know that, it should be you. If our country's marijuana
laws were strictly enforced, you might have served time in a cell
along with our past two presidents, rather than serving our country
in the White House. I humbly suggest our U.S. attorneys have much
more important things to do than cracking down on medical-marijuana
dispensaries. Might I suggest looking at banking and securities
fraud, for example?

One of your strongest supporters who is baffled by your recent shift in policy,

Jeff vonKaenel