4 Ways the Feds Are Attacking the Perfectly Legal Medical Marijuana Industry

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AlterNet / By Ted Cox

4 Ways the Feds Are Attacking the Perfectly Legal Medical Marijuana Industry
With storefront dispensaries popping up across the country, the federal government is fighting the burgeoning industry.

October 27, 2011 |


At the moment 16 states and Washington DC have legalized medical cannabis, providing safe access to patients, creating thousands of jobs and pumping millions of dollars in tax revenue into struggling state and local economies. Some of those state and local governments are working with their medical cannabis providers to adopt common-sense regulations and to cut down the potential for abuse -- with varying degrees of success.

But under the federal Controlled Substance Act, cannabis is a Schedule I substance -- right along with heroin, ecstasy and LSD -- and still illegal. The feds are concerned that medical cannabis is making its way onto the black market, that dispensaries are generating obscene profits and that cannabis providers are targeting children in ads.

Deputy U.S. Attorney General David Ogden issued a memorandum in October 2009 saying the Justice Department was unlikely to go after cannabis patients, but that "prosecution of commercial enterprises that unlawfully market and sell marijuana for profit continues to be an enforcement priority of the department." But recent months have seen a strong push-back by the federal government. With storefront dispensaries popping up across the country, and medical cannabis expected to grow to a $1.7 billion industry, here are four ways the federal government is fighting the burgeoning industry.

1) Land seizure

The big announcement that has everyone hunkered down is that U.S. attorneys in California have threatened to seize land that is rented or leased to dispensaries. ............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/drugs/152891/4_ways_the_feds_are_attacking_the_perfectly_legal_medical_marijuana_industry/

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1. Change you can believe in ... n/t

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2. That "marketing to children" is such a load of horseshit!

Here's how it works in California; First you have to go to a doctor, a real MD with a real medical license which can be revoked if the Dr does anything illegal or unethical. That Dr will ask some questions, do an exam, check your history and records. Then she writes a "recommendation", a sealed document that says you can use marijuana under a doctors guidance for one year.

With that document in hand you can go to a "dispensary" usually a non-descript storefront that could just as easily be an insurance agent's office or a realtor. All the dispensaries I have ever been in usually have a small foyer where you hand your document and ID to a security person (usually armed) who checks your ID and then passes the paperwork to an inner office. You will then be allowed to pass through the always-locked (and fairly heavily secured) door into the inner office. There, a secretary will verify your eligibility by calling the the clinic that issued your recommendation.

Then and only then, will you be buzzed through another fortified door into the actual vending area.

The prohibitionists make it sound like just anyone can walk in off the street and buy weed.

I wish someone would ask one of these government officials why they have no problem with the "obscene profits" of the oil or financial industries.