DEA ALERTS POT-STORE LANDLORDS

Letters Warn Of Penalties For Leasing To Marijuana Dispensaries.

The Sacramento office of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration is
turning to a new strategy against medical marijuana dispensaries:
warning landlords they could be imprisoned or forced to forfeit their
buildings if their tenants continue to peddle medical pot.

Sacramento-based DEA agents have sent letters to dispensaries'
landlords in recent weeks, viewing the mailings as a simple way to
cut down on what federal officials consider illicit activity.

However, medical marijuana advocates - who saw about 200 DEA letters
go out in the Los Angeles area this summer - say federal officials
are being too heavy-handed against such dispensaries, which
California voters approved as legal more than a decade ago.

Federal officials say U.S. law against such dispensaries pre-empts
the California law, but medical marijuana advocates hope to resist
the latest DEA effort.

"This is one of the most insidious tactics we've seen them use so
far," said Nathan Sands, a Sacramento-based communications director
for the Compassionate Coalition, a medical marijuana education
nonprofit. "I think they're going to see a backlash here."

Gordon Taylor, the special agent in charge of the Sacramento division
of the DEA, said the agency sent 11 letters early in November to
dispensaries throughout the 34 noncoastal Northern California
counties over which it has jurisdiction. Most, he said, were sent to
Sacramento-area pot clubs.

A spokeswoman in the San Francisco DEA office said 80 such letters
were mailed to dispensaries in the Bay Area earlier this week.

The letters explain to landlords that it is a violation of federal
law to rent property that is used to distribute a controlled substance.

Violations carry penalties of up to 20 years in jail or a fine of up
to $500,000, the law says. Civil penalties of up to $250,000 can be assessed.

The DEA's letter also refers to a law that says property used for the
distribution of controlled substances is subject to forfeiture.

In Sacramento, the letters have "definitely caused a panic," Sands said.

One Sacramento-area medical marijuana dispensary manager, who spoke
anonymously because he fears action by the DEA, said that as far as
he knows his landlord got no letter.

He said he knows several dispensary managers whose landlords got the
letter. All are moving or shutting down, he said. Those who haven't
yet been affected are nervous, he said.

"There's definitely some apprehension," he said during an interview
in the dispensary. "I mean, what can you do? There's nothing really
you can do."

Sacramento DEA agent Taylor said he has gotten a favorable response
so far from one landlord who said he did not know the activity was
going on, and from others who said they had started the eviction process.

"This could create a situation that, if pot clubs are dismantled, we
don't have to do full-bore investigation," he said.

The letter advises landlords that the DEA considers the activity on
their property a crime, but does not tell them what to do about it.
Taylor concedes as much, saying if he got the letter, he would
consult a lawyer.

Jose Martinez, a DEA spokesman at the Los Angeles division, said his
office mailed 200 similar letters to landlords starting this summer,
but has not taken action against anyone.

When asked if enforcement action is imminent or just a possibility,
he said it is "only possible."

"What we're trying to do now is educate all of the property owners,"
Martinez said.

About three dozen dispensaries in the Los Angeles area shut down
after getting the letters, said Kris Hermes, spokesman for Americans
for Safe Access, a medical marijuana lobbying group.

"We are trying to encourage against a sense of alarm," Hermes said.
"We believe the Department of Justice has limited resources to go
after landlords in this egregious manner."

Hermes said the tactic is so extreme that it has galvanized some
support for dispensaries and patients in Congress.

U.S. Rep. John Conyers Jr., D-Mich., the chairman of the House
Judiciary Committee, released a statement against the letters Dec. 7.

In it, Conyers said the committee has questioned the DEA about its
"efforts to undermine California law" and plans to continue to
"sharply question" the DEA. The judiciary committee's spokeswoman did
not return a call to The Bee.

Brenda Grantland, a Mill Valley attorney who specializes in
forfeiture law, said the strategy is clearly legal. But she believes
it is an overzealous use of the government's power.

"Whether it's fair or constitutional doesn't seem to matter," she said.

Grantland said the strategy appears to be an intense effort to
destroy California's medical marijuana supply network in the last
months of the Bush administration.

The strategy is one more episode in a decade-long dispute over
federal vs. state power to regulate medical marijuana.

California voters approved Proposition 215 in 1996, giving way to the
legalized use of medical marijuana. However, since then, the DEA has
raided dozens of dispensaries and prosecuted their owners.

A court decision handed down this week provided a victory for federal
officials.

On Thursday the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld an
injunction that forced three California cannabis clubs to stop
distributing medical marijuana.