16/07/2007 00:00:00
US: Feds target owners renting to pot dispensaries
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LOS ANGELES — Raising the stakes in the federal government’s war against
medical marijuana, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has warned
more than 150 Los Angeles landlords that they risk arrest and the loss
of their property if they continue renting to cannabis dispensaries.
The two-page letter dispatched last week by Timothy J. Landrum, DEA
special agent in charge of the Los Angeles office, has whipped up
worries among landlords and dispensary operators in a region that has
seen a proliferation of the businesses in the past two years.
“I’m devastated,” said Lisa Sawoya, who left her job selling high-tech
hospital equipment to open a dispensary 18 months ago in Hollywood. “My
landlord believes in cannabis as medicine. But they’re taking the letter
very seriously. So I’ll be closing my doors at the end of this month.”
Sarah Pullen, a DEA spokeswoman in Los Angeles, said the purpose of the
letters is to “educate” property owners at risk because they’re housing
marijuana dispensaries. “The move by the DEA has focused entirely on Los
Angeles. Activists suspect the logistics and timing — more than a decade
after state voters legalized medical marijuana — is intended to thin the
ranks of Los Angeles dispensaries on the eve of new city regulations. A
proposed city ordinance would cap and regulate the number of outlets,
which now number more than 400.
Medical marijuana activists say most landlords are taking the threat
seriously and have asked the dispensaries to move out. “Raiding
dispensaries and arresting patients hasn’t worked to end medical
marijuana so the DEA is trying a new tactic and claiming a new victim in
this war,” said Steph Sherer of Americans for Safe Access, a group that
supports medical marijuana.
Dale Gieringer of the National Organization for Reform of Marijuana Laws
said the DEA crackdown won’t stop patients’ marijuana use. Instead, he
said, the ill could be driven to find drugs on the illegal market,
potentially putting themselves at risk.
In recent years, courts have upheld the federal government’s ability to
seize assets. After the DEA raided the Los Angeles Cannabis Resource
Center in 2001, the federal government seized more than $300,000 that
West Hollywood had loaned the center to buy its building.
Gieringer said the most likely outcome of Landrum’s letter would be
numerous evictions and shutdowns followed by a few select forfeiture
prosecutions “to scare remaining landlords.”
Hap Kent, who runs Therapeutic Medicinal Health Resources in the Sherman
Oaks district of the city, said he hopes the DEA would consider letting
dispensaries continue to operate for another six months.
While the possibility of eviction looms for many dispensaries, Kent sees
a possible silver lining — a political outcry that could get the state
to respond to voters’ wishes and take on the role of directly supplying
medical marijuana.
“That’s the way it should have been from the beginning,” he said.
Comments: http://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/64931.html
Source:
http://www.ukcia.org/news/shownewsarticle.php?articleid=12691
Author:
Santa Fe New Mexican via UKCIA
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