California’s four U.S. attorneys offices will announce an initiative to crack down on the state’s vast medical marijuana supply system on Friday.
Benjamin B. Wagner, U.S. Attorney in Sacramento, Melinda Haag, U.S. Attorney in San Francisco, André Birotte Jr., U.S. Attorney in Los Angeles, and Laura E. Duffy, U.S. Attorney in San Diego will outline their plans to stem the sale, distribution, and cultivation of cannabis outside a federal courthouse in Sacramento.
The U.S. Attorneys already have already enacted parts of the initiative, according to the Los Angeles Times. Landlords who rent property to medical marijuana dispensaries have received written warnings from federal prosecutors threatening to confiscate property and bring criminal charges against them if they fail to stop sales within 45 days.
Federal authorities also have reportedly demanded back taxes from California dispensaries and prevented them from qualifying for business expense deductions by imposing penalties after audits. They also are reportedly pressuring banks to close accounts belonging to owners of dispensaries.
In June, the DOJ clarified its official policy, when Deputy Attorney General James Cole issued a memo, stating that “the business of cultivating, selling or distributing marijuana, and those who knowingly facilitate such activities, are in violation of the Controlled Substances Act, regardless of state law.”
California was the first state to legalize medicinal marijuana in 1996.
Since then, the industry has ballooned. The state has estimated annual sales to be worth $1.3 billion, according to Bloomberg.
And according to the Times’ report, not all of the U.S. Attorneys in the cash-strapped state are thrilled about the initiative. Sources close to Andre Birotte Jr. told Times reporters that the U.S. Attorney would not initially focus on dispensaries in Los Angeles.
Dale Gieringer, the director of the California chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, said that enthusiasm for the initiative varies by region.
“They want to do a clean sweep in San Diego, whereas in Northern California they can’t possibly do a clean sweep,” he said. “There’s no political support for it. It would be devastating.”
