OWNERS OF POT DISPENSARY TO REMAIN IN JAIL

The owners and several employees of a medical marijuana dispensary
raided Monday face a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $1
million fine.

The five defendants sat before U.S. Magistrate Theresa Goldner in
Bakersfield on Tuesday afternoon for their arraignment. David Chavez
Sr. and David Chavez Jr., owners of Nature's Medicinal Cooperative in
Oildale, were ordered to remain in custody until a detention hearing
in Fresno on Friday.

Goldner also ordered that dispensary employees John Wayne Wyatt,
Jennifer Diane Brown and John Richard Shanks be released. All the
defendants are scheduled for a preliminary hearing July 30 in Fresno.

J. David Nick, attorney for David Chavez Sr., said his client is
being unfairly targeted by the federal government. David Chavez Sr.
followed state law and paid all the appropriate taxes for Nature's
Medicinal Cooperative, Nick said.

California law allows the sale of medicinal marijuana to qualified
patients. The drug, however, is still illegal under federal law and
anyone selling marijuana in the state can be federally prosecuted.

"It's a disgraceful act by the federal government," Nick said after
the arraignment.

Gordon Taylor, Drug Enforcement Administration assistant special
agent in charge, has said federal law supersedes state law and any
marijuana dispensary is at risk of being raided.

Monday's raid netted more than 87 pounds of processed marijuana, 35
marijuana plants, a small amount of baked goods laced with pot, a
Smith & Wesson .40-caliber semi-automatic handgun and a 12-gauge
shotgun, a DEA news release said. About $20,000 was seized from bank
accounts related to the dispensary and $15,036 in cash was seized
from Chavez's house.

William Connelly, owner of Seven Seas Compassionate Care Center, was
raided in early June and then later arrested. He said he was trying
to sell his business when he got busted and now he can't get a job
anywhere else because of the arrest. He has about $700 left and
expects to be homeless by the end of the month.

Connelly finds it ridiculous that David Chavez Sr. and the others
arrested in Monday's raid face up to 20 years in prison for selling
marijuana.

"Does a murderer get 20 years in prison? Does a rapist?" Connelly
said. "A child molester doesn't get 20 years in prison."

Connelly, who said he had about 300 customers in the year he operated
his dispensary, said the federal government should legalize and
regulate marijuana and use the tax money it would generate to improve
federal programs, such as Social Security.