DEAR PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA

Two years ago, you said your administration would not go after
dispensaries in states where marijuana is legal for medicinal use.
But last week, your Department of Justice attorneys announced a
crackdown on medical-marijuana dispensaries and cultivators in
California. They also questioned the right of local jurisdictions to
regulate this growing industry. I believe that this policy shift 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 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. California's dispensaries have been
operating legally within the state. These dispensaries pay fees and
taxes, and many contribute in other ways to our communities. 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 is
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 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 be serving 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?

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